Double-T Nation Daily Diatribe | 2011-02-18

Yesterday, word seemed to leak that Jodey Arrington, current Texas Tech System Chief of Staff, was one of the internal candidates for the athletic director job.  With that news breaking, Ryan Hyatt tweeted this:

Number of current D1 ADs named Jody=0. Number of D1 ADs named Jody on March 15=0.

And Chris Level indicated that current Miami athletic director Kirby Hocutt is still the primary candidate:

As of tonight and until I hear differently #TexasTech's search for a new athletic director continues to revolve around Miami AD Kirby Hocutt

Hyatt had mentioned previously this week that there might be some new names to discuss on Monday. 

Y'all hold tight!

LAJ's Adam D. Young writes about Danny Hardaway, the first African-American scholarship athlete at Texas Tech, and his experience at Texas Tech:

Hardaway, whose military family lived in Lawton, Okla., when he was at Tech, said he also received support from white administrators, athletes and other black students while at Tech.

The other members of the football team were among the first to welcome him to the university, he said.

"We get into the trenches, we fight together — white or black — and we always get along," he said.

The quotes are few and far between, so it's a bit disappointing that this is all I could find this morning.

Woot!  (Yes, there's so much to get excited about today!) Spring practice begins today.  Lots of articles to link to today.  LAJ's Don Williams writes about 5 issues facing the team this spring.  Here's issue #3:

Defensive scheme: Tech defensive players greet their third defensive coordinator in 15 months as Chad Glasgow arrives from TCU. The Horned Frogs achieved a national No. 1 defense ranking four times in Glasgow’s 10 seasons on staff. But this will be his first time to be in charge of the whole thing — he was TCU safeties coach for a decade.

There’s also some question of how the defense will look. TCU ran a 4-2-5 defense, and Tech used both three- and four-man fronts last season. Tuberville said the Red Raiders "will pretty much do what we did last year," with "some small changes" but not dramatic differences. The Raiders used five- and six-defensive back packages often last season.

Williams also confirms the players who are no longer on the roster:

Lost since fall/eligibility remaining: WR E.J. Celestie (transferred to McNeese State), OL Joel Gray (concussions); DT Myles Wade (left team); TE Ryan Haliburton (finished school early); OL Blake Emert (finished school early).

Rivals' Olin Buchanan looks at the team this spring and gives his 3 players to watch:

Three guys to watch

DE Aundrey Barr: He impressed in practice and was ready to take over as the Red Raiders' main pass rusher after Smith was suspended. But Barr sustained a season-ending knee injury in practice the week before he was to get into the starting lineup.

DT Pearlie Graves: He made steady progress as a redshirt freshman and was in the starting lineup by season's end and finished with 14 tackles and two sacks. He needs to make further improvement and take over Whitlock's role as a consistent presence inside.

WR Marcus Kennard: A four-star junior college transfer, Kennard needs to help replace the production of departed Lyle Leong. Kennard has the ability. He averaged 19.8 yards on 45 receptions at Barton County (Kan.) CC.

. . . DMN's Mike Graham writes that the practices are open to the public, but Saturday's practice is closed to the media . . . FWST's Jimmy Burch has a very quick look at the team (I think that the normal Texas Tech beat writer, Dwain Price, is currently covering the Dallas Mavericks) . . . and last but not least, DMN's Chuck Carlton has a preview of the team, however, it's behind the DMN's new paywall.  From the teaser that the DMN gave us, it's the same information that's from the official site's release from earlier in the week, so I'll leave it up to you as to whether or not it's worth the monthly cost . . .

RB Baron Batch has a new blog post about how he went to the Superbowl . . . Pretty interesting stuff from California Golden Blogs talking with an assistant football coach about how the staff identifies players for recruiting and different aspects of recruiting.  I recommend reading the whole thing, but I found this interesting:

Question: How does social networking play a role in recruiting?

Answer: It's important to make sure we keep it honest with recruits. With Facebook, you have to be very careful with what you say. All the recruits are always in contact with each other, so you can't tell one recruit one thing and another recruit another thing, since they'll probably find out about what we told them ... from each other.  It's also important to ensure every recruit and their family has a good experience during their trip, because one bad experience by one recruit can resonate afterward and turn into a bad experience for all recruits.

I never considered the negative aspects of how a recruiting trip could go viral amongst the visitors . . .

UP NEXT:  Baylor Bears
WHERE:  Ferrell Center | Waco, TX
WHEN:  7:00 p.m.
TELEVISION:  FSSW

I don't know that I'll have time for a full preview of the hated Baylor Bears, so this will have to do for today.  Here's the official site preview. 

Before getting into the preview, a big congrats to PF Robert Lewandowski for being named the 2011 All-Academic First Team, which means that he has a GPA of 3.20 or higher.  Congrats to Robert! 

DT's Tommy Magelssen writes that the team is playing like every game is their last, although the assistant head coach Chris Beard knows that moral victories don't do much:

"We’re playing better, but at the same time we’re not into moral victories," Tech assistant coach Chris Beard said. "The name of the game is to try to get the win, and we’re looking forward to another opportunity Saturday."

And Beard talks about playing some of the younger players:

"It’s good for those younger guys to get minutes in this type of competition," Beard said. "Not only are they playing well in games, they’re playing better in practice — that’s why they’ve been able to get the opportunity to get more minutes as of late."

Freshman forward Jaye Crockett was on the court for the most time Tuesday against Mizzou since the Jan. 8 loss to Baylor, scoring his second-highest point total this season, 11.

"I feel I’ve got a lot better," Crockett said. "I feel I learn every game, I learn something going in and watching film after the game with coach and just learning from my mistakes."

Woot! Opening day!  The Red Raiders start today and I'm excited for this team and hope like hell the pitching staff can hold up.  Here's your projected starting pitchers and projected starting lineup:

OUTFIELD
LF | Scott LeJeune (JR)    CF | Barrett Barnes (SO)    RF | David Paiz (FR)
INFIELD
SS | Kelby Tomlinson (JR)     2ND | Jamodrick McGruder (SO);
3RD | Nick Popescu (SR)                                  1ST | Stephen Hagen (JR)
C | Kevin Whitehead (JR)
DH | Reid Redman (JR)

*Click on the score for boxscore. Texas Tech series preview (pdf).

LAJ's George Watson writes about the re-tooled outfield, namely with Barrett Barnes moving to center field and a true freshman, David Paiz in right while Scott LeJeune, who was mainly at designated hitter last year, is in left.  Here's head coach Dan Spencer:

"I feel good about those three, as good as you can just practicing," Spencer said. "They know our ballpark and all three are good kids and good athletes, and we hope things work out for all three of those guys. If it doesn’t we’ll adjust from there, but I’m very comfortable right now so far with that group."

And here's the true freshman, Paiz:

"I played a little outfield this summer before coming here because the coaches told me they might move me out there," said Paiz, who played for Hill Country baseball out of Austin. "I got a little bit of experience, but it’s still a big change for me. But I feel good now and I’ve gotten plenty of pop ups."

DT's Jose Rodriguez writes about the start of the season and 2ND Jamodrick McGruder is excited to start the season:

"Finally, it’s arrived — I’m so glad," McGruder said of the season opener. "I’ve been waiting on this moment since last year when we lost to Missouri, so I’m pumped, ready to go."