I'm putting football after the jump because we finally have a substantial amount of recruiting rankings and the table is after the jump. Also, just to give you a sense as to what I'm going to post for the next couple of days. The 4-2-5 series is taking a break this week and next week. Also, I'll be posting a Five Questions for both football and basketball tomorrow morning that I hope will spark some conversation while I'm gone.
BASEBALL
Texas Tech Home Attendance in Nation's Top 25 - TEXAS TECH OFFICIAL ATHLETIC SITE
Just barely, but Texas Tech did make the Nation's top 25, finishing at #24. Good work on all of the fans supporting this team.
Robbie Kilcrease Signs Free Agent Deal with Pittsburgh Pirates - TEXAS TECH OFFICIAL ATHLETIC SITE
I think this is somewhat a surprise in that Kilcrease was a redshirt junior and went undrafted despite being available. I'm guessing that Kilcrease has already graduated and is ready to start a professional career. Good luck Robbie!
MEN'S BASKETBALL
Twitter / @Billy_Gillispie: Coach Walker - @RedRaiderH ...
Yesterday, Texas Tech head coach Billy Gillispie was holding a camp for some kids and making an appearance was assistant coach Chris Walker, even though he hasn't been formally announced, SF Jaye Crockett, and PG Mike Davis (who is still in crutches -- yikes) and new graduate assistant Derrick Jasper. You can check out Gillispie Twitter feed, @Billy_Gillispie and Gillispie said this about the Mavs' NBA Championship:
The Mavs showed the world a championship is accomplished through hard work, dedication & total team effort. That is the way we will play.
NBA’s CBA change could trickle down to Big 12 | Red Raiders
MISCELLANEOUS
Get Over 'Ferris Bueller,' Everyone - Alan Siegel - Entertainment - The Atlantic
What! Never! I won't get over Ferris Bueller.
Basketball Prospectus | Book Excerpt | The Trouble With Amateurism
This is a really terrific historical look by BP's John Gassaway about amateurism.
The Amateur: Indoor Football League, Or Outdoor Assault - SBNation.com
SBN's Spencer Hall tries his hand indoor football. Awesome.
Footbawwww is after the jump!
FOOTBALL
Dana Holgorsen Goes Skydiving - The Smoking Musket
Of course this happened.
Yes, Andrew Luck is your Heisman frontrunner. But does he pass the stiffarm acid test? - Dr. Saturday - NCAAF Blog - Yahoo! Sports
Three players from the Big 12, QB Landry Jones, WR Justin Blackmon and WR Ryan Broyles make this list.
A look inside the Big 12's new cash equality - Big 12 Blog - ESPN
Ubben is keeping track of this stuff and it's appreciated by me. Ubben's opening lines are interesting and had me reading the article:
For the Big 12's entire 15-year history, it divvied up 57 percent of the conference's cash equally. The other 43 percent, however, was handed out according to a number of factors, most notably a program's television appearances.
However, at the end of the Big 12's annual meetings, a year after losing two members, it announced that 76 percent of its conference revenue would now be shared equally.
Why Every Team Should Apply the Constraint Theory of Offense | Smart Football
Lots of good stuff here.
Know Your Enemy 2011: Baylor | ISU Football
I don't know that I've linked Wide Right Natty Light (an Iowa St. blog) before, but just know that there's cursing (which doesn't bother me) and making fun of opponents is good times.
Rivals.com College Football - Scheme changes may do these teams good
The Texas Tech defense and new defensive coordinator, Chad Glasgow, gets a mention here as one of the scheme changes that could make a difference:
Say hello to Chad Glasgow, the Red Raiders' third defensive coordinator in as many seasons. Texas Tech's 3-4 alignment is out, and Glasgow -- who had been TCU's safeties coach -- has installed the 4-2-5 scheme that the Horned Frogs have used under Gary Patterson. Tech ranked 93rd in the nation in scoring defense (30.9 ppg) last season.
The new scheme will play to the Red Raiders' strengths, masking a lack of depth at linebacker and playing to depth at safety. The 4-2-5 is a speed defense that should fare well in a Big 12 conference that has a heavy flavor of spread offenses. The "extra" safety can drop into coverage or cheat toward the line to help against the run.
Daniel Howard (danielhoward53) on Twitter and Michael Crabtree (crabtree_15) on Twitter
I found a couple of former Red Raiders on Twitter. Go check them out.
Athlon's 2011 Big 12 Predictions | AthlonSports and Texas Tech | AthlonSports
Not a lot of substance here. Athlon is predicting that Texas Tech goes 4-5 in conference and finishes with a 7-5 record.
Scout.com: The Elite 18 - No. 14 D.J. Johnson
RP.com's Joe Yeager continues his countdown and has quite a bit on Johnson and this part caught my eye:
What Johnson’s playing background suggests is a smart, athletic player with good footwork, quickness and speed. And indeed, that is a good description of Johnson’s skill set. Some have questioned Johnson’s speed but he is a legitimate sub-4.5 guy, which is not blazing by cornerback standards, but is plenty fast for a safety.
But Johnson’s most critical contribution to the Tech defense could be his football IQ. He may be the defense’s sharpest player, and as the team’s starting free safety will be charged with coordinating the back end of the defense while on the field. Combined with weak safety Cody Davis, another bright player, the Red Raider defense will hopefully suffer far fewer busts and breakdowns than a year ago playing in James Willis’ Byzantine scheme.
I thought that Johnson played more of a nickel back as a true freshman and we all saw that he played cornerback last year. I hope that Johnson can make the transition to safety, this will go a long way to make the defense better. Go check the whole thing out.
Rivals.com Football Recruiting - Line groups stand out in position rankings
Alright, Rivals has finally released most of their their recruiting rankings and there are a handful of Texas Tech commits who make the newly released position rankings:
PQB Clayton Nicholas | #12
WR Reginald Davis | #33
OT Halapoulivaati Vaitai | #39
OT Christian Okafor | #68
SDE Michael Starts | #10
CB La'Darius Newbold | #27
Keep in mind that these are national rankings. With that being said, I thought that now that we have most of the Rivals rankings that it was appropriate to go ahead and post the table just so you can get a sense as to which player is being ranked relative to the other services. If I have something wrong, let me know.
| Position | Commitment | Ht/Wt | School/State | Rivals |
Rivals Rating |
Scout |
ESPN |
ESPN Grade |
24/7 |
24/7 Grade |
| QB | CLAYTON NICHOLAS | 6-3/205 | Cooper (Abilene, TX) | 3 | 5.7 | - | 4 | 79 | 3 | 88 |
| RB | ||||||||||
| WR | REGINALD DAVIS | 6-1/185 | Tenaha (Tenaha, TX) | 4 | 5.8 | 4 | 4 | 81 | 4 | 91 |
| TE | ||||||||||
| OL | CHRISTIAN OKAFOR | 6-6/320 | Westbury (Houston, TX) | 3 | 5.6 | 4 | 4 | 79 | 3 | 88 |
| OL | HALAPOULIVAATI VAITAI | 6-5/260 | Haltom (Haltom City, TX) | 3 | 5.7 | 4 | 3 | 78 | 3 | 89 |
| DL | J.J. BYNUM | 6-3/275 | A&M Consolidated (College Station, TX) | 3 | 5.6 | 3 | 3 | 79 | - | - |
| DL | MICHAEL STARTS | 6-5/285 | La Vega (Waco, TX) | 4 | 5.8 | 4 | 4 | 80 | 4 | 94 |
| LB | MICAH AWE | 6-0/210 | Mansfield Summit (Mansfield, TX) | - | - | - | 3 | 78 | - | - |
| LB | KRIS WILLIAMS | 6-2/200 | Bryan Adams (Dallas, TX) | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| DB | LA'DARIUS NEWBOLD | 6-1/180 | Lancaster (Lancaster, TX) | 3 | 5.7 | 3 | 3 | 75 | - | - |
| ATH | KEENON WARD | 5-9/176 | Snyder (Snyder, TX) | 3 | 5.5 | 3 | 3 | 78 | - | - |
| Averages | 2.60 | 4.54 | 2.50 | 3.10 | 70.70 | 1.70 | 45.00 |
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