Odds and Ends
A ton of stuff to get to, and I'm running out of time. I did update the Shawn Corker commitment from earlier this week, to include a piece of his ESPN profile.
Corn Nation with a housekeeping piece on how to get the most out of the new changes to all SB Nation websites.
BOTC's Panjandrum with a return of Adventures of the Big 12. You'll enjoy this, trust me.
Apparently, Texas Tech fans may be facing some changes when tailgating this year.
Texas Tech Football
There's lots of follow ups from yesterday morning, that either were published after I left or I just simply missed. The DMN featured a story on Leach yesterday morning, I think the front of their sports page:
At 8:29, Tech assistant athletic director Chris Cook gave Leach a backup wakeup call in his hotel room. At 8:48, Leach sent Cook a "get coffee" text. When Leach emerged from the elevator, a mud-black Venti and 300-plus reporters awaited on the ground floor of the Westin DFW Airport hotel. No one would have guessed that one of college football's most compelling personalities had just rolled out of bed. Swigging coffee for the next four hours, the 10th-year Red Raiders coach plowed through 15 print, TV and radio interviews with charm, wisecracks and bluntness, shadowed by a News reporter and photographer. Join me after the jump for the rest of the DTN Daily Diatribe.
Big 12 Media Days Leftovers: SAEN's Brent Zwerneman writes that the Red Raiders are hoping they can a punch . . . CT's Dave Matter takes a look at Leach's proposed 64 team playoff . . . AAS's Randy Riggs notes that the tattoos only tell half the story on Brandon Carter . . . Omaha World's Tom Shatel had 12 things he learned at the Big 12 Media Days and I thought these two were interesting:
6. Nobody works the national media like Mack Brown. The Texas coach and a handful of his players, including Colt McCoy, hosted a "meet and greet'' function in Brown's hotel suite Tuesday night with selected national media members only. Remember that come Heisman time.
10. Someone at Texas Tech actually upstaged coach Mike Leach. We'll just call 6-foot-7, 344-pound Brandon Carter "eccentric.'' Spiked green hair, tattoo of a skull on his head and many more on his arms and back. Those don't go away. Somehow, I don't think Carter cares much.
Remember yesterday when I complained about not seeing any quotes on DT Colby Whitlock? A good DTN reader sent me this video of Whitlock being interviewed, and just be warned, the interviewer isn't great, but at least Whitlock got some exposure:
Canada.com's Murray McCormick writes that QB Graham Harrell is learning the ropes while on the injured list for the Saskatchewan Roughriders:
"Every day I learn something that I didn't know before," said Harrell. "It's going to take some time but the more I learn, the better I'm going to get. That's why the nine games are going to be good for me."
Harrell has enjoyed Regina and being part of the Roughriders. He has heard from family and friends in Ennis, Texas, where he grew up and Lubbock, Texas, home of the Red Raiders.
"Back home everyone is more interested in what Canada is like than what's going on with me," said Harrell, who holds the NCAA record for most touchdowns passes with 134. "There is tons of support and they tell me that they already have their Saskatchewan shirts. They love their football back home and they support it no matter where I am."
Scouting the Enemy
Tilting at Windmills scouts Kansas St.'s Bill Snyder . . . Chris Brown of Smart Football guest posts at Dr. Saturday and deconstructs the Oklahoma St. offense . . . Matt Hinton of Dr. Saturday looks at Oklahoma's revamped offensive line . . . Crimson and Cream Machine previews the Sooners' defensive line . . . Barking Carnival forecasts the Big 12 South . . .
Texas Tech Basketball
Collegehoops.net previews the Red Raiders and has this hopeful bit (hat-tip Big 12 Hoops):
Texas Tech has potential and Coach Knight is desperately searching for new talent by hitting the junior college ranks. That might bode well for this season and the Red Raiders should win more than three conference games, but the long term success of the program does not seem very promising. Yet, in basketball, all it takes is one good recruit or one surprising player to step up and turn things around and the Red Raiders hope they can find that magic during the 2009-2010 season.
Per RRS.com's Jordan Strebeck, Pat Knight has offered a scholarship to Kevin Wagner, a Lubbock Estacado point guard. I did find this video of Wagne, and remember, he'll be a junior this year, so we have a ways to go:
k wag doing work 0001 (via kevinwagner011)