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Monday Morning Links on VTM | Jones and Falemi Look to Compete; Richards at DT; Marquez Glad to be Back

Bruce Jones and Ola Falemi are looking to compete at cornerback against two previously injured cornerbacks, Jeremy Reynolds and Derrick Mayes. Jackson Richards is at defensive tackle and Justis Nelson is a cornerback with size. Bradley Marquez is glad to be back from playing baseball.

By Seth C
van Geiselman of Hawaii advances into Round 3 of the VANS World Cup of Surfing after placing second his Round 2 heat on November 28, 2011 in Sunset Beach, United States.
van Geiselman of Hawaii advances into Round 3 of the VANS World Cup of Surfing after placing second his Round 2 heat on November 28, 2011 in Sunset Beach, United States.
Kelly Cestari

1. Practice Update | The LAJ has a notebook from Sunday's practice, which included CB Ola Falemi adjusting last year and looking to make a difference opposite CB Bruce Jones. Jeremy Reynolds and Derrick Mayes were injured last year and are hoping to compete with Jones and Falemi and Co-DC Matt Wallerstedt is watching the two previously injured guys:

"I think both those guys would be not as much volume (of work) as you typically would if you’re a hundred percent," Wallerstedt said. "But I think it’s a day to day, practice to practice, feedback from the training staff and we’ll have to see. Do they have any flareups from their injuries? Is it hindering them or are they able to work through it?"

Also of note is DT Jackson Richards adjusting to defensive tackle, where he is mainly playing a 4-technique, which is directly above the tackle and the article notes that Kerry Hyder is back at defensive tackle, rather than defensive end, and right now Richards, Hyder and Demetrious Alston are at defensive tackle. I'm a bit surprised that Alston is at defensive tackle, but the depth chart is tough to crack at defensive end too with Dartwan Bush and Branden Jackson there.

Also of note is the size of OT Poet Thomas as well as the size at cornerback for Justis Nelson, who is 6-2/170. Here's CB-Coach Kevin Curtis:

"He’s a guy that wants to do good," Curtis continued. "He wants to compete. He’s not a guy that’s coming in like a prima donna, chest out. He’s a guy that will do whatever you ask, and that’s what you want."

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2. Marquez Glad to be Back | The LAJ has a profile on WR Bradley Marquez and his summer baseball experience. Marquez is glad to be backed and he's such a good guy:

"It’s a blessing. It truly is," Marquez said. "I’m blessed and definitely do not take any day for granted because it can be taken away from you very quick, just as my injury happened unexpectedly and so it’s just one of those things. I’m truly blessed and happy for the opportunity I have because sometimes a lot of people don’t have this. It’s a blessing."

I've said it recently, but I think Marquez will have a special year.

3. Congrats to Adams! Congrats to Luke Adams for helping team USA finish 3rd in the Deaflympics and averaging double-figures for the tournament. Very proud to have Adams as a representative of Texas Tech.

4. Big 12 QB's | Burnt Orange Nation is looking at all of the Big 12 quarterbacks and I wonder if you all would be happy with this, which is 3,200 yards, 19 touchdowns and 9 interceptions. As an aside, in Seth Doege's junior year he passed for 4,000 yards and as I've stated above, there's really a limit to the number of yards that can be obtained in a game and 3,200 yards translates to 260 or so yards a game, which may mean the running game is a more important aspect to the offense.

5. Summer Vacation with the Big 12 Coaches | Our friends at The Smoking Musket wonder what the Big 12 coaches are doing this summer and Kingsbury is having a real good time.

6. Manziel Under Investigation | You can find this story everywhere, but I'll go with SB Nation, but it was originally reported by ESPN's Outside the Lines. Lat night, news broke that TAMU QB Johnny Manziel allegedly signed a bunch of autographs and then sold those autographs for money. There was a lot of discussion on Twitter about this and it was really strange to see two different thoughts. The first thought is that players should be able to profit off of their autograph or likeness. This seems to be confusing the topic. The question is if Manziel broke the rules. These are not new rules and if anyone knows the rules it is probably Manziel. The initial argument, which is if players should be able to profit in this way is a different discussion. The rule isn't going to retroactively change, so this is a discussion that needs to happen at some other time or as a result of the O'Bannon vs. NCAA trial. Whether or not Manziel should be able to profit is irrelevant. At this point, it does feel like that Manziel is just giving the middle-finger to the NCAA because he can and he wants to.

7. SARR in an ATMO T-Shirt Will Haunt Your Dreams |

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