Seemed like there were a lot of football links this morning so I decided to divide the links into two posts. I think the Big 12 media days is later this week (I think) which means that we'll have a lot of notes and quotes.
Meet The Two-Deep: James Polk - TEXAS TECH OFFICIAL ATHLETIC SITE
Meet The Two-Deep: Kerry Hyder - TEXAS TECH OFFICIAL ATHLETIC SITE
Meet The Two-Deep: Lonnie Edwards - TEXAS TECH OFFICIAL ATHLETIC SITE
These are the two-deep profiles from Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I'm still enjoying watching the videos as you can tell which players are comfortable on the camera and which are not.
Grinding It Out | I loved seeing this video (hat-tip to centexraider for the FanShot) and I also love how the athletics department is double-posting their videos to their video website and to their YouTube channel.
Texas 7-on-7 | This annual state tournament happens in College Station each year and 24/7 Sports had a handful of articles that mentioned a few of the Texas Tech commits. Starting with Day 1, WR/ATH Dominique Wheeler was featured:
Wheeler, a Texas Tech commit, is one of the nation’s top overall prospects and showed that on Thursday. He has exceptional burst and can make defenders miss after making a reception. Wheeler also showed the ability to leap over multiple defenders and make tough catches when needed. Given that he also has good size, he’s a high value prospect overall.
There was also this CBS Sports article that said that Wheeler was the best player in the Division II pool and this ESPN article (it's amazing, I should probably never link to ESPN again, but sometimes I can't help myself) about Wheeler moving from quarterback to receiver or running back and what he thought about Texas Tech and not being offered by Texas:
"It made me feel at home up there," said Wheeler. "They are always keeping in touch with me and talking to me on Facebook, so I definitely feel the love with them."
While Wheeler expects to take official visits after the season, including trips to TCU, Oklahoma, and Oklahoma State in addition to Texas Tech. Still, there's one big school missing that still seems to sting when brought up -- Texas.
"That was my dream college growing up," he said. "I went up there and, I don't know. Maybe rumors got out on the Internet saying I didn't like it, but I didn't see anything wrong with it. Things happen, they stopped recruiting me, and I moved on."
On Day 2, Abilene Cooper QB Clayton Nicholas is featured:
The ambidextrous athlete was impressive as a quarterback with his smooth delivery and effortless velocity. The Texas Tech commit is a great fit for what the Red Raiders like to do on offense because the ball gets out of his hand so quickly and accurately. As impressive as his ability to throw the football right handed is the fact that he throws the baseball left handed in the mid-80s as a pitcher at Abilene Cooper.
I had no idea Nicholas was ambidextrous. Nicholas was also named to the All Tournament team:
Texas Tech quarterback commit Clayton Nicholas had a very good tournament, leading his team to the consolation game final and looked very sharp. He was named to the All Tournament team over several other deserving players but easily earned the honor.
Also, if you're big on recruiting and possible future targets, there are a handful of updates about various players that have Texas Tech offers or interest from Texas Tech: S Daveon Parrish (6-1/180, Lake Dallas, TX); and RB Dontre Wilson (5-10/165, DeSoto, Texas). Also, Texas Tech is in on some 2013 players: ILB Jordin Harrison (6-2/235, Pasadena, TX); WR Rod Young (6-3/175, N. Crowley, TX); S Elbert Speed (6-3/190, N. Crowley, TX); WR Jake Oliver (6-2/190, Dallas Jesuit, TX).
Uniform Talk | FSSW ranked the top uniforms of the Big 12 and ranked Texas Tech at #2.
2011 Football Women's Clinic | All you ladies sign up for the women's football clinic, set for August 3rd.
Rivals.com's Top 25 of the Last Decade | Rivals.com ranked the top 25 players of the past decade and WR Michael Crabtree gets the nod at #16:
Throughout the 2006 season, Texas Tech players raved about a freshman receiver sitting out a redshirt season. Turns out all the hype about Crabtree was justified. In his first college game, Crabtree caught 12 passes for 106 yards and three touchdowns. He never really slowed down, either. He set NCAA freshman records with 134 receptions, 1,962 receiving yards and 22 touchdowns to earn first-team All-American acclaim. He was also the recipient of the Biletnikoff Award as the nation's top receiver. The next season, Crabtree caught 97 passes for 1,165 yards and 19 touchdowns to again win the Biletnikoff Award and again earn first-team All-America honors. He also was fifth in the Heisman voting. Crabtree produced perhaps the greatest moment in Texas Tech football history when he caught a game-winning touchdown pass with one second remaining in a 39-33 victory over Texas that enabled the Red Raiders to clinch at least a share of first place in the Big 12 South in '08. He was a first-round pick in the 2009 draft.
#50? For Real? | Lost Lettermen is ranking the teams this year and they think the Red Raiders are at #50. As an aside, Rivals.com is doing the same thing and as of this morning, Texas Tech isn't ranked at they're already up to #33.
The Longhorn Network | Burnt Orange Nation's Peter Bean discusses the Longhorn Network while taking the Aggies to task. It's a lot of comments, but it's interesting.
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