Red Raider Gridiron | Offensive and Defensive Line Previews

OFFENSIVE AND DEFENSIVE LINE PREVIEWS | LAJ's Don Williams previews the offensive line and I think these are OC Neal Brown's first comments about Texas A&M transfer Brian Thomas and some things have moved around a bit. LeRaven Clark played right tackle during the spring and Terry McDaniel played right guard. They have apparently flip-flopped and I am very happy that Terry McDaniel is projected to be one of the starting five and I think he's the best right tackle right now. Also, Thomas will battle Beau Carpenter at left guard. Other than that, you still have LaAdrian Waddle at left tackle and Deveric Gallington at center. If Thomas starts, that's four seniors starting along the line. Here's OC Brown:

"I feel good about our first six or so," Tech offensive coordinator Neal Brown said. "It’s kind of a different deal, because I feel good about our seniors and I feel good about our redshirt freshmen, but we don’t have a whole lot in between."

And Brown on Thomas:

"So we’ve basically got four weeks to get him ready," Brown said. "I think he’s a smart kid. I think he’ll pick up what we’re trying to do. He’s going to give us some more versatility, too, because he’s started games at center and at tackle in this league also."

RRS.com's Chris Level and Aaron Dickens previews the defensive line and they make the point that this is about a rotation and not necessarily about starters. They also reference that the coaching staff thinks that the move of Pete Robertson to defensive end may force Kindred Evans to fight for his job. They also mention that DE Jackson Richards is up to 265 and he and Lee Adams could be a hybrid type of player in that they could play inside or outside.

COMPOSITE RECRUITING RANKINGS | 24/7 Sports says that they are also now doing cumulative rankings, which is something that I sorta started last year (I'm sure I'm not the first person to do this). So right now, they have Texas Tech 6th in the Big 12 in composite recruiting rankings and that's probably about right. This also includes the "unknowns" from the last three commitments.

MISCELLANEOUS | Shakin The Southland has been looking at offensive line blocking all summer. Football pron (yes, this is how I want to spell it). Yesterday they wrote about basic moves of pass blocking, but they've also written about run blocking and traps and quick pulling . . . CBS Sports has their pre-season All Big 12 team and the only Red Raider on the team is LaAdrian Waddle . . . ESPN's David Ubben talks with Seth Doege about the "FINISH" sign in the Texas Tech locker room . . . meet the two deep continues with LB Chris Payne: