SB Nation - Ryan Hale

Double-T Nation Daily Diatribe :: 12.14.09

Seth C — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 12:02:05 -0000

Special Teams Ace: LAJ'sDon Williams wrote about special teams ace, current walk-on RB Gerardo Acevedo. Special teams coach Eric Russell talks about Acevedo:

"He’s one of those guys you hope you find, who aren’t figuring in as much as they want to on offense or defense, but they have the great effort and enthusiasm to be able to play on multiple special teams,’’ Russell said. "He’s gotten better throughout the year. He just brings good energy and great effort. He might mess something up, but it’s going to be at least full speed, and he’s not afraid of contact.’’

Interestingly, the coaching staff wants Acevedo to put on a few pounds to take over for current RB Ryan Hale:

"They want me to gain some weight, because I’m at 200 pounds and I have to block the big linebackers,’’ Acevedo said. "It’s a tough process, because I still want to be fast for kickoff and special teams. Gradually, I’ll gain some pretty good weight. I know I’m tough enough. I know I can play this position. Hopefully, I’ll get everything down and just get it done.’’

It's always nice to read about stories like this and I hope Acevedo gets that scholarship sooner rather than later.

More on the McRoy Brothers: The Orlando Sentinel's Chris Hays and Bill Buchalter and The Ledger's Tom Zebold have a bit more on the commitments of Ben and Javares McRoy. The OS's story has the stats from both players:

For the season, Javares caught 39 passes for 786 yards and eight touchdowns. He also ran the ball 35 times for 325 yards and two touchdowns and had two punt returns for TDs, as well.

Snip

Ben, however, was no slouch in his senior season. The running back had 872 yards on just 99 carries, a whopping 8.8 yards per carry and five TDs. He also had three touchdown receptions and a kickoff return for a TD.

And the Ledger article has this from Javares:

"We're going to enjoy our time in college together and spend time before we have to move on with our lives. We'll have another four years together," Javares said Sunday.

Snip

"We chose Texas Tech because we felt like my brother would have a better chance of getting time to play there," Javares said.

Twittering Position Changes: RRS.com's Chris Level tweeted the other day that in addition to Daniel Cobb changing positions from safety to linebacker, DE Kerry Hyder will move to defensive tackle, Joel Gray will move to center and there is a possibility that S Will Ford will move to cornerback. Considering the overall lack of depth at defensive end after Howard and Sharpe graduate, it's interesting that the staff wants Hyder to move to defensive tackle, unless we can expect additional defensive end signees.

More on Suspensions: The Rivalry, Esq.'s Graham Filler wonders how the suspensions will affect the Spartans and the Lansing State Journal's Dan Kilbridge has an excellent summary of how the receiving corps are left to two players and some walk-ons and Michigan St. QB Kirk Cousins wants to make this situation a positive:

"We feel we can take a negative situation and turn it into a positive," Cousins said. "This hasn't been the first time we've faced adversity this season and it's not gonna be the last time. So one more time, we need to get ourselves up off the mat, dust ourselves off and get back to work and that's what we're gonna do."

Miscellaneous Links: The Providence Journal's Jim Donaldson writes about how awesome Wes Welker is and Patriots QB Tom Brady confirms:

"He’s been such a big player for this offense since he’s been here. He’s consistent, reliable, durable, explosive. He catches the ball every time you throw it to him. He’s pretty awesome. Those plays he made in the third quarter really sparked us."

. . . Oread Boom Kings looks at the new hires at Kansas, including the coordinators (still trying to figure out why Gill chose Carl Torbush and Chuck Long other than they are familiar with the recruiting scene) . . . CT's Dave Matter with some general thoughts on college football . . .

Should Be Ranked: ESPN's Andy Katz writes three pieces of advice for coaches voting this week, which includes the thought that the coaches should vote Texas Tech to the top 25, as well should New Mexico, who beat the Aggies this weekend in Houston and the Red Raiders will travel to New Mexico later this month. That's going to be one tough game.

Looking Really Far Ahead: LAJ's Courtney Linehan wonders where the Red Raiders will be seated in the field of 65 and although I'm really optimistic about what Texas Tech has done thus far this year, I think looking this far ahead at this point of the season is unrealistic. The Big 12 is going to be incredibly tough and wins on the road will be tough to come by as will wins at home. Texas Tech has improved but so has a number of other squads.

Five Reasons Texas Tech Will Win ::Oklahoma Sooners Edition

Seth C — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:00:21 -0000

This weekly feature considers five reasons why Texas Tech will win and five reasons Texas Tech will lose to each opponent. Related: Five Reasons Texas Tech Will Lose ::Oklahoma Sooners Edition.

Reason #1 :: Desperation: I try hard not to claim that a particular team is any more desperate than the other, but I do believe, or perhaps I hope to believe that the Red Raiders realize the road in front of them. Win on Saturday and your team has quieted quite a few critics, your team becomes bowl eligible and you go into the last game of the season not playing desperate football. I would guess that the Sooners are playing desperate football too, but there's this hopeful thought that the fact that it's the seniors last game, that this team will make it happen.

Reason #2 :: Stopping the Run: I pointed out the other day that the Sooners are highly successful when they run the ball, but when they cannot get the ground game going, the Sooners tend to lose. I'm sure that Jones has the potential to be Texas Tech, but if it were me, I'd make him win the game. If the Red Raiders can stack to stop the run, limiting DeMarco Murray and Chris Brown to the type of yardage that they get in losses, which is about 100 yards a game, then consider that a success. In fact, the stats tell the same story for the Red Raiders. In wins, the defense only gives up 84 yards a game, but in losses, it's 210 yards on the ground. If there was ever a clear statistic to a Texas Tech victory, this might be it.

Reason #3 :: Despite the Offense: Despite all of the issues with the offense, whether it be inconsistent quarterback play, receivers dropping passes, the offensive line ushering defenders to the quarterback or running backs that may not run as hard as we'd like, but you're still talking about the #2 passing offense in the country and the #6 offense overall. I'll certainly grant you that the offense would be significantly better if the quarterbacks cut down all of the turnovers, but that's the key here. Despite certain parts of the offense, it's still getting done. The lowest point total for the year was last week against Oklahoma St. with 17 points. I'd be willing to be quit a bit of money that there's no way that the Sooners could or would really want to pull off the same type of gut-punching drives that the Cowboys did last week. Leach hardly cares about time of possession, but when your down close to 15 minutes to the opponent, you tend to think that if the Red Raiders had the ball more, Texas Tech would have scored.

Reason #4 :: Pressuring Jones: Sometimes when the Red Raiders do well in a certain category, I tend to discount that success and consider it an anomaly. I somewhat feel that way about the fact that the Red Raiders are 2nd in the nation in sacks. Perhaps I discounted the importance of having Brandon Sharpe, who if you recall wasn't available for the Texas game and was a shadow of himself during the Texas A&M game. That's 2 losses that you would think would have been closer had the Red Raiders had Sharpe's contributions. That's not to say that the workman-like effort produced by Daniel Howard isn't wholly appreciated and the pressure by Rajon Henley (1 sack last week) should create some true match-up problems for the Oklahoma offensive line. It's one thing to plan for just one defensive play-maker, but there should be plenty of contributions for Howard, Henley, Colby Whitlock, Richard Jones and possibly Bront Bird on Saturday.

Reason #5 :: Thank You: Edward Britton :: Austin Burns :: Shawn Byrnes :: Brandon Carter :: Ryan Hale :: Rajon Henley :: Daniel Howard :: Victor Hunter :: Richard Jones :: Jake Myatt :: Brent Nickerson :: Sandy Riley :: De'Shon Sanders :: Brandon Sharpe :: Jamar Wall :: Chris Wallace :: Marlon Williams :: Marlon Winn.

Double-T Nation Daily Diatribe :: 09.25.09

Seth C — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 11:19:52 -0000

Odds and Ends

A Few Things: Interesting article from DMN's Rick Gosselin who talked with Hall of Famer QB, Joe Montana, who thinks that the spread offense can keep players from the NFL, although both of his sons play almost all or some of the spread concept . . . Ryan Hyatt and Don Williams have a brand new website . . . alcohol and beer is finally in Lubbock (hat-tip DC @ BON):

Students, vendors enjoy first day of alcohol sales (via DailyToreador)

Texas Tech Football

Collier Leaves Team, Three DE's Return: LAJ's Don Williams is reporting that WLB Blake Collier has left the team and linebacker turned safety, Julius Howard, is now moving back to linebacker to back up Marlon Williams. Here's Captain Leach commenting:

"I’m not concerned about it,’’ Leach said. "The guys that are here, you coach them.’’

Hmmmm. Seems like a strange response and you would think that if the feeling was mutual, Leach's response would have been different, like "we wish Blake the best of luck". This makes the weakside linebacker position a little thin, and I think that you'll see one of the freshmen linebackers, Brandon Mahoney or Dion Chidozie, battle with Howard to fill the spot next year.

Also in the story, out for this week's game is FB Ryan Hale and SS Franklin Mitchem, while DE's Rajon Henley, Ryan Haliburton and Brandon Sharpe all return for the Houston game.

Erxleben to Remain Punter: LAJ's Don Williams writes that freshman punter Ryan Erxleben will continue to punt for the Red Raiders and special teams coach Eric Russell talks about Erxleben:

"That’s what we’re going to get from him as a young guy,’’ Russell said. "As he gets stronger and things like that, obviously the distance will come. The thing he’s pretty consistent with is an adequate hang time, and his operation time is pretty good at getting the ball off.’’

Russell also talks about Corona losing the job and the role he will continue to fill with the team:

"No one’s more disappointed than Donnie was, obviously,’’ Russell said. "His previous punt, even though it wasn’t as big a punt as that one (against Texas), wasn’t really what we were looking for. It was too big a game to let it happen again.

"So take a little pressure off him, let him handle kickoffs. I knew Ryan mentality wise, it wasn’t going to bother him being in Texas (stadium). He’s kicked in that stadium before, and I’ve been telling him to stay ready every week.’’

Freshman Focus on Chris Knighton: LAJ's Don Williams is shining the spotlight on redshirt freshmen and up this week is DE Chris Knighton. Here's defensive line coach Charlie Sadler on Knighton:

"He’s like most of the young guys," Sadler said. "He’s done really a very good job competing. I say that based upon Thursday evening scrimmages that we have. The thing you like about him, and I can see about our young redshirt defensive ends, is they have all gotten better each week. I’ve been pleased with their progress so far."

Kingsbury Conflicted: SAEN's Jerry Briggs sits down with former Red Raider Kliff Kingsbury, who the Captain says helped change the culture at Texas Tech:

"When we first started," said Leach, who took over for Spike Dykes at Tech in 2000, "a lot of folks thought I was nuts to throw the ball, and they thought Kliff was some guy out there that was just average and throwing it too much.

"Of course he went on to rewrite the record books, not only at Tech, but also nationally. He was very instrumental in where we are today."

And Kingsbury remembers those late nights studying film:

"We took our bumps and bruises early," Kingsbury said. "We spent many Sunday nights up there until 1 or 2 a.m., just me and him, watching film and trying to improve. And, eventually we did."

High School Competitors: The Reporter News' talks with the high school coaches for both QB Taylor Potts and QB Case Keenum.

Familiar Look: ESPN's Tim Griffin writes that the Red Raiders are set to face a very familiar team in the Houston Cougars. Defensive coordinator Ruffin McNeill talks about what Houston does offensively:

"They are a challenge for anybody," McNeill said. "Houston has a great set of skill-position people and a big, strong offensive line. They do a good job of blending and mixing plays. They like to stretch you vertically and horizontally and make it tough for a defense."

So whether Holgorsen really has an advantage over the Red Raiders is debatable.

"I think it’s a draw," McNeill said. "He knows me as well as well as I know him. I think the game will depend on which team ends up making the most plays."

Assorted Texas Tech, Houston Cougar and Big 12 Links: Rock M Nation with Beyond the Box Score for week 3 and the SB Nation Big 12 Roundtable Recap . . . with DT's Alex Ybarra writes about the renewed SWC rivalry between Texas Tech and Houston . . . the Chron's Steve Campbell writes that a win against Texas Tech will be the next step for Houston . . . the Chron's Richard Justice writes that the Cougars are gaining confidence . . . ESPN's Graham Watson writes that Houston hopes that their maturity keeps them humble . . . SI's Stewart Mandel writes that Kevin Sumlin has the Cougars in the BCS hunt . . . Kansas City Star's Blair Kerkoff has a well written Big 12 Insider . . .

Neglected Video: Fox34 with a preview of the defenses:

Post-Game Thoughts :: Rice 10, Texas Tech 55

Seth C — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 21:56:05 -0000

via spotted.lubbockonline.com

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Box Score :: SB Nation Coverage :: College Football on SB Nation

This was an incredibly quick trip to Lubbock. I ended up leaving, somewhat on a whim, and returned by noon (DFW) on Sunday. I made the trip for one reason and one reason only, in that listening to two games on the radio just wasn't going to cut it for me. I felt that I needed to see some things with my own eyes, especially before Texas next week. I was hoping for and did see quite a bit of improvement from last week to this week and there's definitely more positives coming from last night's game that against North Dakota. With that being said, Rice is the same team that lost to UAB, who just lost to SMU, 33-35. In other words, we can be excited that some things have been ironed out, but neither UND or Rice are very good and this was the expected result.

Lots of small things to talk about.

The Offense

Yes, Potts was really working the underneath stuff and there seemed to be quite a few short passes than last week, but especially in the second half, Potts worked the ball down the field and his arm allowed him to complete passes over the middle that most Texas Tech quarterbacks would not be able to complete. Potts squeezed the ball in to coverage, which can be incredibly dangerous, but he's got all of the confidence in the world in his arm.But I think this is part of the maturation process of our quarterback. And despite working most of the stuff underneath, he still had 8 yards per attempt for the game. Potts didn't throw an interception, but Rice did drop at least 1, but on the other side of things, Potts did throw the ball away on one play in the 2nd half. It's going to be a give-and-take. And as far as that maturation process is concerned, after the game, on the 4th and 2 from the Rice 2 yard line, Potts made the call to go for it, and here's what he said after the game:

That was a dumb call on me really. You check what you see. That was just a dumb call by me. Looking back on it, I should have thrown a fade to Jacoby there on the outside, but I didn't. That's that. But that was just a dumb call by me.

That's two weeks in a row that Potts has acknowledged a mistake he made in the game and as perfect as well all want him to be, it's going to take time. With that being said, we have a quarterback that's willing to take responsibility for his actions. I like that.

The line looked much better and the insertion of Lonnie Edwards for Mickey Okafor probably has something to do with that. Not seeing what transpired last week the line looked solid. Plenty solid to handle Texas. It still bothers me to no end that the running game hasn't gotten on track and that should have happened this week. At some point, I think every Texas Tech quarterback has to figure it out on their own that checking down to run the ball can be a good thing. Back to the line, I think the experience factor with Edwards is what caused Moore to make the move. And this isn't a knock on Okafor, who needs to continue to work on his strength and quickness, but with Edwards to left guard, Brandon Carter moved back to his right guard position, and Chris Olson and Marlon Winn remained at the tackles. I liked the fact that Moore was willing to make this change early in the season and as stated above, the line will be plenty good against Texas, bu the key will be whether they can figure out how to fix the running game in one week, but it starts with more than 13 carries for the game.

There's no doubt that Baron Batch is back. He played like he had something to prove last night. He was putting his head down, moving the pile and running with wreckless abandon. Harrison Jeffers and Eric Stephens are freaking electric. I don't know what else to say about the runners themselves. They are talented and there's three of them. Somoeone needs to figure out how to get them the ball.

I had pegged Tramain Swindall as one of my guys this season. I thought that from what I saw last year, he was going to be an incredibly talented receiver for Texas Tech. A week 1 benching and things seem to have changed dramatically for Swindall. Think about 6 catches for 123 yards and 2 touchdowns. Lyle Leong deserves praise too and he should have first billing here because he's not the guy that got suspended, but he dropped a pass last night (I'm pretty sure of it) and I was shocked. It's probably going to be the only pass he drops all year. And speaking of drops, Edward Britton missed a gimmie in a flea-flicker and there were groans in the crowd, justifiably so, but the key that everyone needs to keep in mind is that Britton does something that no one else does. Stretch the field. Yes, there are players than can do this, but experience still counts and despite Britton's frustrations he's incredibly important to this team. You hate the drops, but he's a big piece of this team, including being an incredible blocker. And to top it off, all of this was done without Detron Lewis for a good chunk of the game. There were 13 different receivers who caught a Potts pass yesterday, Austin Zouzalik caught his first touchdown pass on a beautiful fake inside and a pass zinged right where Potts knew that Zouzalik would be.

You saw quite a bit of the jumbo set with Ryan Hale and Adam James, with mixed results. When Texas Tech did run out of this set, there was success, but those opportunities were few and far between.

The Defense

The defensive line was really good. Yes, Rice did manage to move the ball some, but the line allowed a net of -60 yards on the ground. Yep, some of those are sacks, but the defense was all about trying to make things happen, and the entire defensive unit improved on those things that needed improving from last week (forcing turnovers, quarterback pressure, and pass deflects). Brandon Sharpe was featured in the morning paper and he delivered big time. An early injury to Rajon Henley (which does not appear to be serious) left a depleted defensive end unit of Daniel Howard, Sharpe and a good chunk coming from Bront Bird and Ryan Haliburton later in the game. Howard and Sharpe were relentless all night and those two were the big reasons for the 6 sacks on the night. That group was relentless and that was without Henley who was pretty good last week. Colby Whitlock and Richard Jones gave their usual effort up front and although Victor Hunter and Chris Perry do an admirable job as theh second unit, there is a drop-off. I do think that David Neil and Ryan Haliburton are going to be contributors by the end of the season, especially Haliburton. He can play and I was wrong about him during the spring. In fact it would benefit this program tremendously if Haliburton played more than he does. With the eventual loss of Henley, Howard and Sharpe there's going to need to be someone who has playing experience.

I'm tired of talking about this, and maybe I just need to stop, but Bront Bird should not be covering slot receivers. This isn't Bird's fault, and he gives 100% effort every play, but he gets picked on by opposing coaches and players because he just can't keep pace with those quicker players. Bird is a really good linebacker when playing the run and he was more than decent rushing the passer, although he needs to develop a few more moves, but making plays in coverage is not one of them. And that's not to say that Bird is incompetent, but whenever Bird was in the game and covering the slot receiver, Rice seemed to find the open receiver, but when McNeill switched to a Daniel Cobb or Brent Dewhurst rather than Bird, the defense was that much more effective. Bird's a tough guy to place for McNeill because he does give maximum effort, but he's also limited on what he can do well.

I don't have many things to say about the other linebackers other than Brian Duncan can sometimes be plagued by the same thing that Bird does in that he's not great in coverage, but he's still really good. Marlon Williams also played very well and although he was credited with the sack, Howard and he were there at the same time.

The biggest difference between this week and last week was the pass-breakups. LaRon Moore had the hit of the day, de-cleating a Rice receiver. This is something that I didn't get to visualize last week, but the secondary is a hard-hitting group. They're not the biggest, but they will hit you and I think this type of thinking is becoming infectious because Moore and Wall are hitting receivers. D.J. Johnson is going to move into Wall's starting job next year. He was tested almost the entire last series by Rice and he stepped-up. He is long and rangy and can do things that Moore and Wall cannot do, but he is good. Will Ford seemed to be all over the field, although he didn't really show up much in the box score.

Five Things // Receiver Options

Seth C — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 15:00:12 -0000

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

Receiver Options

I think this thought is a tad bit ridiculous, but there just seems to be a ton of options at the receiver position, and I'm hoping that we can hopefully work though the options at receiver and clarify who's going to see significant reps at receiver.

1: X

I think most everyone knows the story of Edward Britton's classroom spring struggles (i.e. sitting at a desk on the field in the snow while everyone else practices) but considering the current options at the X position, I think that Britton is by far the best option available. At the end of the spring, Britton's competition at this position was Adrian Reese, Rashad Hawk and Brik Brinker. Of all of the receiver position, this seems to be the least deep of the four, although I would bet that if push came to shove and Britton was injured, I think you'd see someone else, possibly Jacoby Franks or Alex Torres flip over here (probably Franks). Of Britton's backups, I like Hawk's potential the best, but thus far, he's had a tough time getting on the field. Hawk is as skinny and as tall as he's listed (6-4/188) and has a tremendous amount of potential, but thus far, he hasn't put it together just yet. Reese is another guy that has a ton of potential, but again, just hasn't been able to put it together. I'm sure that this is partly because he's really been a player without a position, and I like that the coaching staff is making attempts at getting him on the field. I too think that he could be a nice option in and around the endzone, especially at 6-7, but in the past, Reese has not shown the ability to consistently get open or make tough catches, which is one of the reasons why I think he red-shirted last year. During the spring game, I thought that Reese struggled a bit to get off the line of scrimmage and separate himself although this wouldn't matter as much along the goal line where he would essentially just post-up in the endzone.

2: H

Is anyone going to call me crazy if I think that Tramain Swindall is my candidate for break-out player of the year. I know, he had 46 catches last year so it's not like he's a complete unknown, but this year he should be the guy at the H receiver position taking over for Eric Morris. Again, he's not the typical H receiver in that he's got some good size (6-2/175) and he's a little different than what Texas Tech has previously had at this position. Cornelius Douglas should see plenty of time as Swindall's backup. Douglas is one of those guys that had a little trouble holding on to passes during the spring game, but he he's got a ton of talent, is incredibly shifty, has really good speed and should be a real asset at this position. Adam James, who didn't get much ink during the spring, returns as the blocking H receiver, although I really like what he could bring from this position on a full-time basis.

3: Y

If there's one receiver that has a strangle-hold on any one position, it's Detron Lewis. Lewis is not the athlete that Michael Crabtree is, but I have no doubt that Lewis has the ability to be a special player, although like most players like Lewis, it's not a matter of talent, it's really a question of consistency. Really though, I have no doubt that Lewis will answer most, if not all of those questions in 2009. I'm really comfortable with Lewis being a leader on this team. Of course with Lewis being "the guy" at Y, it conceivably leaves little room for Austin Zouzalik to be a significant player for the Red Raiders. Zouzalik is a former high school quarterback who redshirted last year is supposedly one of the fastest players on the team and displayed the ability to catch just about everything during the spring. I'm not trying to over-rate Zouzalik, but the truth of the matter is if there's a guy that could play just about any position it's Zouzalik and I get the feeling that had he played receiver in high school, he would have been a 3-star receiver rather than getting signed late with Texas Tech. Yep, I think he's that good. Blake Kelley is the last option here and if he's seeing significant time here, then something has gone horribly wrong. Not a knock against Kelley, but there's a ton receiving talent on this Texas Tech team.

4: Z

Perhaps the most important position is the position most up in the air. With the graduation of Michael Crabtree, there really hasn't been just one guy that's jumped up and grabbed the opportunity. Alexander Torres received quite a bit of spring attention, but I don't know if he's the game-breaker that I'd like to see at this position. Of course other receivers excelled at the Z position without being true game-breakers, but he's really solid. Lyle Leong should be the guy that takes over this fall, but he was injured during the spring and so there was opportunity for guys to surpass Leong. Leong played with Taylor Potts, catches everything thrown his way, however, he's been a little bit injury prone and he's not the best physical specimen. Jacoby Franks is another guy that should get some real opportunity here. Franks is one of those guys who looks the part with legitimate size (6-1/194) and speed (4.5) and personally, along with Swindall, is one of the guys that I'm personally cheering for his year. Eric Ward is actually a 2009 signee that walked onto campus during the spring and there was a lot of expectation that Ward would be a guy that could play immediately because he was a 4-star receiver with a ton of hype. Ward's case should show us that it's not always about talent because I have no doubt that he has what it takes, but repetitions and learning the Air Raid system is not something that should be overlooked when we talk about true freshmen making an impact with this offense. It takes time and I have no doubt that Ward is going to be a special player for Texas Tech.

5: Blockers

These guys don't get a ton of attention and this isn't going to be an essay on the blocking receivers for Texas Tech, but I thought they at least needed a mention as they are the unsung group of guys who get the job done blocking in the AirRaid offense. Ryan Hale is probably the best known blocker, along with receiver Adam James. The difference between the two is that James is a much better and smoother receiving threat, but Hale is the better, more punishing blocker. Omar Castillo was moved to tight end during the spring, after spending time at the offensive line last year. I didn't notice Castillo much during the spring game, but he was on the field after the game and if there is one guy that's an absolute physical specimen on this team it's Castillo. I have no idea why Castillo hasn't been able to find a position and stick thus far, but the guy is a legitimate 6-6/270 with very little body fat. I have no expectations from Castillo this year and anything that he can give you would be gravy, but if he could eventually give you a legitimate receiving threat at the goal line, all the while being a devastating blocker, sign me up.

Texas Tech Tuesday Morning Football Notes - Excited to Play Edition

Seth C — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 11:20:02 -0000

Defense Dominates First Scrimmage

LAJ's Don Williams writes that the defense dominated the first scrimmage of the spring and Captain Mike Leach felt that the scrimmage was competitive:

"I thought it was pretty competitive,’’ Leach said. "We’ve been alternating workouts, really, as far as who comes out on top. The biggest difference with whoever comes out on top each day is who’s most excited to play. Defense was far more excited today, but I thought a lot of young guys on both sides of the ball showed some promise.’’

The format was the 1st team offense goes against the 1st team defense; the 2nd team offense goes against the 2nd team defense, etc. Williams notes that it Taylor Potts (17-31; 1 TD; 1 INT) and Seth Doege (9-10; 1 TD; 0 INT) threw one touchdown each to junior flanker Alexander Torres (he hasn't been on my radar one bit).

Defensive coordinator Ruffin McNeill sounds excited about the defense:

"I thought we were excited to play, excited to practice, which is always key,’’ defensive coordinator Ruffin McNeill said. "I thought the kids did a good job responding. If some bad things happened, they kept playing the next play, which is what coach Leach preaches to the team. I thought we did some things well as a team defensively.’’

Williams goes into great detail on a number of series, so make sure and click on over. But according to Williams' descriptions of the action along with a boxscore for you to peruse, it was truly a practice dominated by defense, including 12 touch-sacks with three being credited to Daniel Howard and two a piece to Brandon Sesay and Rajon Henley.

Red Raiders Football Notebook

LAJ's Don Williams files his Red Raiders Football Notebook and let's run down some of the notes:

Alex Torres (as mentioned above) is impressing Leach and said that he would be starting ahead of Jacoby Franks and Eric Ward:
"He’s been playing well," Leach said. "Torres has played well since we started and, really, that started at the end of last year. So we we’re kind of optimistic about him, and he’s continued to improve. I don’t know if he’ll hang on to it or not, but if we played today, Torres is the starting (flanker)."
The Captain didn't make any of the receivers available after the scrimmage because of too many drops, although Leach acknowledges that the different quarterbacks may have been one of the causes:
"One of the problems is we threw five quarterbacks, so that’s always hard," Leach said. "Any time you use a bunch of quarterbacks, there’s always going to be some problems with that."

Hale and Whitlock Talk About Number Switch

DT's Alex Ybarra sat down with an unlikely #5 and #6, Ryan Hale and Colby Whitlock. Here's Hale and Ybarra on how it happened:

"We were just messing around, saying we're gonna wear five and six next year," Hale said. "We talked to the equipment managers (Zane Perry and Steve Pesek). We begged them and finally they gave it to us, and now we're stuck with it." The 6-foot-2, 281-pound Whitlock has yet to sport the No. 6 jersey in spring practice because the new one, without "funky sleeves," has been ordered, he said. Whitlock finished 2008 with 35 tackles, five for a loss of yards, and one sack, which was a safety in Tech's 39-33 upset of then-No. 1 Texas.

Make sure and check out the video report:

Hale, Whitlock comment on wearing former Crabtree, Harrell numbers from Daily Toreador on Vimeo.

Neglected Video, Audio and Photos

TechTalk's second hour talked with left guard Chris Olson and it sounds like he's found a spot on the line after being moved around a bit.

Fox34 with a practice report from yesterday's scrimmage with lots of quotes and video, as well as a look at Olson.

Previewing Texas Tech vs. Ole Miss: Offensive Line

Seth C — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 18:00:07 -0000

OFFENSIVE LINE

Player	Ht/Wt	Class	Position
Stephen Hamby	6'3"/292	Sr.	Center
Brandon Carter	6'7"/354	Jr.	Guard
Louis Vasquez	6'6"/335	Sr.	Guard
Marlon Winn	6'6"/325	Jr.	Tackle
Rylan Reed	6'7"/305	Sr.	Tackle
Ryan Hale	6'1"/227	Sr.	Fullback/Tight End
Adam James	6'3"/217	Fr.	Tight End
Daverin Geralds	6'2"/312	Jr.	Center
Maurice Miller	6'4"/343	Sr.	Guard
Darryl Harris	6'3"/300	Sr.	Guard
John Jerry	6'5"/350	Jr.	Tackle
Michael Oher	6'5"/318	Sr.	Tackle
David Traxler	6'6"/255	Sr.	Tight End

Texas Tech

Scary

I was trying to figure out a statistical method of determining the overall play of the offensive lines and although I don't have the mathematical smarts of Rock M Nation I did come up with a few metrics to figure out offensive line play.

Up first, passing stats. Texas Tech gave up 5 sacks for 604 passing attempts, which turns out to be 1 sack for every 120.8 attempts. In terms of a percentage, the Red Raiders are giving up a sack at a 0.83% rate, which is unbelievable. This offensive line has done an unbelievable job of keeping Graham Harrell upright all season long. I wish I had the time to look at offensive lines and how they have historically done as this seems almost unbelievable considering the volume of attempts that Texas Tech has. Granted, most of those throws are short passes, but still, this offensive line is outstanding at protecting it's quarterback.

The running statistics are plainly yards per attempt, where Texas Tech averages 4.71 yards per attempt and to top it off, Texas Tech averages a touchdown for every 10.82 attempts (303 rushing attempts and 28 touchdowns). For comparison purposes, this leads the nation. Again, pretty amazing stats for a team that primarily passes. Nationally, just basing this off of yards per attempt, Texas Tech sits 31st in the nation.

Post-season awards have seen quite a few of Texas Tech's offensive linemen receive accolades. Brandon Carter was named to Phil Steele's 1st team offense and the AFCA coaches' All-America team. Louis Vasquez was named to Steele's 3rd team offense. Rylan Reed was named to the Walter Camp All-American team and ESPN's 1st team all big 12. Bottom line, three of the five offensive linemen have been named on various all-america teams for their play this year (Brandon Carter, Rylan Reed and Louis Vasquez).

Quite frankly, this is an offensive line that folks have noticed and may have missed the most consistent lineman in right tackle, Marlon Winn.

Mississippi

Michael Oher, dominating tackle.

Same stats above apply to grade out Ole Miss' line. Ole Miss gave up 23 sacks in 311 passing attempts, which works out to be one sack for every 13.52 passing attempts. In terms of a percentage, Ole Miss was giving up a sack 7.40% of the time, and as mentioned above, Texas Tech's percentage was 0.83%. These Ole Miss numbers aren't bad, in fact, I think they are pretty good.

As far as rushing statistics, Ole Miss is averaging 4.62 yards per attempt. Nationally, this puts Ole Miss at 36th in the nation in yards per attempt, which is a very good rate. As far as attempts per touchdowns, Ole Miss is scoring 1 touchdown for every 25.05 rushing attempt (476 attempts and 19 touchdowns). This ranks 68th nationally and puts Ole Miss near the top half of punching the ball in the endzone rushing the ball.

Michael Oher is the unquestioned leader of this offensive line and future top 10 pick in the NFL and much like Crabtree, would be silly for me to name every All-American team Oher is on, because it's probably every one. To put it simply, he is absolutely dominating. Michael Oher is to Ole Miss as Michael Crabtree is to Texas Tech.

Tackle John Jerry is on Steele's 2nd All-SEC team , as well as 1st team All-SEC according to the AP, and Ole Miss' other offensive line standout.

Conclusion:

A close matchup again, but a slight edge to Texas Tech. Ole Miss has one absolutely dominating tackle in Oher and Jerry is an All-SEC performer. It bothers me that Ole Miss has given up so many sacks relative to the number of passes. The Texas Tech line does a better job of protecting it's quarterback and is slightly better running the ball on a yards per attempt analysis.

I know that this is looking a little one-sided, but it's not even close to being over. Be patient Ole Miss fans.

Previous Matchups

Quarterbacks :: Running Backs :: Receiver :: Offensive Line :: Defensive Line :: Linebackers :: Secondary :: Special Teams :: Coaching

Matchup	Advantage
Quarterback
Running Back
Receivers
Offensive Line

Poll

Who do you think wins this matchup of offensive lines?

Texas Tech

222 votes

Mississippi

120 votes

342 votes | Poll has closed