Texas Tech held an open scrimmage on Saturday. We’ve got a few highlights:
And Desmond Nisby might be pretty good.
Get to know #TexasTech RB Desmond Nisby. I’ve got a feeling you’re going to hear his name a lot this upcoming year.#TruckStick #WreckEm pic.twitter.com/89tMAyWDih
— Andrew Doak (@AndrewDoak_KAMC) August 5, 2017
InsideTheRedRaiders’ Jarrett Johnson posted these highlights from the scrimmage (yes, actual highlights).
And this was from Friday.
#TTUCamp17 Practice No. 5⃣ ✅
Tomorrow, we get to play football in the place that’s the best. See you there. #WreckEm pic.twitter.com/nlqBYypmx2
— Texas Tech Football (@TexasTechFB) August 5, 2017
Head coach Kliff Kingsbury addressed the media and here’s the non-transcript:
Kliff Kingsbury:
. . . [Braden Stringer and Tony Jones] Yeah, Braden got thrown into the fire last year, grew up a lot, understands the defense a lot more, had some big stops. Tony Jones, athletic pass rusher that we moved to rush end after the spring, has done some nice things, had some explosive off the edge.
. . . [Justus Nelson] Justus made some great plays, has started slow this camp, but he drove that route he made a big play.
. . . [Performance of the running backs] Not bad, I thought Justin fished runs. Nisby is a big back that we hope can do some stuff with.
. . . [Desmond Nisby] We’ve seen some of that in practice, he’s physical, he can run a little bit when he gets out there. We’ve got to get that shoulder pads lower on those third and short and goal line situations. I don’t know if I’ve had anyone that big, he’s a grown man, he’s 25, has a great attitude and great work ethic. You don’t get to coach a lot of those that are that big and physical and he’s still really raw and has a long ways to go but has physical tools.
. . . [Eli Howard, Demarcus Felton and Dakota Allen not scrimmaging] Just precautionary with all of them, just limit them yesterday and held them out today. They’ll scrimmage next Saturday. Ward end of summer school and Hinton is day-to-day.
. . . [Performance of the offensive line] Not bad, it is jelling and coming together, I’ve been pleased with Travis Bruffey at left tackle he’s had a great camp and with those other guys we’ve got to play more snaps together, pass pro was decent but run game needs to be more physical.
. . . [Overall Performance] I think we started slow and fast defensively and then offense came on and the defense gave up a couple of snaps, it’s been competititve, disappointed with penalties, but we have to clean that up.
. . . [Nic Shimonek] Really good, really sharp. He had that one he shouldn’t have thrown. He’s excuted at a high level all camp.
. . . [Dylan Cantrell] Yeah, it’s more of he’s a heady player, he can block and run great routes and we want to maximize what he can do.
. . . [Justin Stockton] He’s had a great camp, we asked him to step up his senior year and we have to do a better job to put him in a situation to be successful, he’s really run hard this year.
. . . [Joe Wallace] He’s another guy we threw into the fire and he grew up a little bit, he’s physical, he can really run at 320 pounds and he can be a real presence for us inside if he keeps developing.
A-J Media’s Don Williams recaps the scrimmage, saying that the running game did well and has additional details for your consideration:
It was just the first scrimmage of preseason after only one week of practice. But after ranking sixth from the bottom in the FBS in rushing offense last season, the Red Raiders are looking for any little thing to get excited about.
Here it was: Desmond Nisby, the 238-pound newcomer, impressed on 40- and 12-yard runs and senior Justin Stockton scored two touchdowns as a sparse crowd watched on a sweltering afternoon at Jones AT&T Stadium. Even Caleb Woodward, a little-used senior, got loose for an 88-yard touchdown.
“Not bad,” Tech coach Kliff Kingsbury said of the rushing production. “We didn’t have a ton of reps at it, but I thought Justin finished runs tough inside, and Nisby is going to be a big back that we can hopefully do some stuff with.”
Nisby carried seven times for 59 yards. Stockton carried seven times for 34 yards and caught three passes. They had most of the spotlight among running backs, because Da’Leon Ward, DeMarcus Felton and Tre King didn’t take part. Kingsbury said Ward will be back practicing when summer school ends — finals are Aug. 10-11 — and Felton and King were among a half dozen players held out for precautionary reasons.