Red Raider Gridiron: Josh Outlaw to Defensive Line; Alfredo Morales Back from Injury

Outlaw to DL and A.Morales Back from Injury. Well, this is news for me.  The LAJ is reporting that offensive lineman Josh Outlaw was moved to defensive tackle this week, it being explained that it could be a short-term move and part of the move was the result of some depth issues because of the injury of Demetrius Alston, who was on crutches and had a leg brace.  Here's offensive line coach Lee Hays:

"Well, if he comes out and gets 10 sacks ... ," Hays said with a laugh, "I know defense has priority. I don't know what the plan is moving forward as far as how he looked for (the defensive coaches) or anything like that. He could be back tonight."

This is an interesting move because Outlaw has never really broken through the two-deep despite other players from his class making a move.  Outlaw always wanted to play tackle and the coaches gave him a shot at that, but have moved him inside this year (I think that's right) but he's still been behind Baylen Brown and even Justin Murphy was the emergency guard last week if Brown and James Polk were injured.  I can say that I trust Hays and he's going to play the best player and he's not afraid to yank a starter or change the lineup.  This means that Outlaw could never break through, for whatever reason.  It will be interesting to see how long this move lasts.

Returning from injury, G Alfredo Morales is back practicing with the team, which is great news and will give the team three guards to choose from on Saturday after being limited to Baylen Brown and James Polk on Saturday.  Also of note, running back coach Mike Jinks said that he regrets not putting in Kenny Williams at fullback on 4th and 1 when the ball was thrown to Rodney Hall and Jinks expected Hall to be the WVU linebacker one-on-one.

Familiar Spots. Via KUSports.com (not sure what site they are affiliated with) we have Kliff Kingsbury and Kansas head coach Clint Bowen, who are both former players for their respective colleges and Kingsbury has talked about how Bowen has kept the Kansas team motivated:

"You can tell he's got 'em playing hard, and that's not an easy position to come into, with those players and that program," Kingsbury said. "But they've stayed motivated. He's got 'em playing at a high level, and that's a credit to him and what he's about. I have a lot of respect for him. I've known about him a long time in this profession and heard nothing but great things."

And we also get from KUSports.com that Bowen is continuing to change the culture at Kansas:

* On Texas Tech: They run an offensive system that can put you in stressful situations. They run the ball as much as they throw it, which is what they do best, and they spread out their personnel. It's hard to hit the QB.

* On KU's progress since he took over: The first thing the team needed was an identity. Players have bought into what the coaches talked about along those lines. They're not completely there yet but they're headed in the right direction. When people leave a game, they will say Kansas played extremely hard.

* At practices players are understanding the importance of urgency more.

Miscellaneous. The LAJ has an article on the two wide receivers, Dylan Cantrell and Devin Lauderdale, and I didn't find a whole lot to it . . . I didn't see this earlier in the week, but I try to link to the official site's game page and I didn't notice it until yesterday . . . well, Frogs O' War came out with a story saying that TCU QB Trevone Boykin was having wrist surgery and then had to apologize after being misled by multiple sources.  So yeah, this is why I don't break news . . . ESPN named their midseason All-Big 12 and included LT Le'Raven Clark . . . Sports On Earth has their national midseason awards . . .