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Red Raider Gridiron | Linebacker Preview; Bush Stepping Up; Morales Working Back

The official site has a preview of the linebackers. Dartwan Bush is stepping up his senior year. Alfredo Morales is working back after being offseason shoulder surgery.

By Seth C
USA TODAY Sports

1. No News is Good News | News "broke" yesterday that QB Michael Brewer may have missed a little bit of time with a bad back and until I see something more definitive than a player making a comment then I'll still sleep well at night (this is largely because of the alcohol, but I'll still sleep well). Because practices are closed to the public, we won't know anything until a coach makes any news officially official.

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2. Linebacker Preview | The official site has their linebacker preview, which was posted yesterday almost right after I hit publish on yesterday morning's post. Here it is again in case you didn't read the comments. The only thing that I wish they would do is a full positional review, all of the linebackers, instead of just a select few. Here's the video companion to the article and yeah, you sorta love Mike Smith:


3. Friday's Practice | I'm pretty much a day late on most of these I think because I post at un-human hours in the morning, I miss the link when it is posted later in the morning, but this recap is from Friday, prior to yesterday's scrimmage and features head coach Kliff Kingsbury, LB Terrance Bullitt and IR Jakeem Grant:


4. Bush Looking to Step Up | From the LAJ a good intro about how DT Kerry Hyder doesn't understand why fellow defensive line mate Dartwan Bush isn't getting more ink:

"If they do that, they’ve got to worry about Dartwan on the other side," Hyder said. "A lot of people don’t know, we had the same amount of sacks and he had only two less tackles for losses than I did. Dartwan had an under-the-radar great season last year and nobody really noticed."

And Co-DC Matt Wallerstedt has high praise for Bush, who if they can keep fresh, will have a significant impact:

"With what we do defensively, a guy like Dartwan Bush, if we keep him fresh in the course of the game ... . The only thing we’ve seen (potentially limiting) from Dartwan is if he holds himself back," Wallerstedt said. "If he stays fresh, then he’s hard to block."

This was also mentioned in the linebacker preview, but last year, Art Kaufman wanted them to stick to the system. I don't think that's any secret and after two years of being a complete mess, I can't help but agree with Kaufman's philosophy. Kaufman did the dirty work for this year's team, preached fundamentals and in a way, I think he laid the framework so that Wallerstedt and Smith's jobs were a bit easier. Had Wallerstedt and Smith inherited this group from Glasgow, I think they would have been very frustrated. In any event, here's Bush on the coaches letting them attack:

"I feel like the opportunities are great for me, personally — and (for) everybody on the defense," Bush said, "because they’re letting us go. We’re not standing back, reading people, seeing what they do. We’re attacking them."

5. Morales Working Back | The LAJ also profiles OG Alfredo Morales, who is working his way back from shoulder surgery in the spring and was cleared in June. Here's OL coach Lee Hays on A. Morales:

"I’m excited to see what he can do," Hays said before training camp started. "I really like his work ethic. He’s really battled to get back in there. He has really been grinding, trying to get back."

And here's A. Morales on how he feels now:

"I came back from it pretty strong," he said this past week. "We have a great training staff. Steve Pincock made my shoulder a hundred percent. I’m confident with it and I’m back. I’m glad to be back. I love playing football."

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