Back from a nice weekend in South Texas Texas' Hill Country and I the Red-Black spring game can't come soon enough.
Spring Notes Catchup
LAJ's Don Williams posted some notes on Saturday morning as well as some notes on Wednesday that I glossed over because of the "battle-royal".
Let's start with last Wednesday's notes first:
- It seems as if there's quite a bit of attention on the receivers who are struggling a bit. I think the weather can take part of the blame, but Leach does not seem happy right now with the dropped catches and routes that aren't as sharp:
"We’re definitely going to roll some guys through and make some changes,’’ Leach said, "because right now as a receiving corps we’re not as tough as we need to be. Right now, I can’t think of any (receiver) I would put in the category of ‘tough.’ Not one.’’
- Sophomore cornerback Taylor Charbonnet is making an impression on the staff, in a good way. Charbonnet is the guy that's supposed to be too small to make a difference (5-10/168) but last week he played after having two wisdom teeth pulled:
"You can imagine having a wisdom tooth pulled at 2 o’clock yesterday, and less than 24 hours later he’s back on the field,’’ defensive coordinator Ruffin McNeill said. "His name moves up in my mind. His respect level moves up in my mind. Then he comes out and makes plays, not just going through the motions. He was supposed to not even be out there.’’
- Offensive lineman Adrian Archie is done with football after battling injuries all of last year.
And Saturday's notes:
- Pretty exciting for redshirt freshman left tackle Terry McDaniel as it was reported that he'll get all of the reps at left tackle while Brandon Carter is out with injury.
"I’ve just got to step up to the challenge,’’ McDaniel said. "We miss him. Hope he recovers fast and comes back.’’
Snip
"Bennie (Wylie) did a great job improving my strength dramatically,’’ McDaniel said, praising Tech’s strength and conditioning coach. "That’s one of the reasons I came here.’’
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"Be confident. Just believe in yourself,’’ he said. "Every day’s a challenge. You’ve got to push yourself every second, every way.’’
- Offensive line coach Matt Moore believes that the second offensive line unit will be better than the second unit last year because of experience. It appears that David Neill, the defensive end converted to right tackle is getting the second unit snaps.
- The quarterback race is Taylor Potts to lose as he is getting twice as many snaps as the other quarterbacks. Captain Leach says that the backups vary with each day and Williams with the performance of the QB's:
"The young guys, it’s hard to gauge,’’ Leach said. "Right now, those young guys are leapfrogging over one another. Different ones will do well from one day to the next. I’m waiting for somebody (among the backups) to consistently have good days. I’m waiting for the same face to be the guy that has a good day one after the next.’’
During Friday’s 11-on-11, Potts completed 9 of 13 passes and had one intercepted by new safety Julius Howard. Doege went 4 for 8 and had one picked off in the red zone by linebacker Blake Collier. Loucks hit 3 of 6 and tossed a would-be interception that safety Franklin Mitchem dropped.
Neglected Video, Audio and Photos
Fox34 with a look at players stepping into leadership roles this spring, including sophomore linebacker Brian Duncan and sophomore receiver Detron Lewis.