Ranking Adjustments. Scout made some adjustments with their rankings and Texas Tech commit Jarrett Stidham received his 5th star from Scout. Yes. You read that correctly. And I think the #2 dual threat quarterback (maybe he's just the #2 quarterback in all of the country). Breiden Fehoko was bumped to the #5 defensive tackle in the nation. Congrats to both players. Hard work pays off.j
Clark Makes Lombardi Award Watch List. Congrats to Le'Raven Clark for being named to the Lombardi Award Watch List! This is Clark's second preseason watch list as he was also named to the Outland Trophy Watch List.
ESPN Projections. I didn't really see how they came up with these figures or percentages, but whatever. ESPN is saying that based on their projections, Texas Tech has a 3.1% chance of winning the Big 12, which is behind Oklahoma, Baylor, Oklahoma St. and Texas.
Prepare Yourself. If you need to prepare yourself for Big 12 media days, they have released some minor team previews and things like that.
Crabtree-Kaepernick. Niners Nation takes a look at the Michael Crabtree and Colin Kaepernick and says that an extension is important considering their chemistry:
From the chart, you can see Crabtree's production spiked with Kaepernick. He was targeted more and was given countless opportunities. But, the increased production for Crabtree was about more than additional opportunities. It was about Kaepernick and Crabtree maximizing them. You could say Kaepernick unleashed Crabtree. If he were to go to another team, I am not convinced Crabtree would have the same production. Therefore, unless he is offered a multi-year guaranteed deal on another, Crabtree may not be willing to risk the return of pre-Kaepernick numbers. Crabtree is a better player with Kaepernick.
Hinkle Named to U23 Squad. This is to the Oregon Ducks official site, but congrats to Jaelene Hinkle who was named to the US Under-23 Women's National Team!
Secondary Review. The DMN continues their series looking at each position and up next is the secondary, where Tommy Magelsson thinks that the starters will be Justis Nelson and La'Darius Newbold at cornerback and J.J. Gaines and Keenon Ward at safety. I think this is probably right, although I think there's going to be some pressure by Dee Paul and (hopefully) Tyler Middleton at the other cornerback spot. That's the spot that is maybe a bit unkonwn and I also think that it would be great if Josh Keys made an immediate impact this year, even if it was as a nickel guy.
Ubben Shows True Colors. This is the Ubben that we all know as he only voted Le'Raven Clark on his All-Big 12 Preseason team.
Miscellaneous. The NCAA is investigating Oklahoma St. for that Sports Illustrated report. I could have sworn that this has already happened, the investigation, but I guess I'm wrong. I have zero expectation that anything will come out of the NCAA's investigation and there is any real penalty . . . Two unnamed Texas Longhorn players received a meal purchased by an agent and now their status is unknown . . . #