Day Two Done: The official site has some photos from yesterday's practice, as well as a video featuring head coach Tommy Tuberville, S Terrance Bullitt and IR Austin Zouzalik discuss yesterday's practice. Tuberville said that he hopes to pick a starter at quarterback by August 21st and talks about the running game; Bullitt talks about just working hard; and Zouzalik talks about gaining weight to about 190 and that everyone is taking practice and details more serious. Again, nice work having this sort of video available. If you've been away for the weekend, then make sure and catch up first by reading DTN's RRG from Saturday and Sunday.
And congrats to former Red Raider Brandon Sharpe for the sweet touchdown leap.
Notes, Notes and More Notes: LAJ's Don Williams writes about a number of items including Bront Bird adding about adding some weight during the offseason, bringing his weight to 254. Here's Bird:
"There’s a lot of times, especially in the middle against a spread offense, (you’re) in the middle alone and they’ve got more people to block you than you have to stop the run,’’ Bird said, "so you’ve got to be able to get off blocks. The weight definitely helps."
. . . the team also went to church yesterday, so there's that . . . we also get some explanation on the flip-flopping of the offensive tackles thus far, which is that OL coach Moore wants to have options at every position:
"We were told to flip positions midway through the summer by coach (Matt) Moore,’’ Okafor said. "Last year, a lot of things went bad — when people got hurt, nobody was able to play left tackle. So he just wanted to cover that before, planning ahead of time.’’
Last season, the Raiders’ line had some shaky moments at mid-season: McDaniel went down for the season with a knee injury in game seven, Waddle had his redshirt removed to make his college debut in game eight, and Marlon Winn struggled moving from right tackle to left tackle in game nine.
Now the offensive staff will gain some knowledge beforehand about how well any of the top four can play the all-important left tackle spot.
"We’re looking at it,’’ head coach Tommy Tuberville said when asked about the tackles trading places. "We’re playing with some young guys and trying to find a way to make things work and get the best out of them. We want to protect the quarterback. Whatever’s the best thing we can do, we’re going to keep them healthy.’’
This makes sense to me.
Freshman Pass Rusher: LAJ's Don Williams profiles freshman DE/LB Dartwan Bush, who lost 15 pounds during the summer and now DC Willis is looking at Bush as a stand-up outside linebacker. Here's Tuberville on Bush:
"We’re going to stand him up the first week,’’ Tuberville said. "We’ve got to have linebackers.’’
In the future, Bush could stay there or move to defensive end — or both.
"He’s more of a hybrid guy James (Willis, Tech’s defensive coordinator) has been talking about,’’ Tuberville said. "A guy that can move around.’’
And Bush thinks that outside linebacker is the best spot for him:
"I think outside linebacker is probably the best for me in the future anyway, just because I’m not the biggest type of guy,’’ he said.
NC Corner Commits: DTN reader theta12 was all over this on Saturday as Texas Tech received a verbal commitment from North Carolina CB Jeremy Reynolds, who originally committed to Oregon St., but switched his commitment over the weekend. LAJ's Don Williams talked with Reynolds who says that this commitment is for real:
"I had developed a relationship with the coaches prior to coming down,’’ he said. "When I got there, it was overwhelming. Why wouldn’t I want to be part of something so great? Texas Tech football is headed to the top.’’
Reynolds said he’s convinced that new coach Tommy Tuberville will keep Tech’s passing game among the best in the nation while adding the defensive component to make it a more well-rounded team.
"Those guys are some defensive-minded guys,’’ he said. "Texas Tech is known for offense, but they’re bringing a defensive style, too. That has championship written all over it.’’
I'll be getting to a DTN ROTHS some time this week, but I've had a busy weekend.
Beating the Heat: RP.com's Travis Cram talks about how the team is trying to beat the heat this week as temperatures on the field ranged in the 150 degree area while science proves that the white helmet is cooler (by 20 degrees) than the black helmet. Meanwhile, Tuberville is assuring you that the black helmet will be the helmet for game days:
"I’m a traditionalist," Tuberville said. "We’re going to where black helmets. But it’s awfully hot out here. Anything that can help get these guys heads cooler, that’s what it really is. I think the players are excited about wearing them out here. But the week of the first game we’ll get the black ones out and start wearing those. (The white ones) are more of our practice helmets and they do get beat up pretty good. When we walk out onto the field I hope we play sharp because we’re going to look pretty sharp."
Miscellaneous: USAToday has a generic preview of Texas Tech . . . Rivals.com's Mike Hugeunin thinks that Texas Tech will go bowling this year . . .
Video after the jump.
Video: KLBK with a practice report, KCBD with a practice reportt and Fox34 with a practice report with Chase Williams: