Texas Tech Sunday Morning Notes - They Fought Tooth And Nail Edition

LAJ's Fab 44

LAJ's Don Williams and George Watson have a lengthy piece on the LAJ's Fab 44. There's lots of notes on quite a few of the seniors, but I'll pick out the items on the Texas Tech commits.

Jacob Karam:

"He fits what Tech has had as quarterbacks,’’ said Randy Rodgers, an Austin-based recruiting analyst who once coached at the universities of Illinois and Texas. "Jacob has a strong arm. I thought he was one of the better guys in the state in the two-minute drill.

"He turned into a real team leader this year, as opposed to, I think, he was somewhat of a gunslinger as a quarterback as a junior.’’

Joel Gray:

"Joel Gray will probably be a better college player than he was a high school player,’’ Rodgers said. "He had some injuries in high school. If those don’t linger, he’s a really good prospect. He’s got some toughness. He’s played hurt. He’s got really good size.’’

Eric Ward:

"I like Eric Ward a lot,’’ Rodgers said. "I think that was a big steal for Tech to pry him away from Oklahoma. He’s a terrific blocker, a tough guy, can also return punts and kickoffs.’’

Harrell at the Senior Bowl

DMN's Tim MacMahon has a good look at Graham Harrell's performance at the Senior Bowl, which wasn't good. Harrell went 4-13 for 40 yards and 1 interception. Much like you guys, it wasn't so much his arm, but rather the lower half of his body that needs the most work. His footwork and getting his body into his throws was what stood out to me in my limited watching of his performance last night.

Crabtree = Fitzgerald

FWST's Charean Williams writes that draft analysts compare Michael Crabtree to the Arizona Cardinals' Larry Fitzgerald. NFL Network Mike Mayock had this to say about Crabtree:

"When Larry Fitzgerald came out, the question was: How fast is he? Can he separate?" NFL Network draft analyst Mike Mayock said. "He only ran 4.50, 4.51 at his pro day at Pittsburgh, but his ball skills were so extraordinary that it was one of the rare occasions where the pros looked beyond the timed 40 and said, 'This guy’s got something special.’

"... From a talent perspective, Crabtree has special skills. He can go get the football. He seems to run as fast as he needs to run. He’s physical; he’s tough; and he goes and gets the football. I think Fitzgerald is a real good prototype for him."

Red Raiders Turned Over By Mizzou

LAJ's Jeff Walker and the AP story detail Texas Tech's 97-86 loss to the Missouri Tigers (boxscore). Junior Knight acknowledges that the early turnovers were a difference:

"I really thought we hurt ourselves, especially early on," Knight said. "Their defense forces a lot of turnovers, but it shouldn’t be that many. We made a lot of dumb passes, a lot of dumb plays and kind of rushed ourselves."

Missouri Coach Mike Anderson said that Texas Tech competed:

"Pat has been talking about competing and fighting and toughness, and I think you saw that," Anderson said. "I thought they fought tooth and nail, and that’s why when you look at the rebounding discrepancy, I thought that they wanted it more."

Report card will be posted some time later this morning.