Five Questions | One Scrimmage In The Books

1) I think we all know that sticks doesnt practice well, and performs his best under pressure.

2) Im concerned that potts will be named starter bc he practices better, and we will have the same ordeal as last year for the fans to be calling for sticks.

3) impressive weight gain: anybody but nancy……..most important weight gain: anybody but nancy

4) impressive weight loss: Donald Langley……most important weight loss: LaAdrian Waddle

5) college football live

1. Don’t really care at this point. This dead horse has been beat into the mud. Whoever trots out onto that field trots onto the field, I will still be cheering my head off from the comfort of my living room.
2. Concern and comfort don’t really describe it. I’m just anxious to see all of the pre-season interviews and info be validated and see my favorite team play some actual televised football!
3/4. I understand that height/weight are very important, but I never have been able to give them much credibility when I see those ‘in the know’ claim that a play is worthless at a position compared to another player(based solely on their height/weight) when there is 1 inch and 8 lbs difference between them. Either a kid can play or he can’t(see Welker, Amendola, Jamar Wall I think was a little undersized according to the experts, etc etc) . I’m glad our O line lost a little weight if they kept their arm strength and improved their speed I suppose.
5. It is a little cheesy, but I love Psych. The show is clean enough for the whole family and Sean and Gus’ dialogue crack me up.

1. Discussed this QB competition at length with my brother yesterday. Here the conclusion. Potts practices well. Plays well. When he gets overwhelmed (read rattled) he is really rattled. Sticks makes everyone else perform better, exudes a sense of success personifies the daring do component of the team. I can’t tell why the practice thing is affecting him but my suspicion is testitis i.e. being graded, on checklist or some such mental thing. Over think. It’s just wishful thinking on my part but if I could game plan I’d start Potts then launch Sheffield in at the end ofthe2nd period and again in the 4th . I know no one would consciously do that..
2. I am most concerned about serviceable O linemen yet position Coach Matt Moore is arguably the most stable guy on the team. It’s going to okay, and we won’t notice the change because the run game will mask blocking , footwork and mental errors. So the real concern then shift to defensive down linemen. I hated it when B. Barbee went down. I had him pegged as a breakout guy. Graves, Perry, & Hyder need very solid play- on 18 Sep.
3./ 4. Most important weigh t gainers are Bird, Sonier and Fehoko .Weight loss guys actually I’m little concerned here 30 lbs is a lot. I suppose it’s better from a stamina perspective. But I favor a heavy o line then again if the scoring goes off the charts in the 4th period then I’m sold.
5. Cruising channels, rewatching recorded games.. did I mention watching replays..

I’m gonna tie 1 and 2 together. My biggest concern is the QB battle and the potential fall out if Potts wins the job. All kidding aside, this could get ugly and I would bet a donut that Katfish and Brown have spent time discussing the possibility. Sticks has set this scenario up where in the past he didn’t get a chance, didn’t get proper coaching, etc, etc. I think some of that resentment spread throughout the locker room (this isn’t a knock but you gotta admit the kid talks ALOT). Now if Potts wins the job but doesn’t play exceptionally well, will Sticks be a team player or will he start planting seeds of doubt?

It seems that Seth touched on this yesterday with his Katfish transcript:

On Taylor Potts and Steven Sheffield it’s about making the right decision because one will be running with the second team, both made good decisions and bad decisions.

Regardless, I’m supporting whoever starts. If two offensive minds (Brown & Leach) and the mighty Katfish (Katfish) think Potts beat Sticks, then I’m gonna have to trust them.

4. Weight Loss- Looks like Myles Wade lost a 3rd grader. 40 lbs is quite a bit.

5. Just waiting for the new season of East Bound and Down to get going.

1. Don’t really care for the “Potts played better than me” statements. I would rather Sheffield just state that he had an off day and let that be it. Seems like he’s getting too emotional too early. This competition is ongoing and we all know Potts performs great in practice but lack game time delivery. For now I just consider this battle somewhat even but I would probably agree with some that Pott’s may have learned a thing ot two about his previous play and continues to work on weaknesses. Both these guys will play in 2010.
2. Not really concerned at all about SMU. Our defense and offense will be making huge plays all day long.
3./4. Detron looks like he’s bulked up a bit along with Batch. Also, Sheffield was looking like mister pretzel last season so I’m glad he’s up on his weight. I think a great deal of this is the weight room training. Obviously muscle weighs more than fat and we may be seeing an uptick from the weight training. I like some of the O-line losing a couple of pounds to be more agile but they have to be careful not to lose to much. We need the beef on the line.
5. I’m a DVR junky for College football Live. The show spends way too much time talking about USC but now that Erin Andrews is hosting I can deal with it. Also, I’m a huge Friday Night Lights fan but is over for now.

Weightloss: As impressive as the weightloss is, it pales in comparison to the amounty of actual body fat these kids have lost. When you consider that they are engaged in intense resistance training or in other words, building muscle while losing fat, 40 lbs lost is a huge accomplishment. A football player lifting every day but also losing 40lbs probably lost any where from 50 – 60 lbs of fat and added 10-20lbs of muscle to net out at 40 lbs lost. The actual body fat loss is the key, and these guys will see huge performance improvement with that kind of fitness level increase.

QB Battle: My thoughts on this are pertually evolving as information changes, but this did occur to me. Perhaps we saw one QB with all the tangibles underperforming, and a QB with less ability but more heart overperforming. Now, perhaps, the QB with all the gifts has started to reach his potential on the field, and the over performing QB has settled in closer to where two different coaching staffs always thought he should be…..second string. Im just grasping at straws here, but you have to admit atleast its a different take besids the now cliche “Potts is only good in practice”.

Deadliest Catch is the best “reality” show on TV though I dont like to use that term because most “reality” shows are anything but real. This might be the last actual reality show that remains. This last season pushed things to another level, althogh it has always been a great show.

Have to admit Im a sucker for American Pickers, Im analytical and tidey and its amazing that folks can get pleasure from hoarding so much junk. Cheesy but it knows what it is so comes off well done.

Infomania on Current, if you have directv you have this channel its 358, this show is great it illustrates how assian the media is and shines a light on all the bs that news and pop culture get obesed with. Similar to how the daily show was ten or twelve years ago before it turned into Jon Stewart being so proud of how funny he isnt.

1) Interesting, that Sheffield did so poorly in the scrimage. I always thought he performed better in “game” situations.

2) 20 days to solve QB, coach up the freshmen DBs and implement a very aggressive defense…no worries.

3) Sheffield looks like he has gained more than 7 lbs. I saw him Saturday at autograph day and he is much bigger. I would have guessed +15 lbs based on this time last year.

4) Langley and Wade. This is going to make both a lot quicker and should help improve their endurance late in games.

5) College fooball Live and NFL Network

1. Not a surprise. Potts was great in practice last year, but when he had 300 pound linemen in his face he froze up. I’ll root for whoever starts come the SMU game and beyond.

2. Concerns: QB, Freshman DBs, O Line, New Offense
Comforts: RBs, WRs, Defense

3. Impressive: DJ Johnson
Important: Lonnie Edwards

4. Impressive: Myles Wade
Important: Donald Langley

5. Premier League Football (GO SPURS!)

1. I don’t like Sticks lack of confidence in his comments. I’ve always been concerned with Potts dear in the headlights play, but I have to concede that Leach, Tuberville and Brown can pick a starter better than I can. If they all think Potts is the guy then he’s got my support. I’m sure Taylor will sleep better at night knowing that.
1(a). Brown’s quote made my stomach hurt. The reality that Leach is gone – and with that the high flying risk taking offense that we know and love is gone too. Brown’s acknowledgement of “darker days” and the lack of the number of games lighting up the scoreboard is a reality I was trying not to face.
2. Very concerned to see what this team will look like – have they gelled as a team after so much disruption/change? How is the defense handling the new defensive formation? SMU is coming off a decent season. This game is not a given.
3.What is up with Adam James – is he finally working? Don’t really care, still don’t want to see him play.
5. Dexter, Law & Order reruns – I’m pretty sure I could solve crime in my free time.

That being said, I really dislike his comments after this scrimmage…

Not only are the comments extremely self centered, they are way too negative… it shows the lack of confidence that I have feared that he has. It seems the job has been Potts to lose, and that Sticks has felt he must be perfect to be QB1.

I think Sticks solidified his second team status with these comments, if I am Tubs, I look at these comments and think, wow, this guy was paying attention to every play he messed up on throughout the entire “game” and also was focusing on how the other team was doing and continuing to get down on himself. You hear all the time about forgetting about the previous play, and these comments suggest that sheffield was way too focused on his performance as it was happening rather than focusing on the next play… IMO not a good place to be if you are starting QB

1. I don’t know if I am being asked to opine on Sheffield’s choice of words or his character…at the end of the day, I try to get more big picture on these types of issues. I have also tried to be pretty consistent with my thoughts and words for qb this season, there are two good ones, either can play, one has to be named, the result we will see, what did not happen with the other at the helm, we will never know….I am going to enjoy TTU football.

2. SMU is another first game of the season. There are the usual concerns, I haven’t seen this year’s TTU team play yet, so I don’t know what they will show. Add to that uncertainty, the new staff and schemes and multiple changes…there is less comfort from the familiar. Then there is the clear improvement of the SMU program under a fine head coach. I am most concerned about TTU’s defense, it is young in terms of a lot of new guys in new positions running a new scheme. I am least concerned that TTU will win the game, the running part looks to be stronger…and I believe any of our qb’s—any of them—can get the ball to the recievers vs this opponent.

3. I would like to take another cut on the weight data as a validation but what I came away thinking after looking gives me the thought that there are a lot of guys who looked light…who no longer look so, there are a lot of skilled guys who move closer to 205-210 (does the data lead to exploring the thought that there are ideal weights by position class?). Example, Leong came out of HS at about 165, then in the past few months he gained 10. I am honestly impressed that James is now 235ish…he worked as hard as anyone to do that—unless it is cheetos ;-)…I am also impressed that people who look like squad players are included in the whole of the effort.

4. The weight loss may have the same focus, get guys to a better playing weight…it kind of looks like the linemen on both sides of the ball are aiming at about 300. Those guys who lost significant weight from 340/350 are impressive to me….a few of them around 8-10% in a few months….there has been a lot of dedicated work around conditioning.

5. Regarding Liberia, there is some of that here in the U.S.A. that is equally ignored. And, I found my eyes open big time with I lived outside of the U.S.A. in a foreign language invironment that made me a sure fire minority, I recommend that experience to anyone if done with a learning eye. What television show do you watch during the summer months to bide your time until the season starts? At the end of Spring, I disconnected the TV, no antenna. Enjoyed the peace and quiet for a while, spent way too much time reading DTN, and finally bought into NetFlix where for a pittance I have enjoyed great entertainment that I had missed over the years, lots of very well written sci-fi: Firefly, Torchwood, and some Dr Who….as well as good movies and histories…Ken Burns does a good job presenting his takes on our history.

Sounds to me like Sticks is too worried about being named starter and not worried enough about just executing the plays called.

The Alamo Bowl will be airing on ESPNU (1605 on Uverse) at 3 am tomorrow morning.. Set your dvrs!!!
Sorry for not posting a fan shot but I’m not in the office at the moment.

I think we are all over analyzing this information. I think we all should be happy with whoever our starting QB is because both of these kids are talented!

He looks much smaller than Torres or Detron…..

1 – Sheffield needs to get his head around things if he is going to have a chance at being picked as the QB. It is his to lose. He needs to not focus on his mistakes. Be the team leader he was last season and he will earn the top spot.
2 – I feel we will win the game against SMU. I have a feeling CTT and Brown will not show all of their cards until the third game (Beat UT !!!)
3 – Important: Sheffield with a slight weight gain hopefully will stay healthy this season. Hopefully he added more muscle and a little bit of padding to reduce injury. Impressive: Lonnie Edwards took on a lot of weight in such a short time. Hopefully his body can work with the new weight.
4 – Important: Waddle, Gallington, McDaniel combined weight loss 84lbs for the OL. Let’s see if it was cashed in for strength and agility. Impressive: Myles Wade lost 40lbs. Let’s hope he gained more speed and agility
5 – Top Chef Masters and Top Chef – I love to cook. The geek and Sci-Fier in me watches DVR tapings of Star Trek: Enterprise (with Scott Bakula, of Quantum Leap fame, playing Captain Jonathan Archer)
Saw the movie "Restrepo" this weekend. This one opens your eyes to how good we have it everyday, while our boys are over fighting in these Hell holes.

1 – Sheffield needs to get his head around things if he is going to have a chance at being picked as the QB. It is his to lose. He needs to not focus on his mistakes. Be the team leader he was last season and he will earn the top spot.
2 – I feel we will win the game against SMU. I have a feeling CTT and Brown will not show all of their cards until the third game (Beat UT !!!)
3 – Important: Sheffield with a slight weight gain hopefully will stay healthy this season. Hopefully he added more muscle and a little bit of padding to reduce injury. Impressive: Lonnie Edwards took on a lot of weight in such a short time. Hopefully his body can work with the new weight.
4 – Important: Waddle, Gallington, McDaniel combined weight loss 84lbs for the OL. Let’s see if it was cashed in for strength and agility. Impressive: Myles Wade lost 40lbs. Let’s hope he gained more speed and agility
5 – Top Chef Masters and Top Chef – I love to cook. The geek and Sci-Fier in me watches DVR tapings of Star Trek: Enterprise (with Scott Bakula, of Quantum Leap fame, playing Captain Jonathan Archer)
Saw the movie "Restrepo" this weekend. This one opens your eyes to how good we have it everyday, while our boys are over fighting in these Hell holes.

1) Not a good sign for Sticks to refer to Potts to describe his own play. I agree with others that it shows Sticks is overly concerned on whether he will get the nod or not. I think Potts will start and I think we will be fine.
2) Ready for SMU . . . bring on the ponies. . . TT knows how important his first game is so he’llhave them ready to go.
3) Not sure any of the weight gains are great althought glad to see Sticks add a few poiunds.
4) Good to see some of the big boys lose some weight. hope they turned fat into muscle and added some speed.
5) The Western channel on Dishnetwork and BBQ Pittmasters. other than that I spend time dringking beer outside talking to my horses.

They don’t explain why. It must be that we got all our hot commits early & the schools they moved in front of Tech have been adding blue chips between the 1st list in June & the one that came out today.

http://insider.espn.go.com/ncf/recruiting/classrankings?&action=upsell&appRedirect=http%3a%2f%2finsider.espn.go.com%2fncf%2frecruiting%2fclassrankings

1. I don’t care who throws the football at this point. It could be Janitor from the School Of Engineering. Somebody just throw the damn thing and play football. But seriously, I think we all might be reading a little to far into this. Tubs is giving these guys a chance to speak and they are doing so. Remember last year when we had our Deep Snapper Austin Burns talking to the media? He was as lost as we where.

2. The only thing that concerns me about this game is that it’s on a Sunday. It just seems so weird that we’re having the game on Sunday against a Methodist School.

3. Mine. I think I gained about 20 lbs. during the offseason. I need to lose the majority of it in the first 3 weeks of football. This is due to not having adequate football to watch and a TV to scream at.

4. No idea. I guess it would have to be Donald Langely. That is pretty solid.

5. Nitro Circus, Cities of the Underworld, Fantasy Factory, Modern Warfare, The History Channel, Discovery

1. I am not too concerned as both QBs are good enough to win at least eight games, but the rest of the team needs to play great to get more wins. After all, the QB can’t do it all.
2. My concern is whether the players in all areas of play can digest and put into practice the changes being implemented by the staff. I am comfortable enough, though, where they are physically and mentally to be able to easily handle anything thrown (literally) at them by SMU.
3. The most impressive weight gains for me is DJ Johnson, Austin Zouzalik, Sam Fehoko, Beau Carpenter and a few others who are backups. The most important may be Lonnie Edwards, if it is muscle and not water.
4. The most impressive weight losses would have to be
Myles Wade, Deveric Gallington, LaAdrian Waddle and Donald Langley. The most important will be Terry McDaniel, if he can get his head on straight and play up to his potential.
5. I like the CSI and NCIS shows. Baseball and basketball lost me a long time ago.

1. I don’t know why Sticks would eliminate himself like that because one a bad day. Nobody else did. It’s sort of strange but he either knows Potts is playing better than can play right now and it’s got him discouraged/rattled, or he just can’t deal with the stress of this competition and having a less than great day. Either way isn’t good. I’d like to see Sticks win the job all things being more or less equal just because I think he’d be more interesting to watch.

2. I’m concerned right now with CNB talking about “dark days”, honeymoons being over, and “you’ve got to play someday”. Sounds like he really doesn’t like our offense’s chances this year. Hopefully he takes some valium or something.

3 / 4. Yeah.. weight charts. I think the most impressive weight losses are the people who lost the most!

5. Watched all of The Dresden Files, House, The Legend of the Seeker, Firefly, and Bones on Netflix this summer. Also watched Pawn Stars some, that’s a pretty interesting show.

I get the impression that Sticks is just not a very good practice player and staying within the system. It might well be that Potts has all the physical tools and size, but when it comes to game time, he gets All Happy Feet on us. I think Sticks is one of thos guys who has the IT and WOW factor. You can’t coach the IT factor. Question is, how long does OC Brown stick with Potts, with the IT Factor sitting on the bench. I hope in this case that we do not stick, no pun intended, with Potts too long. Thier is a reason we called him the Pirate, he has that hook, and knows when to use it. I will be rooting for whichever QB wins the starting job, but I hope OC Brown does not let us go 0-3 to prove a point. Go Red Raiders.

AMC does a really good job with their original shows. Mad Men and Breaking Bad are two amazing tv series.

I will support Sticks. Potts will have to earn my support if he’s the starter Day 1. If Stick’s #s were pro-rated for an entire year, he would be in elite (read alone) territory. Anyone who says they’ll support whoever they put in did not watch last season.