Wednesday Presser: The post-practice video was about a minute and a half yesterday, which is very short and here's the non-transcript:
Tommy Tuberville: Good day of practice. Really hot, character builder for the players. Hard on the players to go through scout team. Improved what we did last week and will let everything fall as it may. Mickey Okafor is probably going to go to both sides, Chris Olson will probably start. Olson is back today and stomach virus didn't get to the defensive guys as much.
Meh.
Notes, Notes and More Notes: LAJ's Don Williams with some incredibly good news:
After Texas Tech’s practice ended Wednesday, two of the last three players on the field were quarterback Taylor Potts and wide receiver Alex Torres, who were working together on routes and timing.
Tuberville goes on to say that Torres is 100%, but he's just old as he turned 23 on Sunday . . . on the defensive side of the ball S Franklin Mitchem continues to improve from his knee-tweak:
"He got a little bit better, and it looks like we’re going to be pretty much full speed," Tuberville said.
. . . and coaches and players apparently took candy to the folks in Raiderville on Wednesday . . .
New-Look Defense: FWST's Jimmy Burch writes that the new-look defense could cause problems for the Longhorns:
Yes, the Longhorns are allowing fewer yards and fewer points. But Tech is making more big plays, which usually decides head-to-head matchups. Although the Longhorns have six sacks, a solid number through two games, Tech has nine.
The Red Raiders rank third nationally in sacks, led by defensive end/outside linebacker Brian Duncan (four), who moved to his hybrid role in the spring after two seasons at middle linebacker. Texas offensive coordinator Greg Davis said Duncan "has done a great job off the edge" on a defense that blitzes 47 percent of the time and causes significant concerns because of its unpredictability.
Tech has played only two games in a defensive scheme Davis described as "totally changed" from what Leach deployed. That means minimal opportunities for useful film study for Texas quarterback Garrett Gilbert, a first-year starter who has been turnover-free thus far in 2010.
Burch is back on the island. Good stuff here.
So much more good-strong after the jump.
Getting Pressure: DT's Mike Graham writes a similar article in that the Texas Tech defense hopes to put some pressure on the Texas offense. OLB Brian Duncan said this yesterday, but I'm surprised that he was so honest about what DC Willis wants to do defensively
"We’re going to most definitely come after him," Duncan said. "He hasn’t played on a road game, a real road game, and then coming into this hostile environment, we’re going to bring it. We’ve got plays, we’ve got schemes, and Coach Willis is doing a really good job as far as getting us in place to come after this guy."
Of course on the other hand, I think that Willis is going to try to bring it each and every game, so maybe this isn't anything new.
Maturing Potts: ESPN Dallas' Jeff Caplan writes that QB Taylor Potts is ready for the Texas challenge:
"This season I am a little more mature as far as understanding the game and what's at stake every week," Potts said. "I have a lot of confidence in my team that we'll get it done and play really well."
Marquez is Fast: I ran across this video of Odessa RB and Texas Tech commit Bradley Marquez and his incredibly break-away speed. Untouched, but so fast. So, so fast:
Bradley Marquez (via mo5858)
Raiderville: Just go check out the DT in general, where they have a talk with the citizens and the Texas Tech coaches from the other sports delivering pizza.
Texas Longhorn Links: DMN College Blog on QB Garrett Gilbert is ready for Texas Tech's crowd and that he needs to do more . . . FSSW's Steve Hunt writes that the Longhorn offense remains a work in progress . . . the Chron's Steve Finger writes about freshman WR Mike Davis . . . AAS.com's Randy Riggs writes that Texas hopes that Jackson Jeffcoat is a chip off the old block and also has a Longhorn notebook . . . Yahoo! Sports' Jason King writes about Gilbert receiving advice from his father, a former NFL quarterback . . .
Predictions, Big 12 and National Links: This weeks BlogPoll is out and DTN gets called out a bit for still having Virginia Tech in the top 25 (not directly) . . . Big 12's Wendell Barnhouse has some notebooky notes . . . Phil Steele predicts a Texas Tech win . . . LAJ's Courtney Linehan writes about UT coach Mack Brown is getting his Longhorns ready . . . DMN's Kevin Sherrington expects Texas Tech to beat Texas . . . Tortilla Retort podcasts with Barking Carnival . . . Turfburner's Jay Beck with a preview of the Texas vs. Texas Tech game . . . the best previews of the games of the week comes from Rivals, in particular Olin Buchanan takes a look at this week in the Big 12 (not much on UT vs. TTU, but plenty on everything else) and David Fox with a look at the big games of the week . . .