Not So Fast My Friend:  LAJ's Don Williams wrote last night that although some of the recruiting services have reported that DE Scott Smith (4* / 6-7 / 275) has signed his letter of intent, as of 10:30 p.m. last night, the coaching staff has not yet received those letters of intent from Smith or from DT Donald Langley.  If Smith and Langley sign and send in the letters of intent, both would start school in January and participate in spring practices.  I don't subscribe to any recruiting services so I have no idea as to the actual status of either player.  If something happens and it's free information, please feel free to throw up a FanPost or FanShot.

The good news is that the Red Raiders did receive a letter of intent from Sulphur Spring's OL Beau Carpenter (6-7 / 275) who will also participate in spring practices.  Here's Carpenter on his commitment and the type of player he is:

"It’s definitely the place I’ve wanted to go ever since I started getting recruited,’’ Carpenter said. "It’s a similar offense, and when I visited I fell in love with it. It’s a great place with an amazing fan base, and I really love the town.’’

Snip

"I’ve been told I have a lot of good natural (traits) for an offensive lineman,’’ he said. "I have a good low pad level, I have real good feet and quick feet, and they like how I get after people. I’m really aggressive on the field.’’

Beau, welcome to Texas Tech.

Davis Q&A:  The SAEN has a Q&A with S Cody Davis and Davis talks about what a win against Michigan St. would mean:

What would a victory against Michigan State mean to the Red Raiders as you transition into next year? It’s a springboard ... It really means a lot for the offseason and jump-starting into next year. You really want to start it off right and have something to build off of, instead of having a bad taste in your mouth the whole offseason, so we look forward to ending it the right way, and sending the seniors off with a win.

Young 4-A Offensive Player of the Year:  Texas Tech commit QB Scotty Young was named as the 4-A offensive player of the year and first-team quarterback.  Here's Young on the honor:

He finishes his high school career with 8,964 passing yards and 129 touchdowns in two years at the helm of an explosive Ryan offense and remains a verbal commit to play at Texas Tech next year. The 129 career touchdowns is fourth all-time in the state of Texas.

"It’s exciting," Young said. "It’s a really cool award for the whole team. It’s great to be thought of like that. We had a really good offense last year, and we were able to take that as a foundation and make it even better this year."

Grabbing the Spotlight:  IndyStar's Terry Hutchens writes that Pat Knight and the Texas Tech Red Raiders are off to the Red Raiders best start in 80 years.  PK talks about what the national recognition means:

"The national exposure is great for the community, the university and the players' confidence, especially after coming off a down year last year," Knight said. "It just gives these kids some confidence that they can play with some of the better teams in the country, and it really helps us get prepared for the Big 12."

And PK believes that the Big 12 may be the best conference in the country:

"We've talked about this before, but we've got to publicize this league as a basketball league," Knight said. "I think we've always had one of the top two leagues in the country every year, but sometimes we get overlooked. We shouldn't be sitting there on (NCAA Tournament) Selection Sunday worried if we're going to get six teams in. We should always get six teams and maybe seven in a year like we have this year."I think, hands down, you could argue that this is the best league in the country."

KenPom's Scouting Report:  For those of you who don't visit KenPom, you should, especially if your a stats guy or gal, and yesterday, KenPom released their predicted record and player tempo-free stats.  Right now, KenPom's computer models have the Red Raiders winning 20 games, including 8 conference games.  I think I could live with that.