What? A Daily Diatribe can only mean that we have news on at least two of the three sports that I have time to cover. If you're looking for something other than football to consume your mind, you should check out Michael Lewis' Vanity Fair piece (yes, the same Michael Lewis from the New York Times that profiled Leach) on the Greek financial disaster. That will consume a good hour of your day.
Newcomers Making an Impact: RP.com's Travis Cram profiles the impacts of DE Scott Smith and CB Jarvis Phillips, two relative newcomers to the defense and making a significant impact. Here's DC James Willis on Smith and Phillips:
"Those two guys have really been getting better week-by-week," Tech defensive coordinator James Willis said. "You see it at practice, you see it in the games and the entire team, really, is starting to get it. We’re trying to get better every week and I think, as a whole, we are really doing that."
And Phillips talks about how much he learned since Willis and Tuberville arrived:
"As a whole, I think it shows how much we have learned and improved since coach Willis and coach Tuberville got here," Phillips said. "We can always get better though. We still need to tighten up coverages a little more and just keep being accountable for every play out there. We’ll just keep getting better."
Not All Potts' Fault: DMN's Mike Graham is answering questions in lieu of Chuck Carlton's absence, and he weighs in on the Taylor Potts vs. Steven Sheffield debate:
Texas Tech's coaching staff is committed to keeping Taylor Potts in the starting quarterback role, unless he proves he's not capable of handling that role. While Potts' performance against Texas was one of the worst, statistically, by a Red Raider quarterback in recent history, it was not all his fault. Tech's offensive line didn't protect him as well as it needed to. Potts was sacked three times and heavily pressured other times. Texas Tech's running game wasn't nearly productive enough to take pressure off the passing game. Quarterback Steven Sheffield was given a chance - a short, three-play chance - while Potts was sidelined. Sheffield, who had not played with the first-string offense until that point, seemed a little rusty, but he also seemed to rush things. Potts was back in the game on the Red Raiders' next possession. Expect Potts to be the No. 1 quarterback unless the offense struggles against lesser opponents.
This is just Graham's opinion, but he does write for RRS.com, the DT and DMN so he's around the program as much as anyone. I can't offer you anything other than I'm saying my nightly prayers just like the rest of you.
Big 12 and National Links: Get your advanced stats and big-game fix at Football Outsiders . . . Rivals.com's Olin Buchanan previews week 4 in the Big 12 (both the Football Outsiders and this is worth your time this morning for sure) . . . I've never called The Puppet Chip Brown a liar, but TCU head coach Gary Patterson just did. Per FWST's Mac Engel:
TCU football coach Gary Patterson had just finished Thursday's practice when I gave him the good news.
Chip Brown of OrangeBloods.com Tweeted the following this afternoon:"Texas A&M fans would rather have Mike Sherman or Gary Patterson? You could have had Patterson. That's a fact."
I asked Patterson about this "fact" and his response was, "That's a lie. Nobody at Texas A&M ever contacted me. ... He's a liar. It's just like the Kansas State job."
Chip Brown is making quite a name for himself.
Tolbert Commits, So Many Commitments: There have been three recent basketball commitments over the past few weeks, the most recent coming last night from Ft. Worth All Saints power forward Jordan Tolbert, per DMN High School blogger Corbett Smith. I've got a profile on Tolbert, Hershey Robinson and Terran Petteway to be published later this morning.
Practice Starts: That's right, baseball practice started on Monday and I failed to even mention it. The official site has this year's roster (PDF) and DT's Mike Graham was out at practice yesterday where he talked to head coach Dan Spencer:
"Basically, what we like to get out of the fall is who is going to play where," head coach Dan Spencer said. "Knowing that things can change during the first six weeks of the spring when you're getting ready to go, but we just like to get a base plan of what we would do today if we were getting ready for a three-game series."
You can also find an official site video of Spencer talking about this year's team, as well as Scott LeJeune and Robbie Kilcrease.