Red Raider Gridiron | He's Not Backed Down At All

POST-PRACTICE NON-TRANSCRIPT |

Head Coach Tommy Tuberville | Very good practice, defense won out in the team drills.  Quarterbacks didn't have the best of days, did a lot of pressure today.  Got better on both sides, caught the ball well.  Bradley Marquez is really making a name for himself.  Eric Ward is back out here full-time.  Kickers getting better, had to run after practice because of them.  Do a scrimmage today, hopefully see some good results.  Take Thursday off.  Haven't heard anything from NCAA on DT Delvon Simmons.  Have to wait and see, it looks good, but have to go by protocol.  The new defense gets us in a better front, allows two defensive ends, nice blitz package.  Quite a bit of man coverage in the secondary.  Good to have FS D.J. Johnson and WS Cody Davis calling the plays.  DE Kindred Evans is a tall lean guy that can make plays, he's still on the bubble if he plays this year.  We're going to practice him like he's going to play.  The offensive line was called out and they responded.  It's hard to play offensive line, have to encourage and push them.  They are on an island.  They responded today and as much pressure as we are putting on them, I was encouraged, the snaps were better.  The offense has to be a well-oiled machine.  RB Ben McRoy will play running back, receiver, and other areas that teams might not expect.  Have to get him the ball and probably should have gotten him more touches.  WR Darrin Moore has been the most productive.  Has made a lot of big plays, we need more to step up like him.

QB Seth Doege | Haven't really heard anything about it, haven't been told anything yet, and need to come out here every day and be focused.  I try to come out here and play like I'm the #1 guy.  Marquez is super-fast, top 3 fastest guys on the team, fun to throw him the deep ball.  He's still learning and I think he's going to help us.  Moore has busted out, has made a lot of plays.  A big body guy and makes a lot of plays for us, when we need a big play, we look to 14.  Need to eliminate mistakes and be focused.  

NOTEBOOKY | LAJ's Don Williams and David Just  and RRS.com's Will McKay with notebooks and a lot of the information is above.  One of the things not discussed above is from the LAJ article from DC Chad Glasgow said that CB Derrick Mays and CB Tre' Porter are the starting cornerbacks and CB Jarvis Phillips needs to be more consistent:

As for Phillips, Glasgow said, "He’s been a little bit inconsistent. He’s got some ability, but he’s got to go play every snap."

Also, it appears that back-up WS Brett Dewhurst is the nickel or dime defensive back (i.e. if the defense has six defensive backs. 

LAJ's Don Williams also writes about freshman DE Kindred Evans, who is impressing in fall practice.  My man-crush DE Leon Mackey says that Evans can play:

Leon Mackey, a junior transfer on the defensive line, lit up at the mere mention of his true freshman counterpart.

"A cat like Kindred, you’d be surprised what they’ll get out of him because he can shock you," Mackey said. "It’s rare you see a freshman come in and drive the older kids."

Snip.

"He can go hard, and you have to admire a man with that kind of heart," Mackey said. "Out here at practice he’s been banging and he’s still on his two feet. That says a lot when you just walk off this field. It speaks for itself what he does.

And Glasgow echos what Mackey said about Evans:

"He’s not backed down at all with anything that’s happened," Glasgow said. "He’s come and tried to be a great leader for us as a freshman and he hasn’t cared ... He’s stepped in there, and when he’s been given the opportunity to go make plays, he’s made some plays."

It's really nice to hear about a true freshman who isn't willing to back down to any of the veteran plays and has earned the respect of a guy like Mackey who has probably seen all too many freshmen flame out after a quick start.

TEXAS TECH LINKS | The DMN is previewing Texas Tech today, but it's all behind a paywall.  You can read one of the articles for free here.  It's about the 4-2-5, but you can read everything about the 4-2-5 here on DTN . . . the FWST previews Texas Tech as well . . . congrats to Totally Texas Tech's TTURed for having one of his photographs published!  This was long overdue and incredibly deserved . . .

OFFICIAL SITE LINKS | Meet the two-deep continues with TE Tony Trahan (watch via YouTube) . . . OC Neal Brown reveals his top performers from Saturday and from Monday:

Top performers from Sat scrimmage: L.Waddle, R.Daniels, A.Crawford, S.Doege, D. Moore, C.Douglas, A.Fisher, L.Clark.

Top guys from yesterday's practice: J.Franks, C.Douglas, A.Crawford, M.Okafor, A.Fisher, J.Karam. Guns Up!

. . . there's a short article on LB Blake Dees . . .

BIG 12 AND COLLEGE FOOTBALL LINKS | Remember when the Longhorn Network relayed to the rest of the world that they although they could not show full high school football games, they were going to show highlights.  Well . . . that's not going to happen either, per SAEN's Mike Finger, who has this from the NCAA:

"Youth programming, which would include highlights, is not allowed," the NCAA’s Erik Christianson wrote in an email to the San Antonio Express-News.

. . . BC's Jesus Shuttleworth had a bit yesterday saying that Notre Dame and BYU were both seriously considering the Big 12 (this is very much a summary so go read the whole thing for details) however BON's Peter Bean wrote yesterday that under no circumstance is Notre Dame thinking about the Big 12.  Personally, I seriously doubt that Notre Dame would even so much as consider the Big 12, but would be polite and listen to a proposition . . . go check out SB Nation's newest blog covering the TCU Horned Frogs, Frogs O'War . . . the Big 12 takes a look at the Iowa St. Cyclones . . .