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Red Raider Gridiron | Red-Black Scrimmage Post Game Thoughts

By Seth C

THE TRIP | I won't bore you with many details from the trip to Lubbock, but it's always enjoyable. I'm pretty sure I've written this before, but to go to a sporting event for folks that live on the I-35 corridor and other spots is a commitment. You have to want to go to that sporting event and there aren't many local colleges that can say the same thing. Most folks can get to their school in 3 hours and then they can drive home after the game. The same could be done with a trip to Lubbock, but that's 10 to 12 hours of driving.

I was on the road by 4 am and arrived in arrived in Lubbock a bit after 10 am. I got some gas, stopped by a local pharmacy to get some sunscreen and was at Spanky's by 11:30. I met TechPrezNB there at Spanky's, I also ran into RonnieB and his wife, and USAFRaider at the game. After the game I caught up with Terry McDaniel's parents. Oh what I wish I could tell you that the parents of a lineman know, but I couldn't or wouldn't do that. Went to pick up some swag for the kid as he doesn't have any Texas Tech stuff (photographic proof after the jump). The baseball game was a good game despite the loss, and had dinner at Gardski's. By that time I was done.

RADIO INTERVIEW | I'm going off of memory here, but it was interesting to note a handful of things that head coach Tommy Tuberville said on the radio before the game. Tuberville said that he wanted the game to be a bigger event, wanted to have some sort of barbeque contest (insert jokes here) and really make the spring game an event. I know that a lot of you maybe do not want or do not think that Tuberville will be around next year or thereafter, but he's not going about his job like he's only going to be at Texas Tech for a while. No matter who the coach is, I want them thinking long-term and continually thinking about making the program better. Maybe it's just me, but seeing Baylor's indoor facility featured prominently during their pro-day could be thought of quite an endorsement for Baylor. It seems that Tuberville is getting an earlier start on high school players each year and brought in 40 or so high school juniors (they were all wearing name tags) and wanting an indoor facility. Whether you think Texas Tech needs one or not, a guy that you might think is only here for a short time, wanting to build an indoor facility is not a short-term thought. I do appreciate that he wants to improve the facilities, but I get the idea that I'm in the minority.

Tuberville also said before the game to watch out for LB Will Smith and that DE Jackson Richards was the MVP of the spring on the defense. That the staff had moved DE Leon Mackey inside to defensive tackle (he ran with the second team all game) and said that LB Terrance Bullitt and CB Tre Porter were the team's best defenders and Bullitt has been out all spring, while Porter has been limited due to concussions. Offensively, Tuberville raved about RT LeRaven Clark and said that WR Derek Edwards has had a terrific spring.

They also asked Tuberville about TE Jace Amaro and RB Kenny Williams and he said that he thinks that they grew up more in the 48 hours that they were in jail than they had all their lives and that he expects more from his team and he thinks that it was a wake-up call to the rest of the team. He said that he was going to let the process play out, but that at the least they were in a place they shouldn't have been. Amaro and Williams were on the sideline and they also signed autographs.

GENERAL THOUGHTS ABOUT THE GAME | I plan on doing a full write-up about the offense players and the defense players. Like a lot of you said, it's too tough to try to say that the offense won or the defense won.

The official site has the stats from the game (PDF) and if this has already been posted, then I apologize. Still trying to catch up with some stuff. Essentially, QB Seth Doege and the first team offense went up against the first team defense while QB Michael Brewer and the second team offense went up against the second team defense. So there was a disparity in the level of competition, so comparing Brewer to Doege without acknowledging that there was a difference in the competition might not be accurate. That's not to say that the second team defense didn't have some good players, they do, lots of players that started last year.

Nevertheless, Brewer looked fantastic, as did WR Marcus Kennard. I would remind you about Kennard that he had the worst catch-rate on the team last year, catching only 50% of the passes thrown his way (he was in the 50% range, but I don't recall the actual percentage). If Kennard has improved at catching the ball then he can be an absolute threat offensively as seen on Saturday. It's amazing to see the difference in size between IR Jakeem Grant, IR Javares McRoy and RB Sadale Foster. It's amazing how much smaller they are than someone like RB Ronnie Daniels. I should also mention that Level and Dickens said on 104.3 that Grant was starting over J. McRoy as Grant has had the better spring.

So you have mostly highlighted the guys that played well, Smith, Daniels, Foster, Brewer, etc. I did want to add that the defense wasn't national championship quality, and maybe it was just me, but I thought the defense looked more cohesive. I'm not even sure if "cohesive" is the right word, but guys looked to be in the right spots and the offense didn't bust any huge plays because the defense was in the wrong spot. That's not to say that the defense didn't make mistakes, but it just looked better. And then take into consideration that Bullitt hasn't played all year and then guys like DL Lee Adams didn't play during the game, I'm holding out hope that a better organized defense will make an improvement on some level. Not sure how much at this point, but I think every player somewhat knowing what they're supposed to do is an improvement. I'd also add that guys like DE Branden Jackson, DE Dartwan Bush, and CB Cornelius Douglas had good games, despite the pass interference penalty.

I'll be doing some more specific thoughts on the offense and defense throughout the week. Stay tuned.

TWITTER EXCHANGE WITH BEERGUT | I'm offering this without too much comment. I had not had anything to drink when I tweeted this and Beergut runs Iamthe12thman.com. He's also incredibly passive-aggressive and wonders why no one really likes him (I get along with and like just about every other SB Nation blog administrator). Here you can see Beergut making a comment that a reasonable person knows isn't true, but it's obviously meant to be demeaning. I'm also not condoning calling people names on DTN, but Twitter is a different matter:

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