Red Raider Gridiron: Webb in Pads After Practice; All Safeties Are Healthy

Webb in Pads After Practice. It was reported on Twitter last night by a handful of folks that QB Davis Webb was in pads after practice yesterday.  Practices are closed to the public, so all the reporters simply saw was Webb in shoulder pads, but didn't see him actually participate in any drills or anything.  So, the natural assumption is that Webb can or will play on Saturday. That may be true, but I'm not making a leap of logic to think that Webb is not totally healthy and if that shoulder is injured and not going to get better, then I assume pretty easily, then Webb playing may not last long.  The thing we don't know is how the reps were split on Wednesday.  Webb could have been in pads and on the sideline all practice or he could have taken every single rep.

Notebooky. The LAJ has a notebook with the note that Webb practiced, that the offensive coaches like having a rotation of players fighting for those guard spots, Alfredo Morales, Baylen Brown, James Polk and Dominique Robertson, and that safeties coach Trey Haverty said that Jalen Barnes will play this week and Haverty also talked about what Kansas State does on offense to set up the passing game:

Kansas State quarterback Jake Waters ran for two touchdowns and threw for one in last year's 49-26 win at Texas Tech. The Red Raiders have to be on guard for the same when they visit KSU this Saturday.

Safeties coach Trey Haverty said one thing Waters does well is sell the run, then pull up to throw.

"The quarterback acts like he's going to run, everybody (on defense) runs up and then he pops it to the tight end," Haverty said. "They do that every year, and they're good at it."

Hays Non-Transcript. Well, offensive line coach Lee Hays was made available for the media after practice today and it was only a minute and a half, so here's the non-transcript:

My problem is that I watch the film and I never come out of it thinking we played great. Best thing is understanding assignments, Davis Webb makes great checks, he does a phenomenal job and the backs see those blocks and set it up. Competition helps, that's one luxury that I do have, I can send someone else in there. I thought Reshod Fortenberry had a good game against Arkansas, but struggled against Oklahoma State. It depends on who they play.

Thomas' Passion. The LAJ has a quick story on former Texas Tech footballer Zach Thomas, who talks about his passion to play the game:

"When you really love something, when you have a passion for it, you have that obsessive focus that gets the best out of yourself," Thomas said. "I learned a lot, but the reason I was there was because mainly I had successful people that I've watched, especially coaches that helped me get to that level."

Miscellaneous. We've got SB Nation's The Acrostical and The Numerical for the week . . . also up is Grantland's QB Curve (written by Matt Hinton) . . . after two months of having the ability to give Baker Mayfield a scholarship, and even saying that they didn't have any available, and then giving a scholarship to another walk-on, thereby passing on giving a Mayfield a scholarship, Oklahoma finally gives Mayfield a scholarship . . . if you really want, you can dig into the depth chart analysis for Kansas State as well as take a look at their Big 12 power rankings via Bring on the Cats . . . FoxSports' David Ubben writes about how there are some positive returns with Texas Tech defensive coordinator Mike Smith in his first game against Oklahoma State and also writes about how head coach Kliff Kingsbury isn't "right" regarding his decision to disallow Baker Mayfield to be eligible immediately isn't the "right" thing to do because Mayfield was a walk-on, there is no right or wrong here because it's an opinion and the rules permit this sort of restriction . . .