Five Questions | Practice Starts and We Have Questions

1) It’s hard to answer this before we see how Tuberville’s team plays this year. But I would be very happy to see Neal Brown continue as OC if and when Tuberville leaves. Is he too young to succeed as head coach? I don’t think so.
2) I expect the defense to struggle early in the year. I think Willis & Tuberville are busy hammering the square pegs recruited for Ruffin’s defense into the round hole of the Alabama/Muschamp/Willis 3-4 defense. I hope I’m wrong, but I’m much more optimistic about the offense this year.
3) Whatever the coaches decide to do with the o-line this fall it couldn’t be any worse than the play of the o-line last season.
4) don’t know enough to answer, but with a new efense I imagine most players with a pulse will get rotated in out out some this year, if for no other erason than to determine who the gamers are.
5) This evening once I’m back on my own nickel.

1. first of all, shut your mouth Seth. ;) I just dont think there are may upward moves in college football right now from a level of TxTch Head Coach. I dont need to look ahead to a year from now. I know my Pirate Captain coach and I loved him, but I know what I had. Our program is ALREADY better.

2. I think Tubbs is very conciously thinking he needs to find success quickly and make his mark on this team. As much as having guys playing out of position might concern us, I think Tubs wont stick with people until they come around. He will (he better) have a quick hook for guys playing at positions that dont pan out. On a personal note, Ive been waiting for Fehoko to see the field more and if this is what it takes then so be it.

3. Beau Carpenter is a specimen and a hell of a prospect to be sure. Id love to see him on the field. I think getting guys on the field and them taking a full 3-4 years to develop ON THE FIELD is great for them and the team. Id love to see him on the field but having him start next year may be a good compromise.

4. Tra’Vante Porter…..just cuz he has had the most buzz. Why not just make more, right?

5. I hear Lyle Leong likes puppies

Didn’t know much about him. First off, Frankston, Tx is located in East Tx in btw Tyler and Palestine. Classified as a 2A school.

6’3" approx 290 lbs. Time at 4.7 in 40 which is pretty damn impressive in my book considering his size. Played DE and TE in highschool, but listed at DT.

Earned a spot at the State track meet in discuss with a personal best of 141’ 4" in regionals. Played in the OilBowl All-Star game.

Player Profile
Apparently enjoys tv, eating, sleeping and football. So he and I are a lot alike except he is bigger, faster and younger than me.

All-District, First team All-Area and First team All-State in HS.

1. You shut your dirty whorish mouth!

The answer is: Tubs is gonna stay forever. Even work pro bono if he has to!

I hear Larry Coker is coaching down at UTSA if we’re looking for a former national championship winner, otherwise, where do we go from here? Former OC at OU. Former HC at Auburn. Former OC at Troy? Not exactly what I would call headed in the right direction. . .

2. Defense: Concerned about depth, especially at corner. Overall, by my count, we have 7-9 Freshman/RS Freshman playing in the two-deep rotation.

At starting right corner, we have Will Ford, a sophmore, who played extensively last season. His backup was Senior LaRon Moore who is injured. Now, we’ll have a couple of other freshman trying to fill Moore’s role, who according to reports is unlikely to make it back in time for the UT game.

According to the Post-Spring Depth Chart:

At starting left corner, we have RS freshman Jarvis Philips starting, who is backed up by Soph DJ Johnson.

Losing Yashua Williams at CB (6’3"!!) was a big blow.

I hope our new schemes will enable our guys to play to their strengths and cover up their weaknesses.

3. Not comfortable with a freshman yet, but have high hopes for Carpenter in the long run. Hopefully, Okafer and/or Waddle can do the job. No more Sergio Kindle blind sides please!!

4. I think the two freshmen CBs, Porter and UJ, will definitely play and probably start at various times in the year.

I don’t think freshmen safeties Martin or Polk will see as much, if any, time (unless we see some injuries).

Unlike our CB situation, we’re strong at the safety position: returning All-American Freshman Cody Davis, senior Franklin Mitchem and junior Brett Dewhurst are all experienced players who played well last year. The only freshman in the two-deep rotation is Terrance Bullitt, who I think has the talent & smarts (his father, brother and uncle were all former Aggie greats), and I hope he can be a great one for TTU.

5. INC

1) Tubs doesnt leave Tech. A man that has already that many pair of boots doesn’t leave Texas.
2) I have all the confidence in Tubs and Willis when it comes to defense. If Tubs puts Whitlock at Free Safety I won’t question it. Now if we were talking about offense that would be a different story.
3)Waddle wins the spot at Left Tackle.
4) I think Porter and Johnson will crack the the depth chart just because we will need some depth. Martin and Polk Redshirt.
5) I picked Alex Chester the Deep Snapper. Played for Austin High School and was selected all district his junior and senior year but I’m not sure at what position. His father played football for Texas and also the Dallas Cowboys. So get out there Alex and snap that ball like you never have before.

1. If Tuberville were to leave at the end of the year for another program or really any reason at all, I do not think it will be in better shape than he found it in January. The one positive would be the players getting past the Leach/Admin/James/ESPN fiasco. The changes being implemented would not have enough time to “take hold” permanently. Plus, there would not be enough personnel of the types needed to sustain and grow in the changes, especially when some future commits change their choices from Tech to somewhere else—-and that would happen to some extent.

2. Barring anything like your possibility happening in Q #1, I think everything being done will better the “D” in the long run. Whether or not it becomes better quickly depends on if the players are or are not quick at adapting to the changes. I have hopes that they do. If so, no concerns and Tubs is moving in the right direction, gaining trust from us all.

3. I would prefer someone at the LT slot being a seasoned vet, or in the least experienced. Freshmen tend to make some errors more often than those who have been there already. Letting them learn in sub or mop-up rolls will help down the road, but full time could be hurtful.

4. Tre’Vante Porter & Russell Polk are my choices for immediate contributions, but all will probably lay as Tubs wants a lot of DBs in the rotation.

5. I took:
38 Jordan Osborne S 6-0 184 Fr-Transfer-HS: The Woodlands, TX, The Woodlands; College transferring from: North Dakota State
2007 combine: 40-yard dash: 4.29 seconds; Shuttle speed: 4.12; Bench press: 17 reps;
Vertical leap: 33.2"
2008 recruiting stats:

North Dakota State COMMITTED on 02/06/2008
Army; no interest, but an offer was made on 01/04/2008
Others of interest: Colorado State, Houston, Navy, North Texas & Tulsa

North Dakota Profile page:

All-district first team standout for Mark Schmid at The Woodlands High School … Missed four games due to injury, but recorded 82 tackles including 60 solo stops and five tackles for loss … Added four forced fumbles, three passes defended, a sack and one fumble recovery … Also competed in track & field with a time of 10.9 seconds in the 100 meters … Plans to major in business … Academic all-district … Son of Chris Osborne and Paula Lesniak.

He obviously has a great amount of speed, so hopefully this will help in Tub’s defensive schemes. He has decent height and leaping ability. He may need a year to acclimate himself, but will be helpful I think next year more than now.

1 LOL, I take this as more an exercise on the impact Coach T has had on the program to date than a suggestion that he might leave. There is no doubt in my mind that he has improved the program at large. Season ticket sales alone suggests that. He has demonstrated that Lubbock can be packaged and sold to prospects as a positive. The numbers of groups and people to whom he has spoken is all good PR that cannot be taken back. His presence is part of that, clearly, but I am one who believes that the good that has been done cannot be undone.

2 The changes in position for the guys on defense is likely a natural part of transition to the base 3-4 defense as well as to get the ‘best’ players on the field. To have concern after such a ‘massive’ change is smart. I am going to remain optimistic and think that the players are going to be enthused and playing with good energy and tempo even as they make mistakes. We have good athletes, they are being challenged in a different way this season as they change postions and are openly and frequently asked to make more impact on the team’s success. I think that is significant. So much of what is considered as success, w/l, depends on the other guy about as much as it does our team that it is really difficult to guess game results. I honestly think that SMU is in trouble. I am preparing myself to be happily suprised with their success.

3 The OL was more or less established in the Spring, the work that is currently being talked about 2 days into Fall camp is about developing a sense of flexibility within the OL…especially to be able to cover left tackle in the envent of need to make a change.

4 I think both Tre Porter and Urell Johnson are cb’s a positiion where we are thin, both will get on the field with Porter first. There is more depth at S so that leaves Des Martin and Rus Polk more outside looking in, however, I am expecting them to play…both of them as they demonstrate reasonable mastery of what they will be asked to do. I believe all the freshmen will be needed for the rotation and all will get a chance to play if they have the mental part down…part of this is the coaches want to be able to say to the next round of recruits that they play freshmen and part of it is they are going to be needed because everyone is going to be playing very high tempo.

5 Brett Hume, 6-1/185, 4.6 WR: Played WR as a junior at Klein Collins HS, listed as 6-1/175, 4.6 going into his Sr year, caught 15 passes for 150 yards as a junior, considered a sure handed wr by his coach and the team’s outside threat…ultimately played qb his senior year leading team to 21-1 DivII semifinals and a 7-0 13-5A district season. In July of that year, three other players were considered front runners for the qb spot. From final district game: bq. “Tigers fight back, stay perfect Hume helps team finish 10-0 in regular season” and "thanks to a terrific effort in the passing game by quarterback Brett Hume (13-of-20 passing, 122 yards)

http://www.chron.com/common/special/07/templates/listpop.html?mcVideo=48832180001

1. is a mistake by the author: fehoko is playing BUCK which is an outside linebacker that lines up opposite the end (which is duncan’s position). Fehoko is still a lb, he’s just playing the rush specialist spot.

I just wanted to clear something up…Are guys that transfer from a lower division eligible to play right away (similar to JUCO transfers)? I believe they are, but am not 100% sure. Just asking because we seem to have a couple like Jordan Osborne. I know he probably won’t play right away anyway, i’m just curious. Thanks.

If Tubs leaves he’ll also probably steal a boatload of commits in addition to the commits who jump ship for other schools. Some things, I’m sure, will be better though, so I the condition of the program will be mostly unchanged. We’re going to be in a tough place though because it’s rare for lightning to strike three times.

2. I have concerns that they’ll be rough early, but I have faith that these guys know what they’re doing and will eventually be head and shoulders above the defenses of recent years.

3. I think I have to go with Waddle.

5. Bwahaha..bwahhahahha…

Six other players — Aleon Calhoun, Lawrence Cayon, Delons Griffin, Braylon Smith, Phillip Warren and LaVaughn Whigham — did not qualify after signing letters of intent back in February.

whats to become of these guys?