The Morning Stake | 2018.04.05

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Texas Tech Soccer

Texas Tech Downs Oklahoma State. The recap is below and this is your annual reminder that Texas Tech could really sell those kits and that would be pretty cool.

Texas Tech Baseball

Projection. D1Baseball has their field of 65 projections and has Texas Tech as a national seed, 3rd overall and would host Grand Canyon, Oregon, and Dallas Baptist.

Texas Tech Basketball

Talking to Tarke. NJIT transfer Anthony Tarke is still talking with Texas Tech and I believe that Tariq Owens is set to visit this weekend.

Texas Tech Football

Tight Ends & Fullbacks. A-J Media’s Don Williams runs down the tight ends and fullbacks as part of the offense:

Next season, those duties figure to come from a mix of 6-foot-5, 235-pound junior Donta Thompson, 6-4, 260-pound sophomore Tyler Carr and 6-2, 225-pound senior Mason Reed. Thompson’s a bulked-up former wide receiver, Carr a converted defensive lineman and Reed a near 4,000-yard career rusher during his high-school days.

“I think we’re going to be able to use those guys, for sure,” new offensive coordinator Kevin Johns said. “They’ve all gotten bigger and stronger in the off-season. They’re allowing us to do some things in the throw game, which helps. We like them.

“They’re more physical than they were a year ago. For us, it’s a matter of still putting together those packages and how we want to utilize their skills, but there’s going to be something there, for sure.”

Kingsbury with the Media.

This is a day late, I think this video happened on Tuesday and it’s already Thursday. In any event, here’s a short summary:

Kingsbury is asked about the four players that returned from suspension, not sure if they will play in Frisco. All players are returning and confirmed that Desmon Smith is back, just injured. the next question was about playing in Frisco and the quarterback competition. Says that all three are competitive and stepping up to the challenge. From a recruiting point, this is a big deal and big for the DFW area. Asked about Da’Leon Ward, the reads are slowing down for him and is seeing the field better. Gio Pancotti is playing left guard along with a bunch of other folks, and they want to see the entire group step up. They need Vasher to be big-time this next year. Just wanted to challenge Madison Akamnonu, felt like needed to get better there. Paul Stawarz, the game has slowed down, they need to be leaders there. Myller Royals has been great, there’s an adjustment period, but he has a great skillset and has a nose for the football.

Lots of Energy. I don’t know if you’ve had a chance to follow special teams coach Adam Scheier, but he actually tweets some interesting things and is very high energy and worth a follow. The two players referenced are T.J. Vasher and Donta Thompson.

Frisco Scrimmage. DMN’s E.J. Holland has some of the names (there’s suupposed to be something like 50 high school players in attendance) that will be at the Frisco scrimmage:

A ton of big name prospects are slated to attend, including Oklahoma running back commit Jase McClellan, four-star Duncanville athlete Ja’Quinden Jackson, four-star Lone Star wide receiver Marvin Mims, four-star Eaton running back Titus Swen and four-star South Oak Cliff defensive end Steven Parker, who is committed to Tech.

Miscellaneous. ESPN put out their FPI projections (remember, these are a lot like Bill Connelly’s projections, they are computer simulations, while Connelly’s is based off of stats) and that article is projecting that the Big 12 may not be close to a playoff spot, the closest option is Oklahoma at #9. For those of you asking about Texas Tech, the FPI numbers project a record of 6.3-5.6 . . .

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