Big 12 Media Day Coverage: Per the official Big 12 site, you'll be able to watch all sorts of coverage from the Big 12 Media Days. You might want to bookmark this page if you happen to have a job that allows you to do nothing all day.
Behind the Scenes: Per the official Texas Tech site, RB Baron Batch and P Jonathan LaCour go behind the scenes regarding the strength and conditioning program. I wasn't able to get the video to work (I think you have to have Silverlight), but I couldn't get the video to start. It would be a lot cooler if this was posted on YouTube.
Tubs' Travels: LAJ's George Watson with a bit on head coach Tommy Tuberville's recent travels where he was at St. Andrews and then back in San Antonio for the Texas High School Coaches Association and a Red Raider Club event yesterday. Here's Tubs:
Tuberville, accompanied on the trip by a large portion of his coaching staff, spent the majority of his hour-long lecture discussing Texas Tech’s defense, which will be similar to what he has run in past stops at Miami under Jimmy Johnson, at Texas A&M under R.C. Slocum and as the head coach at Mississippi and Auburn.
How well the Red Raiders will be able to run the five-man front and 4-3 schemes will be determined in the next few weeks, but Tuberville is optimistic about what his team can do.
"That’s probably our biggest question mark," Tuberville said. "I know we have seven or eight guys who we can play with right now and can play with anybody. But we don’t need seven or eight, we need 20 or 25. We’re going to play a lot of players on defense because I’m from the school that you play two deep, you rotate in and you play young guys. It’s all about, how much can they learn and how much can they adjust from week to week?"
National Football Post Looks at Seniors: National Football Posts' Wes Bunting is looking at every BCS school and their senior NFL prospects. Making this list were QB Taylor Potts, RB Baron Batch, WR Detron Lewis, LT Chris Olson, DT Colby Whitlock and LB Brian Duncan. I think Bunting is dead-wrong about Batch and a little bit off on Olson. Here's Bunting on Batch:
But overall, he isn’t real physical and has a tendency to get tripped up and goes down easily on contact. Isn’t real patient inside and lacks an ideal feel of the run game. Doesn’t look comfortable setting up blocks and just doesn’t have to type of vision to quickly decipher information and react to defenders around him in tighter quarters. Seems to get a bit ahead of himself at times trying to burst into the second level and will simply lose balance in his lower half trying to outpace defenders.
That isn't Batch at all is it? Maybe I'm watching someone else, but to start off by saying that Batch isn't real physical just isn't true and Batch has made a living letting his line set up blocks.
So much more after the jump.
And Bunting on Olson:
Coming from the Texas Tech offense he’s consistently asked to play from a two-point stance and doesn’t look real flexible off the ball. Lacks ideal balance and/or body control when asked to reach the corner, gets doubled over at the waist and doesn’t exhibit any semblance of a kick-slide off the edge. Looks content to simply back straight up off the line, but fails to keep his legs under him and hands cocked ready to punch. Struggles to move his feet through contact, isn’t real heavy handed and fails to anchor with much consistency.
I wonder if Bunting's thoughts would change if Olson isn't really projected as a tackle in the NFL and may not play tackle this year for Texas Tech. I think there's a reason why Olson struggles to find a spot along the line, but on the other hand he's versatile. I do think that Olson needs to get stronger.
I also wonder if Bunting took a look at LG Lonnie Edwards or LB Bront Bird. Bird has limitations, but it seems like he could receive some sort of free-agent look and Edwards may be a guy that's got to prove himself over the course of the year, but I think he's a draftable player.
Batch Ready for NASCAR: Fanhouse's Terrance Harris talks with RB Baron Batch and Batch sounds a tad bit excited about the quicker-paced offense:
"This could be one of the best things for me. It is. That's a fact," Batch said to FanHouse recently as he sat in the room that will soon be Texas Tech's Hall of Fame. "The running back will be used more in this offense. But at the same time, it's still the spread, it's still a pass-first offense but, at the same time, you have to be able to run the ball to win championships. You can't show me a championship team that can't run the ball effectively."
Batch also talks about running backs coach Chad Scott:
"The thing about it, coaches come and go," he said. "We've had coaches come and go in the past. This is my third running backs coach now. It's just one of those things you have to learn how to adjust and take everything you learn and add it to your game. That's one thing I am really excited about with Coach Scott. He absolutely loves the game of football and knows his stuff in and out.
"It's kind of like taking another book off the shelf I can read from. It's definitely going to help me this year, especially going to the next level."
Matters' Defensive Ballot: I wish more beat-writers did this, CT's Dave Matter released his All-Big 12 Defense and LB Brian Duncan made the list:
Linebacker (three): Travis Lewis, Oklahoma; Von Miller, Texas A&M; Brian Duncan, Texas Tech
* Also considered: Will Ebner, Missouri; Keenan Robinson, Texas; Emmanuel Acho, Texas; Drew Dudley, Kansas
* Why? Lewis and Miller put up production numbers that speak for themselves: Only Missouri's Sean Weatherspoon posted more tackles in the Big 12 in 2008-09 than OU's Lewis; Miller led the country in sacks last year with 17. Duncan gets the edge based on a solid career in Lubbock - he's been the Red Raiders' most active tackler each of the last two seasons.
D-II All-American Transfer: Hat-tip to aggieraider, but it appears that Central Oklahoma safety Giorgio Durham (6-0/190) will be transferring to Texas Tech, thanks in part to WR Tramain Swindall. Here's the story from uco360.com about Durham:
"When Tramain told me there might be an opportunity to come down there I was really excited. I have always been a guy who likes to compete against the best, and going down there will let me showcase the skills I know I have." Tramain Swindall, who plays wide receiver for Texas Tech, and Durham go back to the playground days on the east side of Oklahoma City. So naturally when Durham was given the chance to catch on with Tech he jumped at it.
And here's Durham's profile from Central Oklahoma and his 2009 highlight video:
Giorgio Durham Highlight Film 2010 (via mikey82288)
THSCA All-Star Game: LAJ's George Watson has a short write-up on last night's THSCA All-Star Game. QB Scotty Young was 4 of 16 for 25 yards and 2 picks. There were some other Texas Tech players, but I haven't found any detail on how they performed. Although I enjoy reading knee-jerk reactions, hopefully we can all agree that Young is still a tremendous prospect and I'm excited as all get-out that he'll be in Lubbock for the next few years.
Measuring Attendance: LAJ's Courtney Linehan has a short bit on how she figure out attendance. As most people know, most programs use tickets distributed and not the actual turnstile attendance:
I decided to go with turnstile figures, which I obtained through the Texas Tech athletic department. In truth, there are likely people who purchased Texas Tech basketball tickets but for whatever reason did not make it to the game. However, while attending every home basketball game last season I could look around the gym and see a significant difference between the number of people I was told were in attendance and the number I could see in the stands. Turnstile seems like a much more reasonable estimate of attendance in this case, so that’s what I used.