Gamber Named Head Athletic Trainer: Per the official site, former Auburn head athletic trainer Arnold Gamber was named to the same role at Texas Tech yesterday. Go read this story about Auburn offensive lineman Chaz Ramsey. There's always two sides to every story and Gamber never gave his, but this seems like an odd hire considering Texas Tech's legal issues. You would think that there are more than a handful of qualified athletic trainers who don't have a spot on their record. For those Auburn fans that have joined DTN, I'd love to know more about this story. I've only done a cursory search so the more information, the better.
Top 15 Class: Scout has come out with their team rankings and currently Texas Tech sits at #15:
Scout's Take: It’s a new era in Lubbock as longtime SEC coach Tommy Tuberville works his first full recruiting class for Texas Tech. The early returns are good as Texas Tech is firmly entrenched in the Top 25. Tuberville’s days of producing top running backs dates back to his time at Ole Miss in the 90’s and Pflugerville product Kenny Williams was quick to jump on board as one of Tuberville’s first commitments of the season. Williams and fellow running back Bradley Marquez of Odessa are Texas Tech’s two highest rated commitments to date.
Top Prospect: RB Kenny Williams | Big Recruiting Win: OT Le'Raven Clark
Best Available: WR Ladarius Brown, OT Max Lang, CB J.J. Gaines
Other Big 12 schools in front of Texas Tech are Texas @ #1, Oklahoma @ #3 and Oklahoma St. @ #14.
Speaking of Kenny Williams: Texas Tech commit Hendrickson RB Kenny Williams was featured in an Austin news story, KXAN, about training with former UT lineman Tony Degrate:
Brewer in College Station: If you're in and around the College Station area today through this weekend, Texas Tech commit Lake Travis QB Michael Brewer will be playing in his 7-on-7 Tournament. There's actually a Rivals site dedicated to this 7-on-7 Tournament.
Missing Out on Top 25 Big 12 Players: ESPN's David Ubben listed a handful of players that just missed his top 25 players in the conference, which included three Red Raiders: RB Baron Batch, WR Alexander Torres and WR Detron Lewis.
Impact Assistant Coaches: Sporting News' Dave Curtis says that offensive coordinator Neal Brown will be the #4 most impactful coordinator (also by FanShot from centexraider):
4. Neal Brown, offensive coordinator, Texas Tech: He was an undergrad at UMass just eight years ago. But Brown has proven himself calling a high-energy offense at Troy. This Tommy Tuberville gamble might pay off in a major bowl for the Red Raiders.
Crappy Preview: I'm telling you up front that this preview from the Orlando Sentinel is really uninformed, but they're ranking Texas Tech as the #55 team in the nation. I'm not really even suggesting that you click on over, but just wanted you to know that I saw it and I wasn't impressed.
Big 12 Team of the Decade: Phil Steele is using math to determine the team of the Big 12 team of the decade and the Oklahoma Sooners finished first, followed by Texas at #2, Nebraska at #3 and Texas Tech at #4. Kansas St., Colorado and Missouri finished out the top 7, which was all that was listed.
Defensive Back Analysis: DMN's Mike Graham previews the secondary:
In the past, defensive backs have led Tech in tackles, but, recently, the Red Raiders have been putting together solid front sevens. Still, in a pass happy Big 12, Texas Tech secondary players are always near the top in almost all statistical categories. Tech's 2010 secondary returns both safeties; a new cornerback seems to have replaced senior LaRon Moore and a redshirt freshman replaces Jamar Wall, drafted by the Dallas Cowboys.
Opponent Previews: Pre-Snap Read's Paul Myerberg previews the SMU Mustangs . . .
PK Eying Recruit: LAJ's Courtney Linehan pulled a bit from Rivals regarding Pat Knight looking at West Coast point guard Cezar Guerrero. Seems like a bit of over-kill, especially with local point guard Kevin Wagner (Estacado) committed, as well as sophomore-to-be Mike Davis and incoming freshman, Javarez Willis. Linehan mentions that PK might be looking at someone else, hopefully a post player.
Powell on Golden State Summer League: Ridiculous Upside reports that former Red Raider Kasib Powell would be on the Golden State Warriors summer league team. GS seems to be a team that utilizes the D-League and I'd hope that Powell could get a spot on their roster.
Barnes Sweeps All-American Honors: Freshman 1B Barrett Barnes swept all three major Freshman All-American Teams, this time picking up some hardware from Baseball America. Congrats!