Texas Tech Football Notebook: Sharp CFB Preview; Community Service; Summer Fun

Some terrific links to waste your day away.

You may not like this a ton, but this is a pretty thorough review by Rob Bowron, who runs Sharp College Football, which is an analytics site that I’ll probably end up using quite a bit (because it is free!). Bowron took a deep dive into Texas Tech, half an hour, and Bowron is all-in on the Texas Tech defense, but does not understand the hire of Sonny Cumbie, who Bowron says underperformed last year for TCU and wasn’t a great play-caller. I’m hoping that the conflict between what Gary Patterson wanted Cumbie to do versus what Cumbie wanted to do is enough to make the offense that much better. I also tend to think that the addition of Tyler Shough is an upgrade over Alan Bowman, despite Shough’s accuracy flaws. Anyway, it’s worth your time I think.

CBS Sports’ Ben Kercheval previews the Big 12, including predictions for each team and analysis. The Vegas current win-total line is 4.5 and Kercheval thinks that Texas Tech hits the over, but barely:

Analysis: I hate jumping the gun, but it feels like it’s getting to be now-or-never time for coach Matt Wells. His hire was met with mixed reactions and he’s 8-14 in his first two seasons. Wells did overhaul a badly regressed passing offense by bringing in offensive coordinator Sonny Cumbie and Oregon transfer Tyler Shough at quarterback. The Red Raiders will need to go 2-1 (or even 3-0) in nonconference play, but bowl eligibility is in play for a team that’s come up just short in some close games the past couple of seasons. (Then again, Tech has been in some battles with Kansas lately.) I think we see a quiet improvement in 2021, though theoretically upsetting Texas, as I picked, would be pretty loud. It almost happened last year. Pick: Over 4.5 (-145)

The official site has a nice article on how the football program was second in FBS, behind Boston College, in community service hours, over 1,200 hours last year, which is an increase of 350 hours over last year. Credit goes to Troy Kema, who is the associate athletics director for player development and student-athlete services.

And to add one more thing to the list, the football program announced that they would be creating a scholarship that would benefit one local student each year to attend Texas Tech, paying for tuition and fees for a year, all done through the 100 Black Men of West Texas:

“We look forward to presenting this scholarship to a deserving student from the city of Lubbock each year,” head coach Matt Wells said. “Our football program is proud to be part of this community, and we are committed to continuing to bridge the gap between Texas Tech and underrepresented students in our great city. This scholarship will change many lives, and we are fortunate to work with such a great organization such as the 100 Black Men of West Texas to make this possible.”

The scholarship recipient will be selected each year by a committee comprised of representatives from the 100 Black Men of West Texas organization as well as Red Raider football student-athletes. The inaugural winner of the scholarship will be announced later this summer.

With summer workouts happening, the team has been taking dinners with coaches and position groups, going to the pool, just trying to have some fun during this time of year when they are working out, but not the pressure of the season. One of those moments was throwing head coach Matt Wells into the pool, which I think is great.

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