Toughest Player:  LAJ's Don Williams feature story polls the team to find out who is the team's toughest player.  Apparently, it wasn't much of a contest as RB Baron Batch was the resounding winner.  Here's C Justin Keown:

Center Justin Keown called him an "all-around tough (expletive).’’

"He’s hungry for the ball and doesn’t mind contact,’’ Keown said. "He likes running over people. He wants to get hit. He loves practicing. When he gets hurt, he’s out there the next day, wanting to be practicing.’’

But Batch says it wasn't always this way:

"My sophomore and junior year in high school, I’d run for my life,’’ he said. "I didn’t really like contact. Even my freshman year up here (at Tech), I kind of liked to use my speed a lot more. Once you get to college, everybody’s fast, and you can’t run away from everybody.’’

Lots of good additional quotes about a number of other players receiving votes in the article.  Go read the whole thing.

More news, notes and links after the jump, including Texas Tech's 88-49 win over South Dakota.

  Last Year Was Last Year:  LAJ's Don Williams writes that last year's win was easy, but winning in Stillwater has not been easy.  Here's Leach on the Cowboys:

"They’re big and strong and fast, and they’re a good team like they always are,’’ Leach, Tech’s head coach, said this week. "Really, they’re very much the same team we played last year, in most cases. They have several people back and are a good team, so we need to do the best we can to play like last year.’’

  Wall Doesn't Worry:  FWST's Dwain Price features CB Jamar Wall, who was a standout running back in high school and is now a standout cornerback in the Big 12:

"He was a big-time running back coming out of high school, and anybody who can rush for over 2,000 yards two years in a row is pretty awesome," Tech defensive coordinator Ruffin McNeill said. "We saw him in summer camp and we told him to go play defensive back, and from the first second he was out there he was a natural.

"We offered him [a scholarship] the first time we saw him in camp."

And New England WR Wes Welker has had praise for Wall:

After the workout, Welker praised Wall for being better than some of the cornerbacks he went against in the NFL.

"That was coming into my freshman year," Wall said. "That was my first time really playing defense and the first person I was introduced to was Welker.

"To hear that coming from him, it definitely gave me a boost that I can definitely do the work and get better. This coming from a guy that’s been in the NFL for years, then I could definitely try to guard some people in the college level."

  Oklahoma St. Cowboy and Big 12 Links:  LAJ's Adam Zuvanich on RB Kendall Hunter returning to the running back mix for OSU . . . CFN's Big 12 picks of the week (Texas Tech is not a popular choice) . . . Tulsa World with 3 storylines to watch . . . NewsOK's Brandon Chatman with players in the OSU secondary to watch out for today and the blitz package, which are key matchups and somesuch . . .

  Red Raiders Defeat Coyotes, 88-49:  LAJ's Courtney Linehan writes that the defense was outstanding in last night's win over the South Dakota Coyotes.  Head coach Pat Knight:

"I think our defensive pressure helped, got us some easy buckets, but then our kids relaxed," Knight said. "Both teams were tight coming out, but that’s natural. It’s both teams opening games."

Linehan also writes that Juco newcomer G David Tairu led the team in scoring, although SF Mike Singletary was not surprised:

"I wasn’t impressed," forward Mike Singletary said. "He’s been doing it in practice. He comes out and plays hard, he has a nose for the ball. I wasn’t surprised at all."

However, the player of the game may have been PF Darko Cohadarevic, who only scored 8 points, but managed to grab 13 rebounds in only 23 minutes.  Good to see Darko get off to a good start.