I've updated the recruiting sidebar (down and to the left) with the current 2010 Texas Tech football commitments. More on that, later in this morning's notes.

My wife also forgot to set the alarm, which means that I'm waking up extremely late, so this is an abbreviated morning notes, but the preview and open game day thread for the Big 12 Tournament game against the Aggies goes up later this afternoon.

Eric Russell Named Special Teams Coach

LAJ's Don Williams reports that Louisiana Tech's Eric Russell has been named the special teams for Texas Tech (emphasis mine):

"We studied all the teams and figured out, who had the best special teams in America last year? Louisiana Tech did,’’ Leach said. "So we asked, who coaches their special teams? Is this a lucky year for him, or was he always good? At Louisiana Tech, he was. And he totally ruled at special teams at North Texas.’’

Snip

"We debated,’’ Leach said. "Clay’s real versatile. He can do a lot of stuff. He played running back. Starting out, we thought we were looking for a running backs coach. Then we thought, ‘What if we got a special teams coach and moved Clay to running backs?’ So it worked out well.’’

Zach Winbush Commits

Zach Winbush is a safety/linebacker from Schertz, Texas, committed last night and RaiderPower's Mark Sparrow talked with Winbush (emphasis mine):

"I was really impressed with their graduation rate, which was one of my biggest concerns. It's close to home and when I was up there for Junior Day, the facilities really impressed me."

Snip

"My position is still up in the air, but right now it looks like I will probably play linebacker. But those kinds of things can always change."

Scotty Young Continues to Work

LAJ's Don Williams sat down with new Texas Tech commit, quarterback, Scotty Young:

"I’ve got a lot to work on,’’ he said. "We lost a lot of seniors, and we’re going to have a really young team next year. I’ve just got to work hard … and be a better leader on the team next year. Hopefully, we can get back to how good we were last year.’’

Red Raiders Face Aggies in Big 12 Tournament

Lots of previews, led by LAJ's Jeff Walker, DT's Alex Ybarra and DMN's Chuck Carlton. Random quotes from Pat Knight:

"You’ve got to look inside with their two bigs (Chinemelu Elonu and Bryan Davis)," Tech head coach Pat Knight said. "That always causes problems, and our post defense wasn’t very good when they played (in Lubbock). You also can’t let (Josh) Carter get away from you. We did a better job of making him work (in College Station).

"I think we’ve gotten better. The record doesn’t show it, but these kids are still competing and they’re playing hard," Knight said. "We’re getting better. We’ve been in every game, really, in the Big 12 season. The kids fighting and haven’t given up and that’s why I’m looking forward to the Big 12 tournament and see if we can play a few more games and see what we can do."

Texas Tech Takes on Dallas Baptist

*Click on the score for boxscore.

The Red Raiders face Dallas Baptist, finally in Lubbock after 8 games on the road, the last non-conference game before facing Nebraska. Here are the official game notes (pdf) and LAJ's George Watson and DT's Mike Graham previews this game. Here's Chris Richburg on the 1-7 roadtrip:

"I think maybe we found out some things about ourselves," senior first baseman Chris Richburg said. "In order for us to have the kind of season we want to have we have to learn to win on the road, and we didn’t win as many as we wanted to out in California. But we have to play better, not only at home but on the road from here on out."