Red Raider Gridiron :: Potts to Have Surgery

Potts to Have Surgery:  LAJ's Don Williams and DT's Adam Coleman I think were the first to report that QB Taylor Potts will need surgery to repair his hand.  Here's head coach Tommy Tuberville:

"Doctors feel like they have to go in and attach a couple of ligaments that either loosed or detached,’’ Tech coach Tommy Tuberville said Monday. "They don’t want to take any chances, so they’ll operate on him tomorrow and he’ll have it bandaged up for at least three or four weeks but won’t be able to throw for eight weeks.’’

Coleman's article also discusses how Seth Doege and Jacob Karam are progressing and Doege knows that these injuries won't set either Potts or Steven Sheffield back:

"Knowing those two guys, those guys will never give up," Doege said. "They’ll never quit. These injuries won’t set them back one bit. Being a senior — it’s different, college football and high school football — I feel for those guys because it’s a hard thing to do. It’s just spring football but it’s your senior year. You want to go through it."

Karam talks about the redshirt process:

"The redshirt experience here is really hard," Karam said. "You have to stay patient. You practice with everyone. You have to do all the work but you really don’t get a lot of the benefits, which is hard. Luckily I got to travel. I made the travel squad.

"I’m preparing like I’m the first string every day. I realize that a lot of things can happen and I just gotta stay prepared and do the best I can to prepare in the film room and out here."

I've stayed fairly silent on the matter, but I like both Doege and Karam and I don't really have a favorite (for 2011), other than I hope that the best quarterback wins.  I somewhat feel that if I'm cheering for one to win, I'm cheering for the other to lose.  For now, I hope they both perform well for the spring game and this practice time gives them a little more experience that they might not would have had.

Notes, Notes and More Notes:  Williams article also has quite a few other notes, other than the Potts surgery, including an update on LT Terry McDaniel:

"I’ve just got to play with a low pad level,’’ he said. "I’ve just got to drop my hips and bend well again. That’s my biggest issue right now. Other than that, everything’s going great.’’

Williams also notes all of the weight loss of the offensive linemen and McDaniel has dropped 10 pounds as well . . . Tuberville praised WR Alexander Torres yesterday:

"Alex Torres still amazes me every time we come out here how he catches the football,’’ Tuberville said Monday. "He’s got great hands. He’s going to do a lot of good things around here.’’

. . . the practice that was scheduled today is canceled, but the rest of the spring is on a Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday schedule . . .

Follow me after the jump for additional news, links and video.  Huge. Quickly.

Edge Rushers:  LAJ's Don Williams focuses on the players who are expected to be the edge rushers in this new 3-4 defense and LB's Brian Duncan and Aundrey Barr are making an impression on Tuberville:

"Aundrey Barr and Brian Duncan are probably the two I’ve watched that have shown improvement, that look like they can really help us at that position,’’ Tuberville said when asked what defensive end-outside linebacker types had made the best impression in spring practice.

"Both can play at the same time and both can also drop (in coverage). So it’s going to give us a little bit of headway toward surprising some offenses by which one’s coming and which one’s dropping.’’

Interesting to hear that Tubs thinks that Barr can essentially be the same type of linebacker that Duncan is.  I have always thought of Barr as the type of outside linebacker that could really get to the quarterback and he seems to be making that transition.  Williams also notes that LB/DE Kerry Hyder has only had his hand on the ground, whereas Duncan and Barr have been both stand-up and hand-down players.  Tuberville also talks about Hyder and how most of the players don't use their hands well when rushing the passer, but they are working on getting better:

"He plays hard. He plays a little bit erratic,’’ Tuberville said. "One thing we’ve changed, we’ll play a lot more with our hands with the defensive linemen.

"All the linemen, including Kerry, don’t fit their hands real well after we attack the line of scrimmage on offensive linemen. But they’re getting better. We’re doing a lot of physical drills now and one-on-one drills that will help them.’’

Lots of interesting stuff there, go read the whole thing.

Uniform Change:  TTUMAR posted a FanShot from yesterday's Tech Talk radio show where they said that Texas Tech would be utilizing a new helmet next year.  For those of you who have never read DTN's Q & A with Jay Shelton of Southwest Conference Helmet History, then you should. This was one of the most time consuming posts I've written in terms of research, but it was a lot of fun.

Tubs Interview, Part II:  FSSW Brian Smith has part II of his interview with Tuberville.  I thought Tubs' answer regarding how much they've practiced the run to be interesting:

You had some tremendous running games when you were at Auburn. What’s the key to having a successful ground attack?

You have to be committed to it, in terms of consistency. The one thing we’ve done in the last 15 years of my career is be simple, but be very physical. It doesn’t just start with the running backs; it starts with the offensive line. We’re doing a lot of one-on-one drills, a lot of half-line drills. We don’t go out in practice and throw it 90-percent of the time and run 10-percent. We’ll be a little bit unbalanced. We’ve worked in practice about 70-percent of the time on the pass and 30-percent on the run, but that 30-percent has been very focused. The players understand that we’re going to practice this, we’re going to get it done and we’re going to do it the right way, knowing that it’s going to be a part of our offense. The running game will help the passing game. It’s been fun watching it materialize.

And Tubs talked about what he learned while taking a year off from coaching:

While you were watching games and commentating for ESPN, you got an outside perspective on how other coaches thought about the game and what their gameplan was. What did you learn from that opportunity?

You learn fundamentals and techniques. I don’t just go to places and watch guys practice. I studied film, I talked to coaches. We talked about X’s and O’s, we talked about changes taking place and what’s made them better. We talked about the problems they’ve had on and off the field. As a coach, you look at a wide range of things you deal with. In college football you don’t just deal with X’s and O’s; you deal with the little things that surround your football team and make you better. I talked a lot about philosophy and leadership, those kinds of things. We talked recruiting. So I learned a lot and broadened my horizons a little bit. Working for ESPN, I had to know a lot about the Pac 10 and the Big East, something I didn’t have to worry about when I was a head coach in another conference. It helped me understand a lot of different things that were going on in college football.

Miscellaneous Links:  I'm running out of time this morning, but wanted to post a couple of interesting links, including Every Day Should Be Saturday's tremendously entertaining interview with Luther Campbell (language warning) . . . RP.com's Steve Pitts has a bit up on defensive coordinator James Willis . . . and the Captain will be making an appearance in Stillwater to be a consultant for Oklahoma St.  I wonder if Dana Holgerson likes having Leach look over his shoulder or is this just Leach getting out of the house for a few days?

Video: Wreck' Em TV with some video from Tuberville on Potts' injury and Doege and Karam discuss their opportunities:

Fox34 with more video: