Double-T Nation Daily Diatribe :: 10.09.09
by Seth C on Oct 9, 2009 6:06 AM CDT
in DTN Daily Diatribe
12 comments
Honor Stone: LAJ's Don Williams has a great editorial today where he says that Captain Mike Leach should relent on his no-injuries policy in regards to DB Nathan Stone and honor him and his career. I agree with Williams to an extent, in that I still have no problem with Leach not discussing any injuries, but when a guy's career is over, then I would agree that it's time to acknowledge what he meant to the team and program.
Former Red Raiders with Concussions: LAJ's Don Williams talks with former Red Raiders Mickey Peters and Donnie Hart regarding concussions they suffered while at their time in Lubbock:
"It’s scary,’’ said Peters, who makes his living these days working in investments. "It’s kind of a freaky deal. You know you’re not all there, but there’s nothing you can do about it.’’
Snip
"I don’t think you consciously realize that you’re not yourself,’’ said Hart who, when he finished his career in 1998, was second in Tech history for receptions (125), receiving yards (2,111) and touchdown catches (17). "Certain things in a game that you would normally do, you have a little bit of reluctance to put yourself in harm’s way. It’s not something that you go into being scared of; it just sort of happens that way.’’
Dress Roster: LAJ's Don Williams writes that both FS Cody Davis and QB Taylor Potts are not on the dress roster, but C Shawn Byrnes and DE Daniel Howard will be with the team on Saturday.
Freshman Focus: LAJ's Don Williams weekly series, where he focuses on a freshman player redshirting this year and up this week is WR E.J. Celestie. Inside receivers coach Lincoln Riley likes what he sees in Celestie:
Celestie has spent his first couple of months at Tech being an "H" inside receiver, but Tech coaches don’t want to be too quick to pigeonhole him.
"He just brings so much versatility," inside receivers coach Lincoln Riley said this week. "He can play all four receiver positions. He’s going to be able to help special teams. He’ll be able to help with the return game. There’s a lot of positions he’s going to have a chance to play."
And Celestie is a smart player who adjusts:
"He didn’t do a ton of (inside receiver) in high school," Riley said, "but he picked it up fast because he’s just a smart guy. He’s an attentive guy. He really pays attention to detail and remembers things. He was raw because he never really got to settle in at one position in high school, but you could tell he’s really explosive with the ball in his hands and knew things."
Brandt Likes Texas Tech Offensive Linemen: FWST's Dwain Price talked with NFL scout Gil Brandt, who think that Texas Tech offensive linemen come to the NFL ready to play:
"They do such a good job coaching (offensive) linemen, because pass protection is the whole name of their game,'' Brandt said Thursday night. "When (Tech's offensive linemen) leave there, they're well-coached five-year guys that are pretty strong and turn out to be pretty good players.''
And Brandt talks about how smart Leach is:
"Mike Leach is like a fox,'' said Brandt, the Dallas Cowboys' Vice President of player personnel from 1960-'88. "Some coaches go out and they hob-nob with the boosters and so forth. Mike hob-nobs with himself and his wife, Sharon.
"He does all that crazy pirate stuff and all those crazy things. The guy is really sharp the way he does stuff.''
How sharp?
"I asked his wife how did you meet Mike, and she said they met in California,'' Brandt said. "She said early on Mike had come up with this big idea that they would go to Cody, Wyoming, which is his home town, and Mike would get a job there for the summer and she'd get a job and they would save a lot of money.
"But Mike wanted to save more money. He wanted (Sharon) to get a job at the bookstore and see if they could put a hammock in the back room.
"So instead of having to rent a place to live, he could sleep in the hammock in the back room of the bookstore. The guy is always thinking.''
Well that's interesting.
Crabtree Links: DMN's Tim Cowlishaw writes that players who associate with Deion Sanders may be hurtful to their careers and there was some talk about this on The Ticket during my lunch hour yesterday in that Sanders may help lean players to a certain agent, in particular, Eugene Parker, but is not an agent himself, which allows him to talk with players during their playing days and the NCAA can't do a thing. The other thought that occurred to me was that there was a very short period of time early in the season last year where there was a question about Crabtree's eligibility. Everyone said that it was merely a paperwork issue, but I wonder if the difference between Bryant and Crabtree is that Crabtree told the truth about his relationship with Sanders. Who else could see the NCAA start cracking down on these types of relationships . . . on the field, SFGate writes that Michael Crabtree's first job is to line-up on the scout team, something he did regularly on Thursday nights during his redshirt year . . . SacBee considers the type of player that Crabtree is . . .
Kansas St. Wildcat Links: DT's Adam Coleman writes that KSU hopes that Bill Snyder brings this football program back to the level of his first tenure . . . CJOnline's Austin Meek has some KSU notes and talks with the Kansas St. secondary (good read) . . . KC Star's Kellis Robinette takes a look at RG Brandon Carter . . . Kansas.com previews the KSU vs. TT game . .
Big 12 Links: Congrats to Nebraska for just pouring it on (that's a pun) last night, scoring 27 points in the 4th quarter, Corn Nation will be celebrating and they had the Big 12 Roundtable Recap yesterday . . . DMN writes that backup quarterbacks are getting some burn this weekend . . . KC Star's Blair Kerkoff with his weekly Big 12 Insider . . .
High School Links: Scotty Young had an off night where his Denton Ryan Raiders lost to Lake Dallas 31-35, where Young was 15-33, 229 yards, 3 interceptions and 1 touchdown. I know he's supposed to be good, but there's no way in hell that he steps in and starts next year. I think and hope he's going to be a great player, but let's ease up . . . for those of you who don't know, James Gray was one of the best running backs ever to wear the Scarlet and Black, well his son, Johnathan Gray, is also a running back in Aledo and just tearing things up . . .
Neglected Video: Fox34 with a look at QB Steven Sheffield:
Preseason All-Big 12: The Big 12 Preseason first team and individual honors were picked by the coaches and there were no Texas Tech players chosen, but truthfully, only Kansas (Sherron Collins and Cole Aldrich) , Texas (Damion James), Oklahoma St. (James Anderson), Oklahoma (Willie Warren) and Iowa St. (Craig Brackins) had players that were picked.
Friday Night Scrimmage: There's a scrimmage tonight at 5:00 p.m. Go check it out tonight and let us know how it went.
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In regard to Crabtree
The Ticket said some disheartening things about him about 6:00 am today. I was still in the process of climbing out of bed on a rainy morning, so I didn’t get their source, but Dunham and Miller said that Crabtree would likely be playing the slot for awhile because “He doesn’t know any routes except hitch and go.” I’m guessing that he knows a few more routes than that, but they were saying he apparently didn’t have alot of knowledge of common routes.
That's some bullshit
WWL says he’s on track to debut at the end of the month.
by mojavereject on Oct 9, 2009 10:46 AM CDT up reply actions
Sounds like the ticket boys need to watch last year's game film.
Crabtree was put all over the place which was a wrinkle that Leach added from 07. The reality is if he can get off the jam at the line of scrimmage and gain chemistry with their average (at best) QB he’ll live up to the hype. Two things are certin: he will catch the ball in motion (unlike Heyward-Bay) and he will be one of the better blockers on the outside (which is what SF really wants anyways).
Scotty Young
"We noticed on film that [Young] usually throws to his first read, and he doesn’t check down much," Waller said. "We just jumped their routes." ….. does this remind anyone else of a certain Tech QB playing now? You know, the one that looks like Dish from Lonesome Dove? (I’ll post that later today when I am on my home computer) But this Johnathan Gray kid sounds like the real deal. 2000 yards as a sophomore?!
The Great Grays
Loved the article on Johnathan Gray. His dad, Mr. James Gray, is probably my all-time favorite Red Raider football player. (Ok, Welker is in there somewhere, too.) Gray the elder was a great running back for Texas Tech and as solid a person as you will ever find. The anecdote in the article about his call to his son’s coach is wonderfully illustrative. I still have the video recording (VHS!) that I made of the 1989 All-American Bowl against Duke where he just ripped them to shreds. It would just be too cool if Johnathan Gray came to play for the Red Raiders after high school. Thanks, Seth, for the link.
The offensive coordinator for the 49ers (Jimmy Raye) said that from their perspective, Crabtree only ran two routes last year – the go and the hitch, depending on where the DB lined up. I am assuming they watched a minute or two of film. I think he was sort of just overstating the fact that Crabtree didn’t have a lot of plays to learn at Tech and was making the point that he has a lot to learn there. They are putting him in the slot to start off with to get him on the field as soon as they can.
From SI.com
“Michael Crabtree will start his NFL career as a slot receiver, according to San Francisco 49ers offensive coordinator Jimmy Raye. That’s the fastest way for the Niners to get the first-round draft pick on the field, and one NFL personnel man said he liked the idea of forcing opposing defenses to cover tight end Vernon Davis with a safety on one side and then matching up Crabtree on the other side with another defender to work the middle of the field. But it will be a steep learning curve for Crabtree, who by Raye’s estimations ran two routes in the wide open scheme he played in at Texas Tech. “He basically played on one side in college, didn’t flip, stayed on the one side and he ran a hitch, and if he was pressed, he ran a go,” Raye said. “So, it’s a little bit more learning that he has to do than time will allow us to teach him, but we’ve got to make do as we can.”
I am a Nathan Stone Fan
But I do not like Don William’s article even a little bit.
Mike Leach speaks well of Nathan:
"Great player. Still part of our team. I think really a guy that has continued to elevate. He started from way back and worked his way into being a scholarship player. I think he’s really had an impressive career and has come a long way."
But Williams would have us think that Mike Leach lacks the ability to be humanitarian. That would put him in the company of people like Billy Graham, Clara Barton, Martin Luther King, Jr., I don’t know that is what we should expect from a head football coach…I supposed Urban Meyer fits in with that group, he exercised his humanity by talking about his qb on ESPN. And poor Don did not get the same from his assignment…so as a result DW tells us what ‘big time’ programs do.
IMHO, Don’s piece is a miss. Don Williams has written many articles which I have appreciated because his is often an pretty objective perspective. Opinion is opinion, we don’t agree on this subject. I’d rather he focus on the football players who are going to play.
The doctors have recommended that Nathan Stone start thinking about a life away from football. They have essentially chosen to close the door on that part of his life. If it was me, I would want to wait a while before I decided on that. He could do something no one has seen before.
Seth - You meant Rob Peters on the concussion story...
A former Red Raider QB. Just in case some didn’t have a chance to review the link….
Gray
One of my coworkers lives in Aledo & goes to lots of the games (kids in school there). They’ve been talking about him since last year. The rumor is that he wants to follow in dad’s footsteps.
I dosagree
William’s comments on Leach are unwarranted and contains a judgement of character on Leach. How can that article be called great? That is the policy of TECAS TECH where Leach is concerned.To use the word humanitarian in a negative way explains just who Williams is.He might as well used the word heartless.To agree with a person s opinion is one thing to call that article "GREAT"makes me rethink to be careful what is posted by the editor on this site.
I make no bones about that this is an awesome web site where TEXAS TECH is concerned.But lately it seems that what ever opinions are posted are being grilled to the max.
Remember we are what make this site.Edit in the word editor can sometimes lead to a mute point.And should not be used to alienate.
In retrospect, and after reading TallMike’s comments, I can say I’ve had a change of heart about Williams editorial. If I called it “great”, I should have held back on the superlatives, but I usually do this stuff between 5 and 5:30 in the morning. Sometimes something sounds good at that time and usually I don’t have time to reflect as much as I’d like as I’m in a hurry to get out of the door and to work by 7.
I would say that I don’t think that Williams thinks that Leach is completely inhumane, but I would say that maybe Williams just wants Leach to acknowledge that Stone means a lot to this program rather than the traditional injury stuff, which is how I feel (i.e., something like, “Stone is not going to be playing for us any more, but he was a helluva player and he truly had an impact on the program as a person and as a football player.”)
If I screw up, it’s on me and I try very hard not to screw things up. Hopefully I’ll be cut a tad bit of slack rather than be branded for life for an early morning statement. I’d love to edit that adjective, but then I usually think that I don’t want to create the impression that I’m changing things (unless they are actual typos) on you guys and gals.
Go Raiders . . .
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