Looking for a sleeper pick on defense? Check out Luke Stice

Luke Stice transferred from the University of Houston to play out his senior year in Raiderland with defensive coordinator David Gibbs. He was originally behind D'Vonta Hinton at weakside linebacker, but the arrest of Dakota Allen has forced some changes to be made. As of right now, Stice, whose Twitter name is "WestTxWorkHorse37", is slated to start at weakside linebacker.

It's one thing to start. It's completely another thing to shine, and Stice has been turning heads this entire spring. Kliff is on record saying that Stice is one of the hardest workers on the team.

“Luke Stice was kind of a godsend for us this spring. He’s a guy that’s going to get a lot of playing time there. He did a great job this spring. He’s still learning the position, but he’s probably one of the hardest workers on our team and really had an impact this spring, and so he’s a name I’d put at the top of the board, and then those young guys have got to come on.”

Coming from the top dog himself, that's heavy praise. Despite losing one of their best linebackers in Dakota Allen, the linebacking corps will still return a big chunk of experience. Stice spent four years at Houston before transferring to Texas Tech, meaning not only does he have years of experience, he has years of experience in the David Gibbs system.

Kingsbury talked about Stice at Big XII Media Days, naming him as one of the guys who will contribute heavily on this year's defense.

I personally saw Stice and Picone play at the impromptu Spring Game. For lack of a better term, they're hard workers. Stice made a few plays himself, coming down with an interception in the scrimmage. I'm not a betting man, especially not on the words of others and Spring Football results, but if you are, it might be time to consider being excited about Luke Stice and what he can bring to this team in the fall.