Thursday Morning Links on VTM | Kingsbury in NYC; Happy 4th of July

1. Happy 4th of July | Everyone have a safe and happy 4th.

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2. Kingsbury in NYC | The official site has a good behind-the-scenes recap of head football coach Kliff Kingsbury's day in Bristol and New York City:

3. Texas Tech Preview | I did a Q&A with College Football Zealots as they work their way in previewing all of the teams so they take a look at the Red Raiders.

4. Kingsbury's Rapid Rise | ESPN's Ivan Maisel has a article on how Kingsbury has risen so quickly, but more than anything else, I think that I very much enjoyed getting Kingsbury's thoughts on how his quarterbacks should make decisions:

"You make a decision and you live with it," Kingsbury said. "That's what we talk about. You're not always going to be right when you're playing at that speed. Things change, and the picture changes quickly. Just make a decision, believe what you see and attack. We harp on that a ton. There is gray area. In most football, it's black and white. When you're playing that fast and maybe the defense isn't aligned properly, or where they are going to end up, there is gray area. You just have to see what you see, and attack it.

"Sometimes you'll throw the screen out there, and they'll fly down and blow it up for minus-2," Kingsbury said. "But hey, at the time, you saw that, and you ripped it and you weren't hesitant, and you made an accurate throw. Hey, that's all we can do. Result-oriented isn't all there is to it, especially when you're playing at that tempo. It's a blurry picture a lot of the time."

I love that and that's the difference between Kingsbury and other coaches is that he's played the game and he knows how tough that position can be.

5. New Stadium and Video Board Pictures | Totally Texas Tech has new photographs of Jones AT&T stadium and new video board.

6. Not Ready to Fully Buy-In on Longhorns | SI's Stewart Mandel answers mailbag questions and writes about how he's not ready to fully buy-in with the Longhorns, despite the fact that they looked the part.

7. Texas Tech Rodeo Star | The LAJ has a story on Wes Stevenson and Hunter Cure who are both Red Raiders. In a small world, I went to high school with Stevenson as he is a year or two younger than me I think and he was as nice as the day is long.

8. ESPN Things | SAEN has a transcript of Kingsbury's interview with ESPN's Scott van Pelt. The SAEN got a re-design. Looks pretty good. ESPN's KC Joyner ($) has a bit about how the Texas Tech offense can hit the ground running. I usually don't link to subscription stuff, but it showed up in my search this morning, so there it is.