Double-T Nation News:

I officially have a vote in the BlogPoll. Yah!

I've scheduled a post on McKinner Dixon for 8:00 a.m., so if you're here before then, make sure and check back.

I'm going to say this as nicely as I can, but I wanted to point out something to the person in the Texas Tech athletic department who is in charge of creating the Countdown to Kickoff series. The #24 Player Flashback entry on Derrell "Mookie" Mitchell is almost completely a copy-and-paste effort from Wikipedia. As an English major (thank you Texas Tech), a former English teacher and a guy who considers himself to be somewhat of a writer I would just ask that you please give credit where credit is due. If you've directly copied someone's writing then throw up a link, give credit and be done with it.  [Note by Seth C, 08/08/08 9:01 AM CDT ]  Awesome!  Situation resolved, thanks to the Texas Tech Athletic Department.

DTN's Top Eight:

1. SMQ says goodbye, but he's moving onto Yahoo, so congrats.
   
2. Big 12, Bring On The Cats puts you on notice . . . fear Keithen Valentine.
3. This is awesome, Playboy playmates posing in past Olympic swimsuits.
4. Barking Carnival with good find on how Georgia Tech's Paul Johnson came up with his offense.
5. Basketball Prospectus previews the men's basketball Olympic team.
6. Rocky Top Talk has the 10 worst collegiate logos.
7. I will not become overly excited by a 7-0 Texas Tech team. I accept that I will do so anyway, and will attempt to enroll in Mike Leach's Pirate School sometime around Oct. 1.
8. Former Red Raider Zach Thomas is not punch drunk.

Texas Tech Football:

via www.redraiders.com

DMN's Brandon George has moved on, so we thank him for his coverage. We have the always steady and consistent, LAJ's Don Williams giving us a ton of details about practice today. In Williams' Raider Rants, he discusses a series with the defensive front seven, more on the competition between Carona and Fowler at the kicker position, more on the zone-read play with Eric Morris taking a direct snap (BTW, I'd love to see this play) and some interesting news on Cornelius Douglas, who seems to be making an impact because the coaches are paying attention to him:

Speaking of Douglas, the Raiders have projected him as an inside receiver, but he practiced at split end on Thursday. Simmons said they're constantly evaluating talent and trying to determine where young guys fit best, so he's not sure whether Douglas will keep working out at split end or back inside. I'd expect to see him back in the slot, at least in a few days when Todd Walker gets back into workouts.

In a separate post on Raider Rants, Williams notes Tramain Swindall made the play of the day, Sandy Riley has to make plays to see the field, and Detron Lewis, Eric Morris and Edward Britton each had a touchdown catch, while Daniel Charbonnet is making a case to be the starter along side Darcel McBath:

S Daniel Charbonnet made a bunch of plays in the spring, making a pretty strong case for the starting job next to Darcel McBath. On Thursday night, he had another couple of interceptions. The more impressive of the two came when he cut in front of FL Mike Crabtree and swiped one of Taylor Potts' passes. Charbonnet is going to factor in and play a key role this season. It wouldn't be a surprise to see him starting. If coaches opt for more size at safety with Anthony Hines, look for Charbonnet to be an extra DB on passing downs.

LAJ's Don Williams features freshman Cody Davis and the coaches seem pleased with his ability:

"He’s a guy that’s really an active safety," said Carlos Mainord, Davis’ position coach. "He’s a good-sized safety, he’s a physical guy right now and by the time he stays in the weight room, he’s going to be even more so. He’s got good speed. He’s an intelligent guy. I think he’s going to really be a good player before he gets through here."

And Davis on the prospect of redshirting this year (which I hope happens):

"They’ve been talking about redshirting me," Davis said, "but I’m going to come in with the mentality of earning a spot. So I’ll just go all out, and if the coaches want to redshirt me, that’s fine. That just gives me an extra year to get better and work hard."

In Williams' Red Raider Football Notebook there's this quote from Captain leach on McKinner Dixon (again, more on this later in the morning):

"His current status is it looks like he’s going to be ineligible, so he’s last team," Leach said. "I don’t know if they’ll appeal it or whatever, and if they do and if that’s granted, then he might move up from there. But right now we’re not going to waste reps on him until we know something."

Uggghhh.

In much happier news, Brandon Sesay is going to be a beast and is eligible:

"It’s a beautiful thing right now," he said. "I’m just very excited about what I can do and what the team can do for me. I’m just ready to make it happen, academically and on the field."

Check out the entire notebook for updates on the stadium, the center position battle, and notes from Wednesday's practice.

#23 in the Countdown to Kickoff features freshman running back/linebacker, Brandon Reid:

What is your all-time favorite movie? Friday.

What TV show are you embarrassed to admit you watch? Laguna Beach.

Who would win in a fight, Jack Bauer from 24 or Batman? That's easy, Batman.

RaiderAde with more on the improvements to the AT&T Jones Stadium, as well as FanShots from djollie111 here and here.