Double-T Nation News:

That's one awesome helmet.

This is from Friday's edition of UniWatch and I'm going to encourage you to take the 10 or 15 minutes to read Helmet Hut's history behind this helmet, which was part of the 1962 Army vs. Navy game, often referred to was the Jolly Roger game.  Pretty cool stuff and I can't get over how awesome that helmet is.

DTN Appointments: The linebacker preview is to be posted at noon and I've finished DTN's Basketball Report, it will be posted tomorrow at noon. With the holidays right around the bend, I'd a little nervous about getting out the secondary and special teams previews this week, I'm not making any promises, but I'll try.

DTN's Top Three:

1. ESPN Big 12 blogger Tim Griffin empties out the mailbag and plays the confidence game with the Big 12 bowl games.
2. Part IV of Rock M Nation's series on competing with Texas and OU.
3. BON's Billy Zane excellent piece on college head coaches, "Pluralistic Ignorance and the Conservative Lag of College Football in its Hiring of Black Head Coaches".

Texas Tech Football:

LAJ's Don Williams features defensive tackle Rajon Henley, who has struggled with playing time this year due to a knee injury. Henley, from Galveston, felt like he was up against it as he was injured about the same time as Hurricane Ike hit his hometown:

"It was two tragedies, actually,’’ the Tech defensive tackle said Sunday. "The knee problem, the hurricane hitting back home, it was kind of hard on me. I felt like everything was going wrong for me at the time. Everything is coming along now. The (Galveston) island is coming back together, I’m healthy, so it’s getting better.’’

Snip.

Henley returned to Galveston for the first time since the storm last week, spending about four days.

"You could tell they were working on it, but from what I saw it was a disaster,’’ he said. "A lot of people (are) still not back in their homes. Trash everywhere. People just trying to get back together, get their regular lives. It’s going to take some time, but Galveston has really been destroyed. I just hope and pray for the best for the island.’’

Defensive coordinator Ruffin McNeill sounds excited to have Henley back:

"He’s a difference maker for us up front,’’ defensive coordinator Ruffin McNeill said. "He’s back to full speed now. His quickness and strength and explosiveness will be very beneficial to us. He’s got three years under his belt. There’s no replacement for that experience that Ra’Jon brings.’’

In Williams' Red Raiders Football Notebook there's news on some football players transferring and/or leaving and/or dismissed from the team. I'll just go ahead and blockquote the entire notebook since it's not very long:

Junior cornerback Pete Richardson and freshman defensive tackle Joey Fowler have been dismissed from the team, Texas Tech coach Mike Leach said Sunday, and won’t return. Leach said both violated team rules.

"We wish them the best wherever they transfer," Leach said.’

Also, Leach said he does not expect freshman linebacker Brandon Reid, who is academically ineligible, to be back. Reid and Fowler redshirted this season. Richardson was hurt for part of the year. He played in three games and made two tackles.

The first thing that pops in my head is that Captain Leach is still in charge of this ship. I don't know if that means that he still intends to be here for a while, but at the very least, he's doing whatever the thinks needs to be done in terms of discipline for the team.

We're also talking about three defensive players and that's worrisome, although it appears that McNeill has done a very nice job of recruiting solid guys this year.

I wish all of these guys luck moving forward and I hope Reid can get his grades in order and come back to the team in good graces.

Cotton Bowl:

Kevin Robbins from the Austin American-Statesman talks with Jevan Snead and leaving Texas for the greener pastures of Mississippi.

Texas Tech Basketball:

LAJ's Jeff Walker features freshman center Robert Lewandowski and freshman forward Corbin Ray. Here's senior guard Alan Voskuil on Lewandowski:

"Lew has gotten into a couple games where he’s looked a little lost, but these last few games he’s come in and given us points off the bench and rebounds and energy," Voskuil said. "He’s one of our true big men that we need in there."

And this is, at least to me, some real encouraging news regarding Junior Knight realizing that he's got to get some easy inside buckets:

"We’ve got to get a post threat from an inside-out position," Knight said. "If you just pass the ball around the perimeter, the defenses shift very easily and they don’t have to work. … We’ve got to get an inside presence, and I think Lewandowski is starting to be that for us."

I've also got quite a bit more on this in tomorrow's basketball report.