You ready? For those of you who don’t know, this is a non-transcript, which is me hitting play and typing as fast as I can. These are not direct quotes.  It is time consuming, but it is time for preseason camp and I’ll get to the coordinators tomorrow.

Head Coach Matt Wells:

Good to be back, live and in person, thanks for coming out. Excited for camp. We’ve established our culture, it’s been a hard 2 years, proud of our players for the heavy lifting the players have done. i like the leadership right now, it is a more talented team. just looking forward to being in the fight in this league, we’ll be in the fight and reap some of those rewards from the players and staff.

Focus on physical competitive camp, when it is time to be physical and go live, we have to go at a high level, we have to focus on Houston, we’ve obviously started on them, so our players are decently versed on them right now.

A few updates.

Staff updates, hired nick Holt, former d-coordinator and will be our offensive analyst, Artie Valero was added in the spring, both coordinators, K-P and Sonny wanted a different view of the game, how to analyze the opponent a week ahead, and be able to bounce strategic ideas off of them, and they have done it at the highest level in college and the NFL. Sammy Morris, former Texas Tech great, will assist players in player-matters, community service and alumni relations, very important to our program behind the scenes. Also the transition from high school to Texas Tech, he has a great story to tell, the advice he can give. Quality control on special teams will be Hunter Holmes.

Kaylon Geiger, outside receiver and returner from Troy, excited to have him, veteran, he’s had a good summer and been competitive, a different type of receivers, he’s not 6’4″ or 6’5″. The other one is Robert Wooten from Virginia Tech, will have 4 years of eligibility, will have to through a waiver process and he may not be available. John Holcomb has elected to retire. Gilbert Ibeneme ruptured a triceps this summer, this guy has had a hard time staying healthy, he did that early this summer. Seth Collins, Riko Jeffers, and Erick Ezukanma are a full go and will monitor their reps and volume of work. SaRodorick Thompson has had a great summer with his shoulder, he’s right on track in terms of that injury and no set-backs. He’s done a really good job.

For the time being and foreseeable future, the Big 12 schedule doesn’t change. From a future standpoint, I have have great confidence in Schovenec and Hocutt, we are now a Carnegie Research Institution, we are positioned in a really good way, the way our fans travel, the stadium, all of those things are good for us. In terms of our players and coaching staff, we have the task at hand. I have addressed the realignment with our players, it doesn’t have any affect on them today or this season.

It hasn’t changed our approach to recruiting, but with the NIL, we help our players and our athletic department gives our guys. I’m in support of the NIL, with the NIL comes responsibilities, when you start engaging with NIL responsibilities, those take time and that is in addition to football and school and they still have a responsibility to enhance their NIL through their brand, through nutrition, sleep, and the program, as long as they do those things, they they will have those opportunities, it has forced those guys to have more responsibilities than previously. You have to play well and represent yourself well and they won’t hire you if you don’t play well.

All of those quarterbacks have had a good summer, they are healthy, Donovan smith is not on a pitch count. Yes, there is a competition, Tyler and Henry are a little ahead of those guys. Things will start shaking pretty quick.

I hope it will happen, that means someone has pulled away and there are positives to that, you get the press conference out of the way, I could wait later, but they are also preparing for Sonny Cumbie’s version of offense, if it happens naturally, we’ll do it.

Demarcus Fields will start, I think the biggest part of the question, I am so fired about Demarcus Fields being back, Eric Monroe, Adrian Fry, upgraded at safety, Muddy Watters, Reggie Person, Dadrion Taylor has gained weight and gotten faster. Dadrion has started, so that safety room is good, an improved Adrian Frye, add Malik Dunlap and Rayshad Williams, Nate Floyd and Kobe Minor, two guys that continue to impress.

I think we had the same pressure in year 1, we released the Big 12 schedule right around this date. I’m expect to be in a bowl game and expect to play meaningful games in November. I’m not coaching any harder or any more pressure, I’m more convinced that we can win here now than two years ago. Dead honest.

When you start talking about culture and accountability, that’s what we’ve seen change dramatically, players coming in early and staying late. Things you do in the summer that make you tough and accountable. A lot of that in this league is winning close games, we went 0-4 in 1-possession games, we went 4-3 last year, that’s dramatic improvement and need to take another step to get a winning record.

We do have a lot of super seniors, 10, the value those guys bring is a veteran presence and leadership, and besides Muddy Watters, Kaylon Geiger, and TJ Storment, the other 7 guys chose to come back and those choices reinforce what we have going on in that locker room. If they didn’t believe in our program, they would have left, they were as big a reinforcement. It is a mix of those decisions of what is good for them individually and the team, most of those guys are on defense, Schooler, Monroe, Fields, Morganstern, they chose to come back and that gets me fired up.

As he is limited in training camp, Tahj had a really good spring, Camron Valdez, those guys will get more opportunities in that live scrimmage situations, it will likely be a bit of a committee and we’ll play them all.

Mason had a really good spring, he’ll play in the opener, he’s 255 and he told me he grew an inch since he’s been here and thinks he’s 6’9″, Castles put on 20 pounds, Loyd had a good summer, those guys playing behind Koontz, I thought Castles had a really good summer, those guys had a really good summer. I’m excited about those young tight ends.

Just seeing how they work and the buy-in, the training, the leadership, all of those things, that’s what it takes before you start winning, seeing them buy-in and coming in are elements of a winning football program. Have to reap the rewards of winning football games. It has been at a higher level than previously, high input of physical conditioning, I’m proud of those guys, continue to take steps in the right direction, have to have belief with evidence.

New leaders, I’d put Muddy Waters, Demarcus has been quieter, he’s leading by his work ethic and his results, Riko, Tony, Jaylon, offensively, Burger has done a nice job, Dawson has always been there. Erik has done a nice job, we have some new guys and guys coming back continue to lead by our production before you lead verbally.

I think that when I say hard, it’s because it is not easy, if it was easy, it would be anyone that could do it, it is hard to change mindsets, demeanors, the way that guys do anything. how you do anything is how you do everything, to the classroom, nutrition, weight room. Community service hours, 73 or 74 guys with over a 3.0 in the spring and being accountable in the good way, but being accountable to teammates and each other and that absolutely bleeds over to football, starts in weight room, academics, and football, that’s why it is hard. I’m so proud of our guys, there’s a lot more to go, but a lot of heavy lifting we know how to practice and lift and am awful proud of.

Two reasons he will be important early on, he’s played at Troy, Erik is going to be limited in training camp so that will help, we are talented, but we are all young, Trey and Loic had good years, JJ and Jerand are really all freshmen that are really just young, having Kaylon here, hopefully he can make plays at the beginning of the year, we’ll rotate our receivers.

I think Travis Koontz has had a good 2 years, some of their production and the evaluation is looking at straight catches, sometimes those things dictate those numbers, I expect those guys to play 12 personnel and how much they progress with Koontz.

Tyler has embraced everything very well, I didn’t promise him anything, I promised an opportunity to compete, he’s embraced that, he’s embraced our community and he’s done a nice job, but he’s embraced the competition like he has embraced everything else.

Kaylon, we have more punt returners we will dial up Price, Floyd, Chux, Taylor, the kicking competition, kickoff, and field goal, not punting. Will go all the way to Houston week, but as we go into training camp, those guys were 89/90% going out of the spring, John and Trey will let it play itself out. Every time we’ll kick, we’ll kick 2.

I only had time to do the non-transcript for Coach Wells. I’ll do the coordinators tomorrow evening or early on Saturday morning.

These are your captains for the year, the first 6 are seniors:

* Colin Schooler
* Riko Jeffers
* Josh Burger
* Demarcus Fields
* Muddy Waters
* McLane Mannix
* Dawson Deaton
* Tony Bradford
* Tyler Shough
* Jaylon Hutchings
* Erik Ezukanma
* SaRodorick Thompson
* Caleb Rogers

A tremendous honor and a tremendous responsibility

Our 2021 Leadership Committee pic.twitter.com/nYPkqJnz75

— Texas Tech Football (@TexasTechFB) August 6, 2021

These guys were selected by their teammates as our 2021 Leadership Committee/Captains. Excited to see them lead #WeUsOur 👆🏼 pic.twitter.com/WV26qEC2aO

— Matt Wells ŦŦ (@TTUCoachWells) August 6, 2021