Texas Tech shines on both sides during scrimmage

On Saturday afternoon, Texas Tech held a scrimmage that was their second of the fall and was open to the public.

The Red Raiders had multiple bright spots on both sides of the ball, as well as some rust to shake off, which is expected before the season starts.

OFFENSE:

Tyler Shough took first team reps on Saturday with Henry Colombi taking second team reps.

SaRodorick Thompson still was not going full contact so Tahj Brooks took a majority of the first team reps at running back, along with Xavier White and Chad Townsend getting some reps as well.

Erik Ezukanma and Trey Cleveland were the first team outside receivers, with McLane Mannix, Travis Koontz, Loic Founji, and Kaylon Geiger also getting first team reps here and there.

The O-Line appeared to be missing TJ Storment, so it was made up of Ethan Carde, Weston Wright, Josh Burger, Dawson Deaton, and Caleb Rogers.

Shough and Colombi moved the ball well throughout the day and both completed a good amount of passes.

Colombi had the first TD on the day on a 30 yard pass to Ezukanma. Shough then completed a TD to Myles Price, who made a very athletic play to get away from the defense and scamper into the endzone from about 45 yards out.

Thoughts:

Offense looked good but a little shaky at times, it is very clear that past the first string O-Line, there is little to no depth just judging the time that Colombi had to throw compared to Shough.

The receivers made some athletic plays and impressive catches, Mason Tharp rose up and got a few balls with that 6-9 height. However, there were a couple of dropped balls here and there, as well as some receivers running into each other down field. Expect that to be fixed before the start of the season.

Player of the Day:

My player of the day on offense was Mason Tharp as he got up off the ground and made some solid catches in traffic as well.

DEFENSE:

Keith Patterson’s squad was very impressive today, they were flying all over the place.

Jaylon Hutchings looked great on the D-Line, as did Devin Drew and Tony Bradford Jr.

The linebackers were in on almost every play as Colin Schooler had a good day, along with Riko Jeffers and Jacob Morgenstern. Krishon Merriweather and Brandon Bouyer-Randle had good days as is to be expected from the top defensive group.

The Defensive Backs were my surprise of the day as they had a lot of good coverage and were contesting every ball thrown. Rayshad Williams and Malik Dunlap were great and folks, Malik Dunlap is an absolutely massive cornerback and it showed today when he lined up in press coverage.

The safety duo of Adrian Frye and Marquis Waters was outstanding, and Eric Monroe and Reggie Pearson Jr. also performed well.

Thoughts:

I though the defense definitely won the day and the D-Line and DB’s were far better than expected. The Linebackers are still this defensive units strongest group and will continue to be all year.

Player of the Day:

My player of the day on defense was Reggie Pearson Jr. as it seemed he was involved in every play. He was flying around and looked a lot better than expected.

OVERALL:

This team looked solid at times, but also a little shaky at times as well. I think there is room for improvement and growth.

It seems to be Shough’s job to lose at QB right now and it remained that way after the scrimmage.

DB’s were a pleasant surprise and the transfers shined, which is good news.

The Red Raiders travel to Houston to play the Cougars at NRG Stadium on September 4th at 6:00 P.M.

It’s time to get excited folks, we are approaching single digits until kickoff!