Double-T Nation Daily Diatribe // 04.21.09

Odds and Ends

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Texas TECHspy Awards

Huge congratulations to all of those who won awards last night at Texas Tech's TECHspy Awards, including nine-time NCAA Track Champion Sally Kipyego and Michael Crabtree. For those of you who don't know, Kipyego may be the greatest athlete of all time at Texas Tech and was one national championsip away from perhaps the greatest of all time, anywhere. Also of note, Patience Knight, an incredible story in her own right, beating cancer and being one of the top shot-put throwers in the country, swept a ton of awards, including Female Student-Athlete of the year. Meanwhile, QB Graham Harrell was named the Male Student-Athlete of the Year, while LB Brian Duncan received the Male Community Service Award.

Texas Tech Football

New Pass Rushers

LAJ's Don Williams looks at the new pass rushers for the Red Raiders. Defensive end Daniel Howard played really well on Saturday ane he hopes he can make the move to being an all-down DE, rather than a specialist:

"I feel like I’m capable of being an all-down defensive end," said Howard, a 6-foot-3, 244-pound senior from Wichita, Kan. "I’ve worked against the run this spring. I think it’s showing; I hope. That’s really what I’ve worked on this spring. I have the pass rush down pretty well. It’s kind of what I’ve been labeled as. I don’t really like being labeled that. I’d like to be known as an all-down guy."

Also mentioned yesterday was the fact that DE Brandon Sesay lost 21 pounds over the offseason and defensive line coach Charlie Sadler likes what he sees:

"If everything falls into place, I’d like to see him be able to stay at end and get all his reps there," Sadler said. "If our health allows, that’s probably where it’ll be.

"Last year, he came in as a brand-new junior college guy. He hadn’t learned the defense and all the calls and all the responsibilities. There’s a lot to learn at the end position - it’s a little bit more limited inside - so for the first year that was the best spot for him. Plus, he’s quite a bit lighter and quicker than what he was last year. He’s helped himself physically."

And he sounds like he wants to take advantage of the opportunity:

"I think not having spring ball when I first got here - all the problems with my junior college (before) coming here - really affected me as far as my workouts and stuff like that," Sesay said. "But now I have a chance to have the same (preparation) as everybody else, so I want to take advantage of it."

Jacob Karam Ready to Play

RRS.com's Katie McCracken talked with 2009 signee and quarterback, Jacob Karam, about this past weekend's spring game:

"I thought it was really cool you know. It was really cool to see everyone get a lot of reps and I know everyone's real excited for the upcoming season," said Karam after the game.

Snip

"A bunch of the signees and I have been hanging out with a lot of the guys that signed here last year in 2009 so we've just all been hanging out together and it's just been a blast," Karam said. "I just can't wait to move down here"

Shannon Woods Visited with Cowboys

FWST's Clarence Hill, Jr. reported that another Red Raider visited with the Dallas Cowboys, running back Shannon Woods. Woods has dropped off my radar a bit, but I think it's important to note that there's no reason why Woods won't be successful in the NFL. If anything, he knows how to do the little things to be successful in the NFL, which is learning ow to pick up the blitz and block.

Michael Crabtree Has No Doubts

USA Today's Tom Pedulla talks with Texas Tech's receiver Michael Crabtree. Go read the whole thing, although I don't think there's anything there that you haven't already read. I would like to point out that Crabtree's work ethic should never be questioned:

Texas Tech coach Mike Leach also was impressed by Crabtree's dedication. "He has a really clear and focused mind," he says. "In his downtime, when he's walking somewhere, I really believe he's thinking about football."

"They do have some similarities," Leach says. "They are incredibly driven people, and their work ethic is off the charts."

Neglected Audio, Video and Pictures

Fox34's looks back at the Red-Black spring game, including talking with RB Harrison Jeffers and QB Steven Sheffield. Also, the LAJ has a photo gallery of the Red-Black Scrimmage that's worth your time.

Texas Tech Baseball

Outfield:
LF - Michael Reed (Jr.); CF - Taylor Ashby (Jr.); RF - Mason Macnoll (Fr.)
Infield:
3RD - Justin Berry (Fr.); SS - Joey Kenworthy (Jr.); 2ND - Garrett Totten (Fr.); 1ST - Chris Richburg (Sr.)
C - Kevin Whitehead (Fr.)
DH - Scott LeJeune (Fr.)

*Click on the score for boxscore. Texas Tech series preview (pdf).

Texas Tech Takes on UNLV

LAJ's George Watson has a quick preview of this quick mid-week series with UNLV and head coach Dan Spencer wants to focus on these next five games, two with UNLV and Missouri this weekend:

"We’ve got five games before we have a break with finals and we really need to be locked in on these five and not worry about anything else," head coach Dan Spencer said. "We’ve put ourselves in a position where we need to win in the midweek and do something in the midweek so we can keep this momentum and add to our wins. We control our own destiny. We don’t need help controlling things late in the year, but we’ve got to play better in the midweek."

DT's Mike Graham also previews this series with the Runnin' Rebels and Spencer is feeling good about this weekend's series with Kansas:

"I don't think (we lost any) momentum," said Spencer, who has his team sitting seventh in the Big 12 standings. "Momentum is your starting guy on the mound. How good is he? Is he good in the first inning? That's your momentum builder or momentum deflator."