Double-T Nation Daily Diatribe :: 10.15.09
by Seth C on Oct 15, 2009 7:14 AM CDT
in Texas Tech News, Notes and Links
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Scheduled Maintenance: SB Nation was down for maintenance this morning and as a result, I couldn't access the network. The biggest news this morning was that, per LAJ's Don Williams, freshman OL Matt Goetz is no longer with the team and Captain Mike Leach had this to say:
Asked whether it was by Goetz’s choice or by Leach’s, Leach said, "I don’t know about his, but definitely by mine.’’
Feel free to leave any additional links in the comments and I'll try to make it up to you tomorrow.
Scheduled for a noon posting today is Five Reasons Texas Tech Will Win.
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Chris Level, RedRaiderSports.com...
has a short segment on Houston radio on Wednesday’s and had some interesting info.
Potts has been suited up since Sunday’s practice but Sheffield is taking all the 1st team snaps. Not really news, but he was a bit taken back by the public support by teammates for Sheffield. Specifically, he thought Marlon Winn should have been more concerned with his lack of protection for Potts in the UT game than who he thought was the better QB. He did mention that teammates were impressed when Leong failed to come up with a catch vs KSU and Sticks ran 50 yds downfield, patted him on the helmet, and ran back to the huddle. Don’t see that everyday.
With Cody Davis back, TT will have their starting safeties together for the first time since the Rice game. Shawn Byrnes is practicing, but Daniel Howard is not so certain a go.
On another note, I watched a replay of last year’s TTU-Neb game the other night. Great game, though not one of Tech’s better performances. The missed extra point in overtime could have made a difference about how we all felt about our season last year. Also, Suh didn’t seem to be that active last year. Maybe he’s improved. Hopefully Carter has improved as well.
And lastly, the painted Tech girl from gameday posts was there on the front row at the Nebraska game last year, getting some early air time.
I’m not completely sold on Sheffield yet since he has yet to play an away game.
Having said that, if I were the coach, I’d still ask Sheffield to start. Lets see what the kid does.
If he does perform well, how Leach selected Potts over Sheffield during pre-season would be a conundrum to me.
I don't think anybody...
is completely convinced SS is the guy but he sure does look better than what we’ve seen thus far in Potts. Personally, I find it strange that SS looked so well groomed with his play and Potts looked off balance and lost. It scares me that our coaching staff didn’t recognize some of Potts problems back in the spring. We are very lucky that we have great recruits coming and present depth at this position.
I bet...
Based only on performance thus far, I’d imagine that Potts looks better with time in the pocket (since he can scramble, Sheffield (so far) appears to do better under pressure). Considering that our OLine has not been very good (thus far) providing protection and our DLine has been pretty bad about putting pressure on the opposing QB, I’d assume our lines about evened out in the pre-season. (ie. our Defense got enough pressure to look decent, but our OLine kept them from being harassing) Thus, with time to look and survey Potts was able to hit men all over, especially deep.
Basically, if he had last year’s line I’ll bet Potts wouldn’t look too bad right now, we might’ve even been 6-0 at this point. But without guys like Rylan Reed (WAY underrated IMO) and Louis Vazquez to watch his blindside he’s gotten hammered. Sheffield OTOH is able to buy a little extra time and evade some of the pressure so against strong defenders, he looks better. Considering Suh with Nebraska, I have to imagine Sheffield gives us our best chance. I also imagine Sheffield takes a little pressure off the OLine by letting them think he CAN move back there, rather thanstaying stationary. This line seems to prefer redirecting the rush and provides pretty good RUN blocking in that way, but has trouble STOPPING the rush, and thus pass protection isn’t solid.
Heero, that is an assessment that makes a lot of sense from where I sit.
Potts’ challenge was/is to get to game speed vs practice speed. I have a thought that the practices are a bit soft compared to games and it normally shows with each new qb…it did with most anyway, maybe not so much with Symons or Sheffield.
I agree as well
…but give credit to sticks. Boy can move. plus, he can run 50 yards down the field to talk to Leong about a incompletion. I liked that.
And lastly, the painted Tech girl from gameday posts was there on the front row at the Nebraska game last year, getting some early air time.
There is a commercial that aired during the KSU game (tx tech related) where you can see Tech Girl for a second or two.
Wreck 'em, Tech!
by Tortilla Pirate on Oct 15, 2009 10:07 AM CDT up reply actions
Screen grabs? Please?
As for Sheffield, I think it’s kinda funny that the first Leach QB who has “prototypical” NFL skills and size (Potts) is struggling with the offense and another kid who doesn’t have a prayer at ever being an NFL QB (SS) is just a perfect fit. I hate to see anybody lose their job due to injury, but with one Big 12 South loss on the books, it might not be worth the gamble to go back to Potts when you are playing one of the 2-3 best defenses in the league and on the road. What does “Sticks” weigh? The dude looks like a distance runner playing QB!
I don’t think Potts is struggling with the offense so much as he’s struggling with the team. I say again, I think Potts would be DOMINANT (in the discussion with Bradford and McCoy) if he had LAST YEAR’S line. I said this about Baylor losing their LT and it’s true for us too. You don’t lose multi-year talent on the line and NOT “feel” it. The problem for Potts is he’s a “Marino” type, he can make the throws but he can’t (or won’t) move. David Carr was a prototypical NFL quarterback, he got killed in Houston because he HAD NO LINE (you can argue other issues too, but he took more sacks in his first few seasons than anyone). If our guys can get it together we should be pretty good, but I always expected this year to have “growing pains”.
I think Leach also WAS grooming Potts for next year (once Potts had a year of seasoning and our line had time to grow into the role, kinda like Mack Brown tried to do with Simms), but the injury was bad and when Sheffield played well it’s just hard to “put the genie back in the bottle”. Now it becomes a question of potential (Potts/Simms) v. performance (Sheffield/Applewhite)
And as we know from UT’s example, potential is great unless you never get to see it realized.
Absolutely...
If we consider our OLine as taking until last Saturday to come together, then I think we’ve gotten spoiled to having solid OLines. And to hang the offense’s lack of performance on Potts is unfair.
As for the simms/applewhite analogy…there was a lot of additional booster politics in play….suffice to say that they wanted Simms to provide name recognition for the boosters. Something that doesnt apply in our situation.
As for Tech Girl, Austin….this is her (no screen grabs, sorry)
Wreck 'em, Tech!
by Tortilla Pirate on Oct 15, 2009 11:47 AM CDT up reply actions
I kind of wish Leach would cut out the snarky comments when discussing players in the dog house or guys who are in trouble. Sort of bush league.
Agreed, '92
Some of the commentary is getting old. If he doesn’t want to discuss the details, why can’t he just respond that it is an internal issue and not make any further comment.
Seems to me that Coach is inviting more questions instead of putting it to rest. When you say “it’s definitely mine.”, it opens the opportunity for a follow up question. If you make the announcement and say it is an internal issue, the case is closed.
I think we’re getting close to “Leach being Leach” territory (i.e Manny being Manny) with stuff like this. Majority of the time I like that about him. But not when it comes to internal issues around the players.
by imisswesttexas on Oct 15, 2009 9:09 AM CDT up reply actions
Respectfully disagree
I don’t think Leach is opening it up for more questions… just the opposite maybe. He tried the whole ‘internal issue’ thing with Carter after the UH game and there was at least one article every day about what it might have been. If people care about the incident (a captain being suspended vs a non-starter leaving the team) they are going to keep asking questions trying to get any info at all out of Leach and the rest of the staff. I don’t think Leach’s comments would effect either situation.
As to Tech92’s comment, I’d have to agree there. These are just kids, they aren’t being paid a salary to be there or perform well. They should be treated as amateurs and kids for the most part, not like a pro athlete.
Maybe that’s what this is… Leach transforming his persona to take a shot at an NFL coaching spot haha.
Completely agree..
The kid was part of the Tech family, regardless of the circumstances surrounding his dismissal, Leach, as the program’s leader, should just stick to the “We wish him all the best” type comments. Other coaches, when recruiting against Leach, can throw that in the face of recruits. “Leach? Look at how he talks about his own players.”
yeah but be careful
The UT player last year who made racial comments about Obama called down the lightening on himself and the team. Other coaches could use that too. I think you should just call it internal matters and protect the reputation of the team and the integrity of the clubhouse.
I disagree
I think his comments set him up as a no BS kind of guy. Sends a message to the other players that the behavior won’t be tolerated and he’s not going to sugar coat your exit. I think this is a much better way of handling things than the Mack Brown having no problem with his player driving his car into a building late at night while ‘text messaging’. If a player isn’t going to follow team rules, Leach doesn’t hesitate to make them an example and I really like that about Leach. Too many coaches baby their stars and give them too many breaks, but last year when our star defensive players were slacking in the classroom, Leach had no problem making an example.
by RAIDERdweb on Oct 15, 2009 10:29 AM CDT up reply actions 1 recs
I think becoz of the better recruits coming in, previously recruited 2-star players are realizing that they’re not gonna be getting starts anytime soon and thats why they’re leaving.
Just a guess. I wish them good luck.
wasn't he a walk on?
Wreck 'Em Tech!
J.T.H.
by redraidersax on Oct 15, 2009 11:58 AM CDT up reply actions
zero
or N/R
http://www.texastech.rivals.com/cviewplayer.asp?Player=64860
Go Raiders . . .
Double-T Nation
Well, I doubt that Mike Leach will ever get it right !! LOL ! After all he lacks the ability to be humanitarian…boy I love that line that Don Williams has coined for us !! LOL !
Being a public figure and a guy who does not follow a script, but more often says what he thinks, he is sure to ruffle feathers.
I really think that a guy who is getting kicked off a college team is not going to rate any form of soft good byes by this coach. It really reflects expectations. It is a great message to any recruit who is not fundamentally a good citizen—whatever that means vs team rules.
Additionally it reflects disappointment in the failure on part of everyone involved. The cost of recruiting, the expense of the schollie, the expense of training, and all the efforts of all the people who supported, from the administrators in academics to the guy who tapes ankles…incredible loss of resources. I’d be disappointed also and likely would not be able to hide it either.
I can see both sides of the discussion about Leach. Frankly, a few of his remarks have grated on me lately, especially in regard to how potential recruits and parents might see him.
One one hand, he needs to be firm and consistent with discipline problems. To be otherwise could create disastrous problems among the team members, or so it sems to me. And I’m all for ‘sending them the message’ that it’s his way or the highway. I don’t see where he has failed in this regard, i.e. shown any favoritism, etc.
OTOH, he seems a tad inconsistent with his public remarks, and some of his statements could cause issues with parents (of recruits) who don’t really know much about him except what they see on TV or read in the paper. It doesn’t seem to me that using the press to ridicule or diss a player is going to excite many parents (even if everything he said is true).
Sometimes he takes the ’it’s an internal matter’ approach which most coaches seem to follow. Granted, the press and us curious fans will always speculate about why a player got disciplined, but that’s just human nature. Short of giving us a blow by blow account with video, there’s no way to stop that. But sometimes lately it seems like he can’t resist taking a jab or two at the player(s) involved and that raises questions for me, i.e. is he just trying to be ‘cute’ and conform to that quirky persona the press has given him (without thinking about possible misinterpretations or unintended consequences), or is he taking a shot at a kid that has pissed him off? Neither one would seem to do the program a lot of good. Even if he has the most pure of intentions, sometimes he needs to learn when to shut up. Just MO.
A&M game...
Is there REALLY no chance of it being a tv? If not, im glad my family got tickets.
Also is anyone planning on going to the Baylor game? I am, so I would really like to meet up with the fellow DTN’ers before the game.
My brother and I with familes in tow
will be at the Baylor game. Pick a gate or bar to link up at. Need a sign like in the airport. :)
"do routine things routinely"
by centexraider on Oct 15, 2009 1:48 PM CDT up reply actions
I'm coming from Mississippi for the Baylor game....
I agree with Centexraider on the Baylor game. I guess what bothers me the most about Potts is that eventhough I do think he is a tuff gunslinger on one hand, rather than adjusting to pressure just a little side to side ( like Harrell did) Potts threw too much off his back foot. Also, he just didn’t seem to check into different plays very well.
SS just alway seems to be going forward and avoiding pressure. The test for SS is saturday and again if he is not good then I say go back to Potts. We have a chance to still make a good run so it is all about winning. I think ou beats ut and then all bets are off and we are still in it cause ut can certainly lose again. Wreck’Em Tech
I agree...
…But i think Sheff can ride this hot streak out. If it is just a hot streak, may the fire burn all season long, Please?
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