Red Raider Gridiron | More OC Brown and Running Back and Secondary Previews

OC BROWN DISCUSSES TEAM | I missed this yesterday and I don't have time for a recap like yesterday, but 1340 The Fan's Jack Dale's Sportsline with Jack Steve Dale spoke with OC Neal Brown two days ago.

I do know that he was asked about things he was excited about and things he was concerned about and he answered both questions. Dale actually had to bring up the concerned about question twice, but Brown answered the question. This was discussed in the comments quite a bit, but ultimately, I really don't care what a coach says or doesn't say. I don't get affected by it one way or another. I suppose that lots of fans want coaches to be honest and positive and sometimes that's incredibly difficult to do all at the same time. I don't know if there is a right or wrong answer, in fact I am positive there is not, but I'd just ask that if you are going to be critical, that you at least be consistent with coaches over all sports.

Q&A WITH FROGS O' WAR | UPDATE: I did a Q&A with Frogs O' War via the email earlier this week and my answers are posted at that link.

RUNNING BACK AND SECONDARY PREVIEWS | LAJ's Don Williams looks at the running back spot and OC Brown summarizes the situation:

"I’m going to go in with the mindset that Kenny and SaDale and Quinton White, they’ve got to get ready to go," Brown said. "Those other two guys (Stephens and Washington) are going to be bonuses, but I really feel like Eric will be a factor for us this year. He’s worked really hard."

It sounds like Eric Stephens may be about as healed as possible, but they'll hold him out of contact for a bit. Everyone else is ready to go and I'd love to see White redshirted because that means that Stephens and DeAndre Washington are fully healthy and then add in Sadale Foster and Kenny Williams and you've got quite a nice group of players.

RRS.com's Aaron Dickens and Chris Level preview the secondary and they are pretty much okay with everything except for the other cornerback spot, opposite of Cornelius Douglas. They said that whoever it is will need to fight off Eugene Neboh and the likely candidates are Bruce Jones and Olaoluwa Falemi with maybe LaDarius Newbold making an appearance or maybe Jarvis Phillips, Derrick Mays or Junior Osunde. There are a lot of options and I think that's because they're not sold on any one of them. If Tre Porter steps up, he could solve a ton of potential issues.

CRITICAL 20 FINALE AND STATE OF THE UNION | RP has a couple of things this morning. First, RP.com's Joe Yeager finishes his critical 20 series and on top of the list is LB Will Smith:

Smith’s football IQ is so high that he naturally grasps what the coaches are teaching. Even more important, Smith can then impart that knowledge to teammates on the field.

And RP.com's Scott Fitzgerald has a state of the union address (this is only part I) and I'll just tell you go go read the whole thing.

HALFWAY TO SIGNING DAY | CBS Sports Bryan Fisher looks at the Big 12 signing classes halfway to signing day and has this about the Texas Tech class:

Under the radar class: Texas Tech
Quarterback Davis Webb was great at the Elite 11 and will fit in just nicely with the Red Raiders' offense with his ability to sling it around. He's got some nice targets coming in with him in Devin Lauderdale and Dylan Cantrell as well. Defensively Maruice Chandler and Will Barrow are two corners from the Southwest that might be able to contribute early on special teams before sliding into a solid role with the defense. Baylor has also done a terrific job this year but their class has gotten a bit more press.

I keep thinking that this class is actually pretty good, and will maybe be better if guys like Derrick Calloway commit (we're in his top 2 or 3 with credit to RB coach Chad Scott -- I don't think USC has any spots left -- and has been offered by everyone, see Rivals profile).

MISCELLANEOUS | SB Nation's Bill Connelly previews the Baylor Bears like no one else can . . . CBS Sports' Dennis Dodds previews the Big 12 and meet the two deep continues with QB Michael Brewer: