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Fehoko a 5-Star. Congrats to 2015 Texas Tech commit DT Breiden Fehoko, who earned a 5th star from Scout, which means that we're talking mere frog hairs of a difference between the rating of Fehoko and Stidham, who are two of the best players in the country.
Recruiting Needs. 24/7 Sports writes that Texas Tech's biggest recruiting need is offensive linemen, which is probably true considering that in a couple of years, Texas Tech will definitely need some tackle prospects and I think the Red Raiders are doing well. Quite well.
The Red Raiders have a pretty veteran offensive line, with few underclassmen on the two-deep. And while Texas Tech signed four offensive linemen in 2014, two were junior college prospects. So the Red Raiders went out shopping for offensive tackles in a big way in 2015, with four of their nine commits ranked as offensive tackles. Three of those are high schoolers, including Conner Dyer and Madison Akamnonu, each of whom was a four-star prospect in the 247Sports Composite. Trace Ellison rounds out the high school trio, while Lio Lafaele is the No. 2 junior college offensive tackle in the Composite.
Defining Defensive Success. ESPN has an interesting look at how to define defensive success in the Big 12 and I think I"m going to add some of these stats to my table for tomorrow's game, but the idea is that yards per game isn't maybe the best measurement because teams in the Big 12 will always give up yards in a game, but the fewer you give up per play, the better the performance. This isn't as big of a deal early, but in the middle of the season when you have two Big 12 teams that are less than good defensively, those are some good numbers to keep in mind.
Student Support. The Wall Street Journal writes about the waning student attendance at football games. Texas Tech athletic director Kirby Hocutt is the AD of one of the handful of institutions that doesn't have this problem:
"Nothing can unify a community and alumni base of a university like college football can," says Kirby Hocutt, athletic director at Texas Tech University. An average of 11,365 students attended the college's six home games last year, up 16% from 2012 and 25% higher than 2009. The college hired a new coach before the 2013 season.
In conjunction with that, The Daily Toreador writes about how the athletic department started to sell season tickets in February (rather than wait until the spring).
Williams on the Knights. Don Williams writes about how Texas Tech needs to try to figure something out in regards to their annual kickoff event with the Knights of Columbus. Williams gets a few quotes from associate AD, Blayne Beal about why the Red Raider Club is pulling back a bit:
"I would say we have not ended the Knights of Columbus event," Beal said Wednesday. "We want to continue to work with them. We have to get to a level where we're fair and consistent with every organization we work with, and we have expressed that to their leadership team."
And Williams writes about how some of the traditions that have been passed through the years are no more:
Tradition's been taking quite a hit, though, if you haven't been counting. The Red Raider Club's Thursday luncheon with the coach - admittedly, an anachronism these days - went out with Spike Dykes' retirement. Tommy Tuberville stopped giving all sorts of time-honored player awards named for coaches such as Pete Cawthon and Dell Morgan and players such as Donny Anderson and E.J. Holub. The horse doesn't circle the field anymore, and the double-T scoreboard's days numbered.
I get the idea of being nostalgic and I get the idea of trying to be fair to each organization. Still, I think Williams is right in that it seems like something can be done to help here, it doesn't have to be an all or nothing proposition.
Miscellaneous. Near and dear to my heart, Texas Tech folks are helping save lives in Africa in Malawi . . . your week 1 viewing guide for college football thanks to SB Nation . . . according to SB Nation, Texas Tech will be better because Kingsbury is ridiculously good-looking . . . as previously noted, Texas Tech will face Steve Campbell in his first year at Central Arkansas, who was previously the head coach at Mississippi Gulf Coast, which is where Reshod Fortenberry and Josh Keys previously played . . . Ubben only predicts a 45 point win for Texas Tech against Central Arkansas. He obviously hates Texas Tech . . .
