Red Raider Gridiron | Football Roster and New Uniform Thoughts

The first part is to get the updated roster and then the next part is practice. That's today at 6:00 pm and it will might be the only time you get to watch a practice all season.

RIP Joe Kirk Fulton

I can't go any further until we acknowledge the passing of the first Masked Rider, Joe Kirk Fulton, who made his first appearance as the Masked Rider at the Gator Bowl in 1954. Think good thoughts to Fulton's family and rest in peace.

2013 Texas Tech Football Roster

I had some initial thoughts last night, but I wanted to take more time to review the roster. I've got as many thoughts as possible on the roster and I am sure there are more. The good thing is that we get to discuss practice tomorrow morning. I would love to be able to copy and paste this stuff into a spreadsheet and then simply subtract the weights, but in the PDF version, it is not permitting me to separate the columns, which makes this incredibly difficult. So we'll just go off of my aging and not so reliable memory.

• Andre Ross was reported at 235 and weighs 220. Ross is projected at the outside linebacker spot with Pete Robertson, who has gained 5 pounds and is at 225. It will be interesting to see how effective they will be out at the OB spot.
• Gary Moore is about what he weighed in high school and is at 220, maybe 5 pounds over.
• New quarterbacks include Baker Mayfield (Lake Travis, Austin) and Collin Bowen (Randall, Amarillo). I've had my eye on Bowen for quite some time, he's terrific athlete, could play multiple positions, but the coaches are going to give him the opportunity at quarterback to start.
• DE Brandon Jackson is plenty big to play defensive end at 240, which is about what he checked in last year.
• Michael Brewer and Davis Webb seem to about the same post spring in terms of weight.
• Kahlee Woods, Zach Barnes, Jacarthy Mack and Malik Jenkins aren't the size they were reported to be in high school. Mack is the smallest, weighing in at 185, while the others are around the 215 to 220 range. Woods is the biggest at 220, but was reported as a high schooler at 235, which was also the weights of the others, except for Mack.
• Keenon Ward is 195 and only 5'9". That's just fine for a safety.
• I don't understand how Derreck Edwards has been able to not add to his 165 pound frame since he was a freshman.
• Jace Amaro checks in at 260, which seems about right. Not too big, and certainly big enough.
• Omar Ontiveros and Rodney Hall are your fullback types. Ontiveros is up to 245, as I think he was at 235 last year, while Hall is at 245. Hall played quite a bit in the spring game, but I don't think that Kingsbury really utilized a lead fullback during the spring game (or that is not my recollection).
• RB Quinton White is up to 200 pounds and only 5'7".
• It is very much good news that Jackson Richards is up to 275. That's a lot of hard work to get to that weight and I think that this is really a great move for Richards at defensive tackle. I think he'll be much better at defensive tackle and now he has the size to do it.
• Very happy that Demetrious Alston checked in at 260. He has to be that big to play defensive end. I think the coaches want Kerry Hyder to be the model for guys like Alston and that in-between defensive tackle and defensive end. They want to show what they can do with Hyder, who I think is going to have success playing that round-robin sort of spot on the defensive line.
• Somewhat of a forgotten defensive end is Kindred Evans. Don't be surprised if he makes a move at some point and is up to 230. For some guys it takes longer and there is no harm in that.
• The Morales Brothers, Tony and Alfredo, are up to 315 and 320, which is about 15 or 20 pounds more than last year. Good on them.
• I had tried to find out some information on Emiliano Renteria, 6'3"/295, a while back and came up empty. He was great for his team in Lamesa, but maybe no one got to Lamesa. Another walk-on is Ryan Messer 6'4"/275, who played at Nolan Catholic in Ft. Worth. I remember watching film on him and I thought he had a great attitude on the offensive line, but just lacked the strength or bulk. He also played center so this looks like a pretty good get now that Messer has added some pretty good weight.
• There are a few transfers, along the lines. If you remember from the spring, Bennett Ofor played along the offensive line, but he was actually a guy that played in the same district in high school as Dartwan Bush, but found his way to Midwestern State as a defensive lineman. I found it odd that he was initially listed as an offensive line guy, but now he's back at the spot when he was at Midwestern, which is defensive line.
• Joey White, 6'4"/320, is an offensive line transfer from Sam Houston St. via Wimberley. His SHSU bio says that he lettered as a true freshman.
• Blake Snider, 6'4"/255, is another offensive line transfer, this time from UTEP via Legacy Christian in Frisco. Snider's UTEP bio is a little bit funny in that it has him listed as a senior and weighing 290.
• I don't have a lot to say about the offensive line freshmen group. They all seem to weigh about the weight that I thought they were, even Poet Thomas at 335. He's a big kid.
• Dennell Wesley at 310, Donte Phillips at 280 and Anthony Smith at 325 are important for this team as Phillips in particular needed to add size. Phillips had a really nice motor during the spring game and I liked what I saw. I could see Phillips turning into Hyder at some point of his career. A guy that just sticks with it for all four years and is eventually pretty successful. I like Wesley at 310 rather than the 285 that he played at last year. Smith at 325 may just be what he is and he was also fine during the spring. I think I'd like him more at 310 or so.
• It is silly to think that a walk-on like Hunter Weishuhn, 6'5"/230, is going to be the next tight end, but I think that's the idea. Weishuhn isn't even in the same category as Amaro, but Weishuhn is the only other receiver on campus with that sort of size and going out and finding an Amaro every year isn't easy. After Amaro has a successful year, I think it will be easier. Weishuhn played in the slot and outside in high school, so he's used to that. He's also a basketball guy and so he's not got a decent amount of athleticism, just not at the level of Amaro.

The LAJ has some thoughts on the roster as well. The only player not previously reported that didn't report was deep-snapper Alex Chester and there's no reason given. The LAJ also continues their under the microscope series with a look at WR Reginald Davis and his position coach Sonny Cumbie said that Davis needs to make as big of a jump as he did last year:

"He’s got to have that same type of jump this summer to factor in this fall," Tech co-offensive coordinator Sonny Cumbie said recently. "He’s a kid that’s got some special ability. He just has to learn how to use it all the time and work all the time."

Texas Tech Football Uniforms Revealed

For anyone that can't or isn't going to watch the video, I thought this was a good photo that I re-Tweeted last night:

#gunsup! RT @ScottLacefield: A look at the 2013 #TexasTech Football Uniforms by @UnderArmour #WreckEm pic.twitter.com/CdFJDvYq7d

— SethC_SBN (@SethC_SBN) August 3, 2013

There are also additional photos, 101 to be exact, at the official site.

The biggest news is that there is no gray or red in the uniforms, but I wouldn't bet that this is it. Under Armour typically has a special uniform, so we know that's going to be on it's way at some point. I'd also add that the leaked jerseys from Red Raider Outfitters ended up being 100% accurate in terms of what the jerseys would look like and that leads me to think that this might also mean that the gray will be accurate as well.