Red Raider Gridiron | Every Step is a Rep

PERSONAL STUFF | I hate leading with this stuff, but it's usually the best way to keep you all informed.  My wife and I put our house no the market about a month ago.  We knew we didn't want to live where we currently are, so we decided to put the house on the market with the thought that in today's real estate market it wouldn't be sold for quite some time.  In less than a month, we had an offer and we're scheduled to close on Monday.  That means that there could be days where I might not show up here on DTN, but it's probably because I'm moving or sleeping a bit later than I normally do.  And to top it off, my wife and I haven't found a house that we're totally in love with so we're moving in with my parents.  Woot!  Actually, we both feel blessed that we have a place to go and are thankful for them opening their home.  I'm not sure how DTN is going to work, but I'll try to be around as much as possible.  As far as the adoption stuff is concerned, we're still just waiting the U.S. Embassy in Ethiopia wants more information and more detail on their police report.  As you may have guessed, adopting is a process and it can be a drain mentally, but the payoff will be worth it.

DOEGE NAMED STARTER | In unsurprising news, QB Seth Doege was named as Texas Tech's starting quarterback (LAJ's Don Williams and RP.com's Travis Cram):

"Seth Doege, right now, is going to be our starter," Tuberville said. "Everybody pretty much knows that. That could change, depending on how he practices.  We pretty much figured he’d be the guy that gets the reins early. But I want to keep the pressure on him and give the other guys a chance to throw their hat in the ring."

Williams article also states that QB Jacob Karam will run with the second team in Saturday's scrimmage. 

NOTEBOOKY | LAJ's Don Williams (there are actually two different ones, here and here) and RRS.com's Will McKay have notebooks this morning.  The range of topics discussed yesterday is that WR Marcus Kennard, a 4-star JUCO transfer who was here in the spring, will most likely redshirt, as will freshman WR Derek Edwards, and possibly IR Jakeem Grant.  I'm mildly surprised that Kennard is redshirting, but you haven't heard his name mentioned really at all this fall.  He had a decent spring game, but nothing great. 

DC Chad Glasgow also said yesterday that there is some movement in the secondary.  Freshman Pete Robertson has moved from second team free safety to second team strong safety.  Meanwhile, Giorgio Durham and Happiness Osunde are being looked at as possibilities at free safety.  I actually like Osunde at free safety as he's probably faster than all of the other options at a safety spot and it seems that of the things we've read this spring, that the secondary is getting beat deep way too often. 

At linebacker, Blake Dees will be your starting strong-side linebacker and Sam Eguavoen is running with the second team at middle linebacker. 

Offensively, per the McKay article, Brown talked about the two-deep at receiver:

"If we played today, Darrin Moore would start at Z with Bradley Marquez being his back up," Brown said. "At X we would look at Tramain Swindall. He's had a really good camp. He would start, and Jacoby Franks would be his backup. Shawn Corker would kind of be the swing guy, the fifth guy at those spots. We're waiting for Eric Ward. If everything went well today, he can get our here and practice. He'll be a factor in that battle."

"Inside at Y, Alex Torres will be our starter," he said. "(Adam) James and Jace Amaro are competing for that number two spot. I think that will probably go into game week and probably beyond. At H, we're looking at (Cornelius) Douglas and (Austin) Zouzalik. They'll kind if be our co-starters there."

I think that I shouldn't be surprised that Marquez has moved so quickly up the depth chart.  I also think that Ward has had a pretty good fall, but had a concussion and has been out for a week.  Don't give up on him yet.  Also glad to see Corker get a mention.  At inside receiver there's really not a surprise, but from what I've read about Saturday's scrimmage, Aaron Fisher was pretty good and is similar to size to Torres.

I get that every time that name is mentioned there's a snide comment.  I get it, he's not well liked by a lot of folks.  There is a reason why I don't make a comment when his name is mentioned.  Sometimes it feels good to completely ignore someone, which is the method I'm trying to take.  I really don't care enough about him to make a comment or recognize him in any form or fashion.  I don't want his name to come up on DTN as a result of a Google search, but every time you make a comment about him, then you're helping.  For me, he doesn't deserve my recognition and quite frankly, I'm tired of talking about him.  The fact that he's running with the second team is irrelevant.  He's gone after this year and I can live with that.

I suppose the headline was that Tuberville and OC Neal Brown said yesterday, per LAJ's Don Williams, that the offensive line is getting beat too much (it's called motivation!) and they think the line needs to play better.  As was reported over the weekend, Terry McDaniel was moved to center and Deveric Gallington was back at his regular right guard spot.  Apparently the starting line is fine:

"Our ones are playing fine," Brown said. "They need to be more aggressive. I think they need to be more aggressive. The standard we have for them is higher than everybody else just because all those guys have played a lot of football. They've got to be more aggressive. They've got to be better leaders within our offense."

Snip.

"We’re thin up front," Brown said. "I could beat around the bush about it, but we’ve got six guys we feel good about and we’re going to have to figure out over the next two weeks three guys that we can go to battle with that we feel are backups."

And Brown is correct from the standpoint that the second unit hasn't stepped up and you don't ever hear the coaches talk about how one of the second string guys is stepping up their play and pushing one of the veterans.  If you were to ever be worried about 2012, then it would start at the line as Edwards, Okafor and Keown all graduate.  meanwhile it seems that Beau Carpenter has stepped up his play, guys like James Polk and Kyle Clark haven't established themselves, while you have true freshmen, Alfredo Morales, Matt Scott and LaRaven Clark and walk-on Jonathan Guerra playing possibly pivotal roles as back-ups.  There's a reason why there were four linemen in the 2011 class and there are four more linemen in the 2012 class. 

And if you want to follow the movement of the depth-chart, go check out LAJ's Don Williams depth chart, complete with comments and it's up to date as of today.

OFFICIAL SITE LINKS | Meet the Two-Deep  continues as you get to meet CB Tre' Porter (watch via YouTube) (Tre' likes to laugh and smile, which is a good thing.) . . . here's a meh article about building blocks on the team and a good Q&A with FS D.J. Johnson:

Q: So what exactly has caused you guys to get `on a roll' the past few weeks?
A: Really, it's just a team effort. Our linebackers have made a lot of plays. Our defensive line is doing phenomenal right now. They are making a lot of plays and causing a lot of havoc--especially Terrance Bullitt coming off the edge. He is putting a lot of pressure, and coach is making great calls. Just as a whole we are really getting on a roll. If one group is not on a roll, another group is on a roll, which then leads to another group getting on a roll. All together we are just doing really well.

Q: Who has stepped up and taken on a leadership role with this defense?
A: [Donald] Lagnley. Langley is just really vocal right now, but we have a lot of people who lead by example. Coach [Chad] Glasgow loves the guys that can go out there and talk and be very vocal. With that being the case, Langley is doing that right now.

BIG 12 AND COLLEGE FOOTBALL LINKS | The Big 12 official site has their preview of Baylor . . . Team Speed Kills writes that the Longhorn Network is bad for college football (very interesting read) . . . Congratulations are in order to Holly Anderson, who will be running Sports Illustrated's brand new college football blog, Campus Union!  Anderson was with SB Nation for the past year or so and is moving on up in the blogging world.  Congrats again! . . .