"Five" is a series of five things, players, thoughts or whatever I think will fill a post.
1. OT LeRaven Clark | The coaching staff really wants Clark to be the future at left tackle and want to somewhat accomplish this goal by having playat right tackle this year. Clark will face some serious competition from senior Terry McDaniel, but the intent was clear this spring. They think that he is the future and unless something drastic happens, Clark will be your starting left tackle next year. Clark does offer a very rare sort of athleticism to the point that Texas offered Clark late in the recruiting process (this a fine example of a player developing late in the year and part of the problem in taking players so early -- players can develop their senior year). The reason I have Clark at the top spot is because he is the only player in line to start this year. Again, relative to this year, Clark could play a huge part of the team or he could sit the bench and defer to McDaniel. A lot depends on the fall workouts and how quickly he has developed.
2. IR Javares McRoy | Did you know that Javares was only a redshirt freshman? Neither did I until I looked at the roster and sure enough that's the case. If you have at all followed recruiting, Javares was a four-star commit to Texas Tech, along with his brother Ben McRoy, but eventually switched his commitment to Florida. Texas Tech lost out on Javares at that time, but Javares wasn't going to have the best time while at Florida. Javares had some sort of lung issue that prevented him from playing during his true freshman year. Javares would eventually transfer after a semester at Florida and re-join his brother in Lubbock. While in high school, Javares was an electric player, with speed that you just don't see in Lubbock (except for maybe the next player). The interesting thing is that Javares is behind the next player on the depth chart and if I didn't think that Javares was also returning kicks and punts, then I just might have the next player ahead of him. Potential is the word, but if Javares can tap the potential that he has, he could be an absolute game-changer on a couple of different levels.
4. IR Jakeem Grant | Grant originally committed to Tulsa, but switched his commitment to Texas Tech. The only reason why I say that Grant may be faster than Javares is because Grant allegedly runs a 4.25 40-yard dash time and a 10.3 100m dash. That could be incredibly fake, but it could also be true. Both Grant and Javares are diminutive, as Grant only stands at 5'6" and 163 pounds. He is the smallest guy on the field, but he is incredibly explosive. He didn't get a ton of time during the spring game, but I did see enough to know that he is as explosive as high school statistics say (they were) and he might be one of the toughest players to tackle, in space, on the team.
More after the jump.
4. QB Michael Brewer | We all love the back-up quarterback and this is no different. Brewer is the future of this program and there is no doubt that after this year, the reins on the quarterback position are his. In fact, Brewer is annointed to the point that it forced the transfer of two highly rated quarterbacks, Scotty Young and Jacob Karam. Both quarterbacks would have been ahead of Brewer in most situations, but apparently Brewer is so impressive that the coaching staff, to their credit, probably let Young and Karam know that they were clearly behind Brewer. Brewer allegedly has "it". Maybe not the best athleticism, maybe not the best arm, but "it". Brewer's father played quartback for Texas and during the 2011 recruiting season, Texas hitched their wagon to David Ash and so it will be interesting to see how the two quarterbacks will fare over the course of the three years that Brewer is expected to play. I like Brewer, and after seeing him up-close after the spring game, he's not slight and given another year of learning the system, he should be more than ready starting in 2013.
5. WR Derek Edwards | Edwards was apparently a revelation during the spring as Teberville had mentioned that he was much improved during his redshirt year. He looks to have matured quite a bit, has added some weight and now looks more like the part of a Big 12 receiver. I think that Edwards has the requisite I've to be a dominant receiver, but with most receivers, you are going to need to be patient. Not only that, but Edwards has some older players in front of him that may keep him off the field this year. Still, you could liken Edwards to Eric Ward, although they are different players, I do not think that if you don't see Edwards all that much, please don't label him as a bust. Right now, he's sitting behind Eric Ward and Marcus Kennard on the depth chart. Most likely, if Edwards is getting any time, it's because things have gone horribly wrong.