SB Nation - Todd Walker

Double-T Nation Daily Diatribe // 07.09.09

Seth C — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 11:27:14 -0000

Odds and Ends

Focusing on Football

As far as schedule is concerned, I think I'm doing a couple of more basketball posts, one today, and maybe one next week, and that's going to be it for a while. Today's post focuses on the motion offense, and if you've heard of the motion offense, but aren't quite sure what it is, then I hope this post is helpful.

I don't want to ignore basketball, but with football starting to heat up, I've got to decide where I spend my time, and basketball is just going to have to go by the wayside as a weekly feature for now.

Texas Tech Football

Quick Links

If you haven't read this already, you should, Dr. Saturday's Premature Assessment of Texas Tech. Definitely a fair look at the Red Raiders and there seems to be a problem accessing the link for Tortilla Retort's look at if Texas Tech is making the ascent to MNC status.

Reliving Texas vs. Texas Tech

RRS.com's Joe Yeager continues his look back to last year, and up this week is the Texas game. Fox34 has the video recap:

Todd Walker Headed to IWU

Good luck to Todd Walker who will be playing receiver at Incarnate Word in San Antonio. Walker still has a year of eligibility to play football remaining after obtaining his bachelor's degree from Texas Tech, but cannot start medical school until the spring, which means that he's going to get a secondary degree in chemistry. You could pay me a lot of money and I would never get a secondary degree in chemistry. Not smart enough.

AAS Ranks Texas Tech #23

You guys might be shocked, but the Austin American Statesman is rolling out their Top 25 and has Texas Tech at #23:

The Raiders probably won't have Sept. 26 circled on their calendar, but perhaps they should. That's the Saturday they visit the Houston Cougars, who welcome back many of the key players from a team that won seven of its last nine games under first-year coach Kevin Sumlin, including a bowl victory over Air Force. But what makes the game especially tricky is that the week before, Tech visits Texas in the Big 12 opener, which has been moved up from November for a national television date on ABC.

After what occurred last year in Lubbock, the Longhorns, rest assured, will have Sept. 19 circled on their calendars.

I don't know about you guys, but that early two game stretch scares the piss out of me, especially for a young quarterback, left tackle and secondary. I hate it when folks make assumptions about what Texas Tech fans think. Not the worst thing that could happen, and you'll note that the AAS is one of the few publications that actually has Texas Tech ranked in the top 25, so there's that.

Scouting the Enemy

Rock M Nation's the Boy continues his Beyond the Boxscore look at Oklahoma State, this time focusing on the defense. Good stuff, as always.

Crimson and Cream Machine's ccmachine previews the Sooners receivers and tight ends. Aside from offensive line, the receiver position is where the Sooners lack experience. They'll be fine, but if OU is going to struggle it's going to be at these two positions.

Texas Tech Basketball

Look at the Big 12 Recruiting

Slam Online's Joey Whelan (hat-tip The Ralphie Report) looks at the entire Big 12 basketball recruiting classes, including this look at Texas Tech's class:

Texas Tech was focusing on the perimeter with this class, signing two point guards, a shooting guard and two small forwards for their 2009 group. Three junior college transfers will be joining the roster this fall in David Tairu, Brad Reese and Theron Jenkins. Tairu, a 6-3 shooting guard originally from Philadelphia, is a great athlete who does his damage offensively with a smooth mid-range game and moves that he can execute in the lane. Reese is a very intriguing 6-7 small forward who comes to the Red Raiders from Gulf Coast CC. Originally an Oklahoma State recruit before going to the JuCo route, Reese is a very good athlete with an above average shot; his range is well out to the three-point line and will make him a match up problem for a lot of teams. Jenkins, a 6-6 small forward, is very much in the same mold as Reese but is better off the bounce going to the rim. The incoming freshman in this class are combo-guards Jaye Crockett from New Mexico and Aaron-Mike Davis, a Houston product. Crockett is a 6-5 athlete with good range on his jump shot, but the rest of his game is somewhat raw right now. Davis is a little shorter at 6-2, but is strong enough to deal with contact on the way to the rim and shows a good overall feel for the game. He has proven to be a catch and shoot threat from the perimeter as well.

Having not seen any of these guys, just reading as much as possible, I'll just make one quick correction, which is that Jaye Crockett is actually closer to 6-7 as he's grown since he committed as a junior. Hopefully, we're going to see a different class of athlete at Texas Tech. Very excited seeing these guys in action.

Report Card: SMU v. Texas Tech

Seth C — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 18:56:40 -0000

Offensive MVP: Baron Batch

Defensive MVP: Daniel Charbonnet

Special Teams MVP: Taylor Charbonnet

QUARTERBACK
B	A much better performance by Graham Harrell, at least in my opinion. I thought he looked sharper this week than he has in the past, although I understand Leach's criticisms of Harrell, he's not quite on target yet, but I trust Leach to correct that problem. No interceptions, although there were a couple of balls that easily could have been intercepted, one coming to mind was the pass that hit the SMU defender in the back. As far as good numbers are concerned, Harrell finished with 8.7 yards per attempt, which is very good. Five TD's puts Harrell ahead of Kingbury all-time at Texas Tech. I'd still like to see Harrell not force the deep pass, just take what the defense gives you and the deep stuff will happen. I especially don't like it when you're down at your own 2. Get out of your endzone and get some positive yards. I thought Potts looked pretty sharp and the one thing that I try and watch with Potts is how long does he hold onto the ball, and last night he seemed to get rid of it much quicker than in past year. That's a sign that he's making quicker decisions and he's making good decisions (6 for 7 for 95 yards). It would have been nice to see him lead the team for a touchdown that last scoring drive, but I'm not complaining. I thought he looked sharp.
RUNNING BACK
A	This is the best I've ever seen the running game. As a group, Batch and Woods averaged 6.7 yards per attempt, had 27 carries, and if you're asking me, the offense looked so much better against SMU, in large part because of the outstanding running game. Batch had 98 yards on 10 carries and 1 TD. Batch seems to do a better job of breaking off for longer runs, a trend that's been true for the first 3 games. Out of the backfield, Batch accounted for 5 catches and 71 yards, for a 14.2 yard per catch average. Shannon Woods was running with attitude (my wife even noticed) and he seemed genuinely excited to be able to break out a bit. Woods finished with 86 yards on 13 carries for 6.6 yards per carry and 2 receptions for 47 yards. That's a very productive day by himself. I like where this is headed and I just hope Leach & Co. continue to feed the ball to Batch and Woods from here on out. Aaron Crawford did not play last night due to a turf toe injury .
RECEIVER
C	A strange game for the receiving corp. As a group, they missed more balls than I can remember and that usually just doesn't happen with this group, they're usually pretty sure-handed. Other than Michael Crabtree (8 receptions for 164 yards and 3 TD's), Detron Lewis (5 receptions for 86 yards and 1 TD) had the best game, but after that, no receiver did much to impress. At halftime, Leach said that he didn't have an X-receiver who could catch a ball, which is Britton and Todd Walker. With Lyle Leong in the doghouse, and Leach disappointed with his regular X-receivers (Britton and Walker), expect to see Rashad Hawk (4 receptions for 44 yards) and Tramain Swindall (4 receptions for 31 yards) continue to emerge and start taking away some playing time from the veterans. This is the second game in a row where Eric Morris (5 receptions for 25 yards) has had trouble getting open. It would be nice to seem him get on track.
H-BACK AND TIGHT END
C	Adam James caught 1 pass, late in the game, for 16 yards. I would like to see a more power running game when Texas Tech goes to the H-Back/Tight End Set, and this may be a criticism of the staff more so than the players, but if Texas Tech is going to utilize the set, then run the ball. I recall using the set on the last play of the 2nd half, where Harrell threw incomplete to Crabtree, and then at the end of the game, where we couldn't punch it in the endzone. Would like to see some improvement there.
OFFENSIVE LINE
A	Only 1 sack and 180 yards rushing. That's pretty good, of course the sack resulted in Harrell coughing up the ball. Vasquez let his man go and I guess he wasn't sure that Harrell had dropped back that far. Other than that, there were some really nice plays by the line. On Batch's touchdown run, Brandon Carter pulled and just unloaded on an SMU defender, allowing Batch to romp 43 yards for a touchdown. Reed played most of the game and I imagine the staff is trying to stretch him out a little bit before conference play.
DEFENSIVE LINE
B	As a group, I thought they did some really nice things. McKinner Dixon (7 tackles, 1 sack) was dominant and I thought they did a good a job of controlling the line of scrimmage. Daniel Howard (3 tackles, 1 sack) saw a ton of playing time, mostly standing up as a rusher. SMU only rushed for 61 yards on 23 carries, so I'm pleased with that effort. Colby Whitlock, Rajon Henley, Brandon Williams (2 tackles) and Richard Jones (1 tackle) didn't show up much in the box score, but they allowed the linebackers and defensive backs to make plays. I would like to see this group get a little more pressure, and I'm tempted to blame the gameplan more than the players. Rushed 4 almost all game long and I didn't see much in terms of blitzes or pressure from other points of the defense. Bottom line, this group did their job.
LINEBACKER
B	A pretty quiet night for the linebacking group. Brian Duncan (5 tackles) led the way, but this was a game where the linebackers weren't going to be too heavily involved. Marlon Williams (3 tackles) and Bront Bird (1 tackle) were a bit off statistically, but again, with so many pass attempts and the defensive line stuffing the run these guys weren't going to get much action.
DEFENSIVE BACKS
A+	I'm going to have a hard time complaining about the defensive backs. The player of the game was Daniel Charbonnet (2 tackles, 3 interceptions and 1 pass break-up) as he was around the ball all night long. You love to see that from your strong safety. We also saw Darcel McBath (5 tackles, 1 interception and 1 pass break-up) show some of the athleticism that we knew he had and probably should have had 2 interceptions on the day. Jamar Wall (3 tackles, 1 interception and 3 pass break-ups) redeemed himself from two subpar weeks with an outstanding performance. A very quiet night for Brent Nickerson, who didn't break into the boxscore, but that's a good thing. I didn't even notice him yesterday, which means that the quarterback never looked to his side or his receiver was covered up. L.A. Reed (3 tackles) was responsible for the lone touchdown, but I'm willing to cut him some slack as this was his first game back after nursing a injury the last two weeks.
SPECIAL TEAMS
B	Uggh. I'm still willing to stick with Donnie Carona (1-2, 35 yard make and 44 yard miss; 4-5 extra points; 8 kickoffs and 2 touchbacks). I see improvement, but he's still got a long way to go. I think Leach sees the improvement too, and he knows that Carona has the most potential and the more he works out his kinks here, the better Texas Tech will be in conference. Kickoff coverage limited SMU to 20.3 yards per return and the punt return, there was only 2 punts for Texas Tech for the game, resulted in -1 yard return. Taylor Charbonnet stood out last night on punt coverage. LaRon Moore (1 KO return for 25 yards) and Jamar Wall (1 KO return for 28 yards) were good returning kickoffs. While the Eric Morris (2 KO returns for 38 yards) had a nice 29 yard punt return, who was hit trying to return another punt, was solid. Jonathan LaCour (2 punts for a 45 yard average), the forgotten one, had a good day as well. I'm grading up here because I see improvement.
COACHING
B	Offensively, I thought Leach did a good job of taking advantage of a poor SMU run defense and thought it was great to see 24 rushing attempts. I like that Leach wants to see Harrell improve on his play, but I'm still not too worried, though I will be in two weeks if Harrell doesn't return to his 2007 form. Defensively, I would have liked to have seen a little bit more, but perhaps McNeill is waiting to for conference play to show his hand. D. Howard was utilized more this game than in previous games and that was an attempt to get some pressure on the SMU quarterback without having to change things up too much. Still, I'd like to see some safety blitzes or a linebacker streak up the middle of the opponents' line to pressure the quarterback.

Eastern Washington v. Texas Tech: TT Offense v. EWU Defense

Seth C — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 17:00:10 -0000

WHEN TEXAS TECH HAS THE BALL:

Statistical Leaders	Texas Tech
Passing	Graham Harrell: 512 Comp., 713 Att., 5,705 Yds., 48 TD, 14 Int.
Rushing	Shannon Woods: 84 Att., 439 Yds., 8 TD Aaron Crawford: 54 Att., 214 Yds., 4 TD
Receiving	Michael Crabtree: 134 Rec., 1,962 Yds., 22 TD Eric Morris: 75 Rec., 767 Yds., 9 TD Ed Britton: 48 Rec., 631 Yds., 4 TD Detron Lewis: 10 Rec., 120 Yds., 3 TD

Statistical Leaders	Eastern Washington
Tackles	Kevin Hatch: 75 Greg Peach: 63 Jason Belford: 53
Sacks	Greg Peach: 11.0 Jason Belford: 7.0 Tyler Jolley: 1.5
Interceptions	Kevin Hatch: 4 Lonnie Hosley: 3 Makai Borden: 2 Ryan Kelley: 2

Texas Tech Passing Offense v. Eastern Washington Passing Defense: There's not much to say that we already haven't already this summer. There's quite a bit of expectations for Graham Harrell, Michael Crabtree, Detron Lewis, Eric Morris and Ed Britton to perhaps be the best offense Lubbock has even seen. I think Lewis gets involved early and often, if nothing else to build his confidence and send him into a tear. I have no doubt that Mr. Crabtree will be effective early and often. Eric Morris was bothered with a hamstring injury in fall practice and if he's not available, then look for Adam James to get his repetitions. We also haven't heard much from Ed Britton most of the camp and if he struggles, then I can see Todd Walker (who was also bothered with a fall camp injury/illness) getting some looks as well.

One thing that surprises me about EWU is the number of interceptions they had, 22 for the year, and the Eagles return 3/4 of their defensive backfield. Kevin Hatch had 4 interceptions at free safety. Ryan Kelley and Lonnie Hosley also return at cornerback and Hosley had 3 interceptions while Kelley had 2. Although I haven't had the chance to watch EWU, I get the feeling that the Eagles are an attacking style of defense, evidenced by her +0.92 turnover margin, which was good for 20th in the nation and first in their conference. Not to mention, EWU was also pretty good at getting to the quarterback, averaging 2.00 sacks a game.

Advantage: Texas Tech.

Texas Tech Rushing Offense v. Eastern Washington Rushing Defense: This is the subject that I really want to avoid. The rushing offense was abysmal and probably a majority of the problem with the rushing offense begins with Shannon Woods, who lost favor with the coaching staff during the season and has only recently regained the coaches' confidence. I suppose it doesn't matter the reason why, but it left Texas Tech in a situation to use a true freshman in Aaron Crawford, who performed admirably for a true freshman, but it still wasn't what we expect. But Woods is back in the staff's good graces and from all accounts he'll start. I think we all expect that in addition to seeing Woods, we'll also see healthy doses of Baron Batch, who is coming back from numerous ankle surgeries and the aforementioned Aaron Crawford. All these guys have proven that they are capable of carrying the load. In front of these thee backs they have one of the biggest offensive lines in the country. There's no reason why this group shouldn't succeed, or at the very least be better than 119th in the nation.

EWU was 38th in the nation in rushing defense, yielding 144 yards a game and the Eagles return 4 seniors on that defensive line, led by defensive end Greg Peach (6'3"/255). Lance Witherspoon returns at defensive tackle (6'2"/275). At linebacker Makai Borden returns, but had only 52 tackles. EWU's linebackers don't seem to make a ton of plays and this is a postition where EWU is relatively inexperienced. Perhaps me picking an advantage is what I think "should" happen, and given that Texas Tech has a dominant offensive line with three quality runners, the Red Raiders should have the advantage, hands down.

Advantage: Texas Tech