SB Nation - Danny Amendola

Double-T Nation Daily Diatribe :: 09.02.09

Seth C — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 11:25:42 -0000

Odds and Ends

No Time for Odds and Ends! There's always time for one, if you're into Twitter, go follow the Fake Mike Leach and don't forget that you can also follow Double-T Nation on Twitter.

Texas Tech Football

A Bevy of LAJ Preview Articles: You have your work cut out for you this morning as the LAJ staff has been busy. I want to start off with the article by Adam Zuvanich on remodeling of the roster, which is where I think quite a few Texas Tech fans think about the state of the program. There have been years where the M.O. was rebuild and not reload and Zuvanich takes a look at all of the question mark positions in great detail, including the receiver position, post-Crabtree. IR Detron Lewis on the expectations of this group:

"We’re going to have a better receiving corps than we did last year," said the 6-0, 205-pound junior, Tech’s leading returning receiver in both catches and yards. "If we all get on the same page, we’re going to have the best receiving corps to ever come through here."

Don Williams writes about building a program at Texas Tech, and like most successful things in life, winning breeds more winning and DT Colby Whitlock likes the type of players at Texas Tech:

"Our defense is really starting to pick up," junior nose tackle Colby Whitlock said, "and a lot of the new recruits coming in are great athletes and great kids. Just the quality of recruit coming in right now is getting a lot better with our success."

And LB Marlon Williams can see a change as well:

"We’re getting better recruits and better playmakers on defense," Williams said. "I think when you put the improvement of our defense with the play of our offense — and the fact we’re getting guys who want to win, guys who are real passionate about football — they’re seeing our program rise to be up there with teams that have good legacies."

Zuvanich also writes about Texas Tech trying to keep pace with other universities with much larger athletic budgets and athletic director Gerald Myers gives honest answers about being in the red in the hopes of being able to compete on level (and sometimes at a greater level) with teams with much bigger budgets like Texas, Oklahoma, Nebraska and Texas A&M. And speaking of keeping pace, one of the ways to increase revenue is to increase the seats and Williams has an update on the stadium expansion.

Williams also goes position-by-position about where Texas Tech currently stands and where the future lies.

Finally, Williams gives us an opinion piece, and I'm not one to usually complain, but I think Williams does a terrific job on these types of articles and I just wish he'd do more of them. In any event, the article focuses on how it's imperative that the Red Raiders cannot let an 11 win season simply pass them by, and that this 2009 incarnation must capitalize on that 2008 season.

Moore Smarter at Cornerback: LAJ's Don Williams features CB LaRon Moore who will be starting alongside fellow CB, Jamar Wall, who believes that Moore has become smarter at cornerback:

"He’s become smarter on the field,’’ Wall said. "He recognizes routes better. Something we both needed to do was get in the film room more. We’ve both been doing that a lot together, so us being smarter together on the field, watching film, knowing what’s going to happen, it gives you more confidence.’’

And cornerbacks coach Brian Mitchell believes that Moore made the move during Midnight Maneuvers:

Mitchell said he began to turn a corner shortly thereafter in the team’s early offseason program known as "Midnight Maneuvers.’’

"He just decided, ‘Hey, it’s my turn,’ ’’ Mitchell said. "He decided to commit himself day in and day out and within the drills. I’m very pleased with his progress.’’

Texas Tech Football Notebook: LAJ's Don Williams writes that CB Brent Nickerson will be the #3 cornerback, although Ruffin McNeill has already stated that S Will Ford and S Julius Howard will be a part of the nickel and dime packages . . . also of note, freshman CB D.J. Johnson will eventually work into the rotation . . . CB Jamar Wall talks about returning punts with former Red Raider, Danny Amendola:

Wall picked up some tips from Amendola when he was back in Lubbock before training camp.

"I caught some punts with him," Wall said. "He was telling me different things that he focuses on when he’s catching. His main (advice) was just get square. Standing there, you basically want to feel like the ball is going to drop and hit you in the face. It’s staying square, being able to catch it under control and make a play with it."

Torres' Second Chance: DT's Alex Ybarra talks with WR Alexander Torres and his second chance at Texas Tech after being injured at the Air Force Academy. Receivers coach Dennis Simmons talks about Torres:

"He’s kind of a throwback football player in my opinion, or as most people like to use the terminology now, a cold-weather receiver," Simmons said. "He’s gonna get open, may not always look pretty. I think he’s gonna surprise people with his speed a little bit."

And fellow flanker Jacoby Franks also talks about Torres:

"Toro is a big physical dude, catches everything and runs sharp routes," Franks said. "I learn a lot of things from Toro, honestly. I think we’re a real good one-two punch."

Fighting Sioux: DTN user and North Dakota fan, nodakroxfan, pointed us to SiouxSports.com for bloggy and message board material. The official site has some news and notes (pdf) up from yesterday as well as a video interview with the Fighting Sioux head coach Chris Mussman.

Fox34 and Double-T 104.3 Preview: I won't link to each segment, but for you out of towners (like myself) there's some video of a recent preview show hosted by Chris Level and Robert Giovannetti that aired in Lubbock. Scroll down for each segment.

Sportacular Interview with Leach: NewsChannel 11's Pete Christy talks with the Captain, Mike Leach.

Official Big 12 Preview: That's what you call a fancy subject line, as the official Big 12 site has officially previewed Texas Tech,

Big 12 Links: Bad news for the Oklahoma St. Cowboys as starting tight end Jamal Mosley has left the program and starting linebacker Orie Lemon suffered a season ending knee injury . . . speaking of OSU, Barking Carnival has their State of the Union . . . Rock M Nation has part two of the Beyond the Box Score national preview . . . ESPN's Tim Griffin ranks the Big 12 offenses and Texas Tech checks in at #5 . . .

Texas Tech Basketball

Basketball? Well, yeah. The Ft. Walton Sun's Randy Dickson talks with incoming guard/forward Brad Reese who sounds like he's excited about the season:

"This summer was basically learning about my teammates and what they like and what I like. It was about coming together as a family so when the season starts we will be on the same page and everything. So it was a good experience for me. "

Reese expects to play shooting guard or small forward and is excited about playing on the perimeter.

"I love it because that’s my natural (area)," he said. "I played down low (at center) in high school because we were (Class) 1A. And in JUCO I played the three (small forward).

"I can play (power forward) sometimes, but at the next level I have to play outside because (the inside players) are 6-foot-8, 6-foot-10. I’m long and athletic and I can use my athletic ability against smaller twos and threes. Hopefully that will help me out for my future plans and stuff."

Five Things // Improving the Special Teams

Seth C — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 15:00:20 -0000

Five Things is a handful (i.e., five) of thoughts about a single topic. Hopefully, discussion ensues.

Improving the Special Teams

To say that special teams has largely been ignored by the Captain would be an understatement. Clay McGuire was the special teams coach last year and did so without any sort of experience. When running backs coach Seth Littrell left for Arizona, Leach moved McGuire to running backs coach, the position he played at Texas Tech, and hired Louisiana Tech's special teams coach Eric Russell.

The point of this exercise is to take a look at where the special teams was last year and Russell's La. Tech teams from 2008 and 2007 as well as 2006, the year before he arrived at La. Tech (Russell was previously at North Texas).

Since I haven't seen a lick of La. Tech football in the last two years, I would think the argument could be made as to whether La. Tech's success at special teams is based on scheme or the players, and for the sake of this post, we'll give credit to Russell for the scheme since I do not have an opinion as to the types of players at La. Tech.

1: Punt Returns

	2008	2008	2007	2006
Punt Return	9.90 (1 TD)	12.97 (3 TD)	13.92 (0 TD)	5.00 (0 TD)
Punt Return Allowed	11.93 (2 TD)	6.00 (1 TD)	7.53 (0 TD)	9.25 (0 TD)

This is fairly significant and it doesn't take any type of specialized degree to note that prior to Russell's arrival in 2006, La. Tech was simply woeful at both punt return and punt returns allowed. Things changed fairly quickly, and if there's one thing that I'm hoping with Russell's arrival, is that the Red Raiders can and will improve in both of these categories.

The key here in punt returns is who will actually be returning those punts for Texas Tech. In previous years, Leach has opted for the safe and reliable option, in Eric Morris and Danny Amendola. Both guys weren't necessarily game-breakers, but were incredibly reliable. It will be interesting to see if Russell opts for a similar player. Perhaps Austin Zouzalik or Cornelius Douglas are a couple of options.

Additionally, I'm interested to see what Russell does in terms of coverage, and I think all of these stats are something that I'm going to want to watch all season long, but this appears to be something that Russell can remedy fairly quickly. How happy would you guys be to see the allowed yards to dip under 10 and hover closer to Russell's marks at La. Tech of 6.00 and 7.53 per return?

2: Kickoff Returns

	2008	2008	2007	2006
Kickoff Return	22.20 (0 TD)	23.42 (1 TD)	23.13 (1 TD)	21.70 (1 TD)
Kickoff Return Allowed	21.00 (0 TD)	18.09 (0 TD)	23.73 (1 TD)	21.33 (1 TD)

Slight improvement on Russell's part, although allowing less than 20 yards a kickoff return in 2008 is significant. In fact, in 2008 La. Tech ranked 8th in the nation so a few yards makes a difference in being a highly ranked unit and being middle of the pack, like Texas Tech at 59th in the nation. It's certainly not a stretch to think that Russell will have a somewhat significant impact here as well especially in terms of coverage.

La. Tech was also highly ranked in terms of kickoff returns, coming in at 17th in the nation last year. Again, this is something where a few yards makes a big difference as La. Tech ranked 17th in the nation in punt returns, while Texas Tech ranked 39th. Again, not bad, but not great either. Jamar Wall (20) returned a majority of kickoffs last year, followed by Detron Lewis (8) and LaRon Moore (7), and I've always thought that this is a perfect opportunity to get a guy like Harrison Jeffers some touches. I've always preferred a bigger return man, especially in kickoffs and if Jeffers could get two or three touches a game from kickoffs alone could be a real positive in his overall development.

3: Punting

	2008	2008	2007	2006
Punting	35.65	40.49	41.30	38.18

This is one of those stats (much like any kicker related statistic) that you could probably say is related to the actual player rather than the coach, but since we're giving credit to Russell for the sake of this post, there's obviously some room for improvement here. La. Tech didn't light the world on fire last year in punting, coming in at 42nd in the nation, but at least the Bulldogs didn't find themselves at 118th. Yep, Jonathan LaCour, who exhibited a fairly strong leg his freshman year, had a sophomore slump in 2008 as he punted for a net average of less than 30 yards a game. Wind or no wind, that's unacceptable and I don't know how much Russell is going to be able to improve LaCour, but he is doing one thing that Leach didn't do last year, which is give LaCour a little competition. This spring, Donnie Carona, who has had mixed success (yes, I'm putting this lightly) at kicking, tried his leg at punting and although it may not mean anything during the course of the season, it might. LaCour probably needed someone to push him a bit and here's hoping that Carona can. I'd also love to see if Russell can get LaCour over any mental hump that he might have had, perhaps teaching him a little better technique.

4: Kickoff

	2008	2008	2007	2006
Kickoff	65.22 (27.08% TB)	62.32 (7.69% TB)	-	-

You'll note that these statistics only go back to 2007 and if there's one thing that Donnie Carona did right last year, it was kickoffs. He may not have been great at getting it through the upright, but he was good at getting it to the endzone, putting a little over 27% of his kickoffs back for touchbacks. Although we were going to give credit to Russell alone, this is very much a single player type of statistic. Either the kicker does, or does not kick it a long ways and if Carona can do anything, it's kick it a long ways.

5: Place Kicking

	2008	2008	2007	2006
Field Goals	7/13 (53.8%)	14/28 (50.0%)	12/21 (57.1%)	8/12 (66.7%)
Extra Points	70/76 (92.1%)	38/40 (95.0%)	25/26 (96.2%)	30/31 (96.8%)

As bad as the field goal kicking was last year, it was at least on par with what Russell was previously doing at La. Tech. Anyone who watched Texas Tech last year knew that Donnie Carona (4/9; 44%) was kicking the ball too low last year on field goals, giving opponents the ability to block his field goals relatively easily. Walk-on Matt Williams (2/3; 67%) was better, but really didn't have many opportunities. I have no idea how Russell is going to solve this problem, although something to keep in mind is that Texas Tech did signa preferred walk-on in Blinn CC kicker Brad Hicks. I haven't been able to find much on statistics on Hicks, but he did make 11 field goals last year and 52 extra points. As far as Carona is concerned, I think this is all mental and technique. If he could just have a little success, I think he's fine and I hope that Russell is what can get him back on track.