Practice Notes: There's some video after yesterday's practice and here's my non-transcript:
Tommy Tuberville: Good day after not practicing. Guys are focused. Had dinner with the seniors, good to get their opinions. Have a lot of new things in and will start going through game preparation starting tomorrow . . . Been really pleased with the kicking game and lots of guys want to play there. Decided on P Jonathan LaCour and would be comfortable with P Ryan Erxleben. LaCour has a little more experience and would prefer to let Erxleben redshirt and have three more good years . . . Been a makeshift group of defensive backs. CB D.J. Johnson has been the biggest surprise. Play lots of different coverages and a few surprises moving some safeties around. Want each week to get better and better in the secondary.
P Jonathan LaCour: Feels great to get back out there. Very much looking forward to getting back on the field. Try and take Erxleben under his wing, they both help each other and criticize each other. Means that even though he lost his scholarship last year, he still fought back. Not nervous about getting back out there.
S Franklin Mitchem: Feels good just being a couple of days out from the game. Feels a lot more comfortable learning the schemes and with practice correcting the mistakes. Just have to worry about themselves, try not to do too much to deviate from their game plan. The cornerbacks have a long way to go to be where they want to be and they the game is where it all counts.
A couple of interesting things which is that after LaCour was suspended last year (see here for why he was suspended), but he also had his scholarship taken away? That seems like a harsh punishment, especially for what was a mistake. On to Mitchem, I think he said the cornerbacks are a long way off? Not real sure what to make of that statement. LAJ's Don Williams has a notebook from yesterday with most of these notes, but also has Tuberville talk a bit about CB Jarvis Phillips:
"He’s not big enough to play safety, so we threw him in there to play corner," Tuberville said. "He’s a physical guy, very physical. He is the prototype corner. Everybody would like to have the 6-foot, 6-foot-1 corners, but you can’t have all of them."
Johnson at Cornerback: LAJ's Don Williams features sophomore cornerback D.J. Johnson who writes that Johnson played cornerback, safety, nickel and linebacker leading up tot he spring, but went to Tuberville and volunteered to play cornerback to help solve the depth issues there. Here's Tuberville talking about Johnson:
"He’s a bigger guy playing corner," Tuberville said. "He’s not the most athletic guy in terms of flipping his hips, but I tell you, he really competes and he’s gotten better and better.
"And I think the weight program has really helped him — the stretching part, the plyometrics that we do. We were counting on him playing some position. We didn’t really know where coming out of spring, but he’s really done well at corner."
And Johnson talks about the improvement the cornerbacks have made over the fall practices (maybe this is what Mitchem was talking about):
"Early on, we had been getting bombed a lot," he said. "Now it’s like maybe get three balls thrown deep at us. I feel like we’re starting to cover that better and we’re starting to perform at a much higher level."
I'm a little nervous.
So much more strong good good after the jump, including some audio for your listening pleasure, video of 2012 LB recruit Derek David (holy smokes, this is impressive), video of Harrell with the Packers, OC Brown's Twitter update and much, much more.
Red Raider football With Tommy Tuberville: Tubs' coaching show will be each Thursday at 6:00 p.m. at the Ruby Tequila's located at Mac Davis & University Avenue. Someone show up and ask a question on behalf of Double-T Nation.
I Don't Want Audio: Ryan Hyatt talked with Scout.com's Greg Powers, who talks quite a bit about Aledo RB Jonathan Gray, some of Texas Tech great James Gray . . . head coach Tommy Tuberville talks with Ian Fitzsimmons (sp?) of 103.3 in Dallas and he mentions a couple of players, ILB Cqulin Hubert, RB Baron Batch and RB Eric Stephens . . .
OC Brown Twitter Update:
Next couple of days are crucial preparation. SMU is talented in the front 7. Our kids are excited about Sunday.
Neal Brown
CoachNealBrown
Keeping Tubs: DMN's Chuck Carton writes that it may be tough to keep Tuberville in Lubbock because SEC jobs will open up eventually. This article is very insightful and I'm happy to see Carlton talk about Tuberville leaving right before his first game. Carlton also writes about the defensive changes of Texas Tech and TAMU.
Derek David is a Manchild: For those of you who aren't following commits from the 2012 class, I'd like to introduce you to LB Derek David. Derek is perhaps the #1 rated defensive player in the state of Texas for the 2012 class. At the time I did his profile I had to use some of the video from teammate and fellow Texas Tech commit, LeRaven Clark. Well, we now have video of Derek:
Derek David Highlights (via 247SportsStudio)
Giggity.
I have never seen a player wreak havoc on an opposing offense like Derek did in his video.
Wow.
Miscellaneous: AAS.com with Big 12 South capsule previews . . . if you ever wanted to know what BYU going independent means, then please read Mountain West Connection . . . excellent work from Corn Nation's Jon Johnston where he talks with a college football official about what it takes to become a FCS-level official . . . SB Nation's Big Ten blog, Off Tackle Empire, talked with Michigan head coach Rich Rodriguez (Rodriguez was much more different than what I expected) . . . LAJ's Adam Zuvanich talks about his initial top 25 ballot . . . the LAJ has a notebooky look at the Big 12 . . . this is NSFW, but you've probably seen Prevail and Ride's work on Shaggy Bevo and he's previewing the college football season (very entertaining) . . .
SMU Mustangs Links: We all complain about not having much Texas Tech coverage, but the coverage for SMU absolutely stinks. I'd be so frustrated if I was a fan of their team. Not one article, snippet, or mention I could find this morning. I know that SMU hasn't been good recently, but I just can't believe that someone at a major newspaper (I'm pointing my finger at the DMN) can't make something up and post it on a blog or something.
All we have is a bit from DT's Mike Graham who writes about the what the Texas Tech offense is expecting from the SMU defense. Here's IR Detron Lewis talking about the Mustang defense:
"Watching game film, I think their strong suit is their defensive line," said Tech receiver Detron Lewis, who caught passes for 87 yards against SMU in 2008. "That’s the best part of their defense. Their secondary is pretty good, I’m not downgrading them by any means, but I think their strong suit is their defensive line."
"They look better. Their head coach (June Jones) just came in two years ago so now everybody is learning and I’m sure they have a better looking defense now that everyone’s on the same page," Lewis said.
Harrell Update: Everyone's darling quarterback Graham Harrell is still fighting for a roster spot with Green Bay, although, I'm guessing that he's on the team in some form or fashion, whether it be on the practice squad or actually on the team. Here's an AP article about Harrell's chances. KLBK's Brandon Rawe tweeted Harrell's awesome beard and we have the video of Harrell at work with the Packers:
Graham Harrell leads Green Bay Drive on The Colts (via CelticF8)