A-J Media’s Don Williams writes about the freshman receivers and where they’ll play this year. Myller Royals is at the Z-Receiver spot, behind T.J. Vasher. Erik Ezukanma is at the X-receiver spot and Kesean Carter is going to be somewhere inside, just not sure. In addition to the scholarship guys, Dalton Rigdon and preferred walk-on Caden Leggett from Georgetown is making waves.
A-J Media’s Don Williams also has a notebook up with the guys that are being considered at left guard, including Dawson Deaton, Madison Akamnonu, Jacob Hines, and Gio Pancotti. Also of note is that Demarcus Fields is getting plenty of reps at safety, despite being one of the starting cornerbacks, and Rusty Whitt said that Thomas Leggett is, pound-for-pound, the strongest player on the team.
A-J Media’s Don Williams talked with defensive end Eli Howard, who should be ready to play and his knee injury from the spring shouldn’t be an issue and his coach praised Howard for the work in the film room:
“Even before the ball is snapped, he’s taken that mental picture,” Jamison said. “After watching so much film the week prior to the game, he has that sixth sense of what’s about to happen. So it helps his game, studying his opponent, knowing when the O-linemen are going to shoot their hands, how they’re going to shoot their hands and how to defeat that. That’s just how he studies film, and it’s important to him.”
Of all things, the official site has this sort of notes post and I’m sure you are all aware that there is a scrimmage on Saturday, closed to the public (of course) and highlights will be available, but expect them to be sparse (TexasTech). And you may have seen some players in different numbers and this is a short list:
For those who haven’t seen Texas Tech’s reporting roster already, there are several number changes among returning Red Raiders this season. Among the list of number changes are Demarcus Felton (No. 27 to 2), Douglas Coleman III (No. 25 to 3), Antoine Wesley (No. 22 to 4), Riko Jeffers (No. 11 to 6) and Donta Thompson (No. 17 to 11).
Sports Illustrated has their top 25 and there’s no Texas Tech, but there are the Sooners at #5, West Virginia at #10, TCU at #14, and Texas at #22. Texas Tech will obviously play all of those teams, but the Houston Cougars are also ranked #20.
ProFootballFocus’ Cam Mellor goes through the Big 12 quarterback situations and predicts McLane Carter to get the nod at quarterback:
Battling with Carter are Jett Duffey and Alan Bowman. Duffey played in the season opener a season ago, logging two total pass attempts but was the team’s scout team quarterback when Texas Tech faced off against a mobile quarterback. Bowman enters the fold as a true freshman from Grapevine High School, where he threw for well over 11,000 yards and nearly 120 passing touchdowns. Carter gets the edge here with his experience, but with a strong fall camp, either one of these latter two could impress enough to push the envelope for Kingsbury and his staff.
Yahoo!Sports’ Pete Thamel writes about the programs who may be looking for coaches at the end of the year and Texas Tech, along with Kansas and Kansas State are mentioned as possible Big 12 programs.
Texas Tech – Kliff Kingsbury saved his job with a bowl appearance last year and can likely do the same this year. Overall, he’s 30-33 with a 16-29 Big 12 record. The league is wide open and Tech’s defense projects to be the best in Kingsbury’s time there. Working against him is Tech would owe him just $4 million to part ways. A popular name here will be Troy’s Neal Brown, a former Red Raider assistant who could keep Air Raid roots but perhaps extract the Red Raiders from the middle class.
At a point a couple of years ago, the buyout was a real problem, but now, it’s not looked at a roadblock at all. I think it would be fair to say that Kingsbury got full shake as a head coach, regardless as to whether or not some of the issues were his doing from being a first-time head coach. I shoudl also mention that Thamel mentions guys like, “Tulane’s Willie Fritz, Arkansas State’s Blake Anderson, North Texas’ Seth Littrell, Navy’s Ken Niumatalolo, Tulsa’s Philip Montgomery and Oklahoma State assistant coach Mike Yurcich,” for the Kansas job. Littrell was mentioned as a guy for the Texas Tech job before the Texas win last year.
Every. Single. Practice.
We bring it.
🔋🔥🔴#WreckEm⚫️ pic.twitter.com/W9DIh0iUnL
— Texas Tech Football (@TexasTechFB) August 9, 2018
Day 6: ✅
🔴#WreckEm⚫️ pic.twitter.com/AgbQGiYe0d
— Texas Tech Football (@TexasTechFB) August 9, 2018
Miscellaneous . . . SB Nation’s Bill Connelly previews Ole Miss and if you want to know about the Rebels/Black Bears/Land Sharks then this is the place to go . . . New York Post’s Paul Schwartz checks in on former Red Raider footballer Davis Webb . . . The Ringer’s Rile McAtee asks if Patrick Mahomes can be Andy Reid’s new Donovan McNabb . . .