Red Raider Gridiron | No Discussions with BYU; Okafor Out for Sunday

Practice Report: I couldn't get the video to work this morning, so I was unable to do a non-transcript.  However, LAJ's Don Williams typically takes that interview session with head coach Tommy Tuberville and has actual quotes and stuff.  In any event, AD Gerald Myers said that the rumors that Texas Tech may be scheduling newly independent BYU Cougars is inaccurate:

"I haven’t talked to them. They haven’t talked to us," Myers said. "Probably just somebody speculating. That’s all it could be. They wouldn’t be a bad team to play down the road, but we haven’t talked."

. . . Williams reports that OL Mickey Okafor is out this week with a concussion and RB Harrison Jeffers has practice full speed the last three days, which is good news . . . as far as tight ends are concerned, first on the depth chart are TE Sophia James and TE Ryan Haliburton with TE Bo Whitney probably redshirting this year . . . finally, Tuberville talked about how he would have full-contact practices until about week 7 of the season:

"Right now, we’ve got too much work to do, and the only way you can get a lot done the way we want to do it is by full contact," Tuberville said. "And so up until probably about the seventh game we’ll continue to go against each other — offense versus defense, ones versus ones, pass rush, (skeleton passing), run drills, tackling drills, anything that’ll make each other better.

"You always risk the chance of getting somebody banged up a little bit, but we’ve got way too much area of improvement that we’ve got to grab hold of before we get to any part of our Big 12 schedule."

Sherrington More Upbeat:  In comparison with his co-workers, DMN's Kevin Sherrington seems a bit more upbeat about the hiring of Tuberville, but like a lot of folks, we really don't know what to expect until we see the product on the field. 

Video:  KAMC's David Collier talks with head coach Tommy Tuberville . . .

  SMU Mustangs Links:  DMN with an extremely generic preview . . . WFAA has some quotes from head coach June Jones and QB Kyle Padron.  Here's Jones:

"We certainly would like to have a different first game, when you got a young group of receivers and then Texas Tech. But that's the hand we're dealt so you better be ready. Nobody's going to feel sorry for you come Monday morning when the game's over."

"They (preseason games) certainly, to me, get you game-ready. You can say what you want, all the rookies in the National Football League aren't ready for the real season by the time the real games come, and they even had four chances, four preseason games. The vets probably would just as soon go right to it and not have any preseason but I think the rookies, the 15 or 20 guys that are in camp, definitely they're not ready for prime time."

. . . DT's Mike Graham writes about the SMU Run N Shoot offense and DT Donald Langley and S Cody Davis talk about the challenges:

"That’s our job," defensive lineman Donald Langley said. "That’s why we got a scholarship. The expectation for us is high, that’s where the coaches put it and it’s our job to respond."

If Tech’s front seven can’t effectively get pressure on the SMU offense and the corners take a while to get adjusted, the pressure rests on safeties Cody Davis and Franklin Mitchem – both of whom started last season.

"It’s going to be a challenge for the secondary," Davis said. "They’re going to throw it around a lot but that’s good. We’re looking forward to it, we’re looking forward to making plays in the secondary."

Big 12 Links:  FSSW's Keith Whitmire with some "bold" Big 12 projections . . . FWST's Jimmy Burch predicts the local / Big 12 games and a 7 point win for Texas Tech . . . ESPN's David Ubben writes one sentence for each of this week's Big 12 Games and calls it a preview . . . DMN's Chuck Carlton looks at the Big 12 quarterbacks that are feeling some pressure . . . and saving the best for last (I'm being serrious) Rivals.com's Olin Buchanan with a Big 12 preview and this is by far the best of any of the previous linked articles . . .

Miscellaneous:  SB Nation with a super-duper Pac-10 football preview . . . DTN user Singleshoe forwarded to me this LA Times article about how ESPN is trying to force their way into local markets, but that perhaps fans just aren't buying what ESPN is selling.  There's also a SB Nation mention in the article . . . one more SB Nation article, for those of you that care, SB Nation CEO Jim Bankoff was interviewed by Inc.com . . . Corn Nation's Jon Johnson continues his series talking with a football official . . . .