Texas Tech News, Notes and Links | 2012-09-20

OLYMPIC SPORTS

The volleyball team lost last night in their last conference game to Nevada, 3-2. I don't know how this team is going to do in conference play as they did well in non-conference last year, but then struggled in conference play. Hoping for the best.

TTU's Brandon Rawe profiles freshman Janine Beckie on your right.

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL

The Big 12 released their Fox Sports basketball schedule and Texas Tech will be featured three times. Also, you can buy season tickets.

MEN'S BASKETBALL

So yesterday I noticed that the basketball team had their official roster online, which is the first time that I really noticed it and there is no F Wannah Bail, but Billy Gillispie is still listed as the head coach. I don't know if I mentioned this, but F Aaron Ross tore his ACL and he is out for the year and now what I thought is a really big team now only has four big men on the roster, Kader Tapsoba, Dejan Kravic, Jaye Crockett and F Jordan Tolbert.

FOOTBALL

Yesterday the coordinators were given the floor after practice. The video is on the right and the non-transcript is below:

DC Art Kaufman: Trying to correct mistakes, things that can be corrected, drives and plays. Work on fundamentals. At corner we get to work against good receivers and quarterback, but I think we have a chance because we see it every day. CB Bruce Jones, he was maybe the 3rd corner and now he is definitely the 3rd corner. He was the tackle to the field, tackled very well. LB Zach Winbush, first time he started game, he's come a long ways and he has put himself in the mix. If it is a 80 play game, say starters are 45 to 50 snaps and backups get 30 snaps. DT Michael Starts has come so far ,really didn't know much, to the way he played throughout the game, he's really learning how to come off and use his fans. We have to work on fundamentals, this week was a fundamental week.

OC Neal Brown: RT Terry McDaniel has had a stiff back, have RG LeRaven Clark at right tackle with LG Beau Carpenter at right guard and LG Alfredo Morales at left guard. When C Tony Morales gets back, he can play center or both guard spots, hoping to have him back, I don't know if he'll be back this week or not as he still has swelling on his knee. RB Eric Stephens, we had him going too many reps. We took care of him during the week. We'll take the bye week here. We can focus on some young kids. Both game planning, trying to work on fundamentals. Very solid from IR Jakeem Grant, feel comfortable with him, he is playing better without the ball, but he blocked really well at the end of the game. We are working on ball security, do it every day for 5 minutes. Last year the ball was really loose, he didn't put his second hand on it last week. I feel I have a lot of trust in WR Bradley Marquez, he is a trustworthy guy. Has a knack to make plays, has a lot of room to grow as a route-runner. He's 198, has a good sized body and uses it well in traffic. We're more versatile this year, we're moving people around, we have more playmakers. A lot of returning, I'm probably more comfortable, the real answer won't come until after next Saturday. The thing I am proud of is that we were ready to go, took care of business, we were more mature.

You can also read similar summaries with the LAJ, DT and RRS.

LAJ's Don Williams profiles IR Jakeem Grant and he talks about his redshirt year last year:

To reach this point, Grant had to go through a redshirt season, which he admits tested his patience. But there were good reasons to hold him back. He suffered a broken pinkie finger and a fractured thumb a week apart in the 2011 preseason, then a hip pointer right after that. Grant says his conditioning wasn’t at peak level then either, something he recognized after the fact.

Grant said he weighed 141 pounds when he first reported to Tech. Over the past year, strength and conditioning coach Joe Walker has helped him gain muscle as well as the ability to go fast play after play.

"As I look back on it, it was really good for me," Grant said. "Back then, I wasn’t prepared to play. But this year, I’m bigger, I’m faster, I’m stronger and I’m ready to compete now."

So I'm a bit nervous about how Football Outsiders has Texas Tech as a top 10 team, but I'll take it. We know, it's all easy non-conference opponents, but still . . . CBSSports reports that the NCAA and EA Sports admit that they use real student athletes likeness in their games . . . I love this series and can't wait for Texas Tech's turn, but Wide Right & Natty Lite tells you why you shouldn't vote for TCU and it has to do with drugs . . .