clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Monday Matador Mailbag on Tuesday 7.12.16

Thanks for submitting your mailbag questions! Check out the answers below...

By Kyle Jacobson

Welcome to the Monday Matador Mailbag on Tuesday, because it’s July and the offseason is like "Whose Line Is It Anyway?"; the rules are made up and the days of the week don’t matter. Here we go…

Uh, good I guess. The fact that I saw media coverage from this derby and Giancarlo Stanton put on a show for everyone probably means this year’s derby was the best in a while. All of the professional sports have trouble garnering interest in all-star break festivities (or in the NFL’s case, the Pro Bowl), so I say anything that helps put such events back on the map is a step in the right direction.

Side note: Giancarlo Stanton plays for the Marlins. The lead singer of Creed, the greatest post-grunge band of all time, once made this song about the Marlins. Please watch it.

There is no concrete evidence to support the claim that we will have a "good" defense this season. However, a little bit of blind optimism and continuity could go a long way. Unless you count Matt Wallerstedt’s horrendous three game stay in Lubbock during 2014, this is the first time Texas Tech has had the same defensive coordinator for two seasons in a row in quite some time. And while the Red Raiders lost some considerable talent this offseason (Nigel Bethel, Dakota Allen, Pete Robertson, etc.), hopefully the continuity David Gibbs provides at defensive coordinator is worth something. We don’t need to be a top 10 defense, just an average one, to have a great season. I’ll stop short of predicting a "good" defense, but I do believe it will take a step in the direction towards competency.

My initial reaction: "surely someone has more depth at wide receiver than Texas Tech". Not that I think we’re weak at the position, but other Big 12 schools tend to have more talent in general. However, Baylor, OU, and TCU all lost one or two of their main targets from last season. Texas has very little proven talent to speak of. All the other Big 12 schools seem to be average at best at the WR position. So I suppose the answer is "yes". The fact that Devin Lauderdale, one of the most explosive players in the conference, is fighting for a starting spot should speak volumes about our WR depth. While we lost the biggest playmaker at the position in Jakeem Grant, a lot of talent and depth across the board seems to remain (Dylan Cantrell, Cam Batson, Ian Sadler, Tony Brown, Reginald Davis, and Jonathan Giles). Throw in the aforementioned Lauderdale and the additions of JUCO transfers Derrick Willies and De’quan Bowman, and we may have more viable weapons at our disposal than anyone else in the Big 12. Great question, we’ll find out for sure soon enough.

Some people just like to vent on the internet. So they find a random facetious article that says something along the lines of "I don’t like the city you live in", and throw a fit like a toddler might do. The thing about rankings is half of everything you rank is going to be in the bottom half of the rankings (because, math), so you’re always going to upset someone. Next time I rank stuff I’ll just make it a multiway tie for first place so everyone can be happy.

I just started playing Pokémon GO today, so I’m not totally sure yet. I’m not dedicated enough to go searching for any, so I’m the wrong guy to ask. Twitter world, can you help Crying Adam Morrison find some solid Pokestops in Lubbock?

Thanks for reading and check back with us next time for the "Monday Matador Mailbag on Whatever Day We Decide to Do It"!

More From Viva The Matadors