Okay, so I am really ready for spring practice and some more updates on the football team.  I am going to make my projections for the 2-deep for next years football team.

OFFENSE:
QB--Graham Harrell, Sr.; Taylor Potts, So.

RB--Aaron Crawford, So.; Baron Batch, So.

X--Edward Britton, Jr.; Todd Walker, Jr.

Y--Detron Lewis, So.; Tramain Swindall, Fr.

H--Eric Morris, Sr.; Adrian Reese, Jr.

Z--Mike Crabtree, So.; Lyle Leong, So.

LT--Rylan Reed, Sr.; Mickey Okafor, Fr.

LG--Louis Vasquez, Sr.; Chris Olsen, So.

C--Shawn Byrnes, Jr.; Justin Keown, So.

RG--Brandon Carter, Jr.; Steven Hamby, Jr.

RT--Marlon Winn, Jr.; Jake Johnson, Sr.

DEFENSE:
LE--Mckinner Dixon, Jr.; Brandon Williams, Jr.

DT--Colby Whitlock, So.; Richard Jones, Jr.

NT--RaJon Henley, Jr.; Broderick Marshall, Jr.

RE--Brandon SeSay, Jr.; Jake Ratliff, Sr.

WILL--Marlon Williams, Jr.; Blake Collier, Jr.

MIKE--Brian Duncan, So.; Victor Hunter, Jr.

SAM--Bront Bird, So.; Tyrone Sonier, Fr.

RCB--Jamar Wall, Jr.; DeShon Sanders, Jr.

FS--Darcel McBath, Sr.; Daniel Charbonnet, Sr.  

SS--Anthony Hines, Sr.; L.A. Reed, Sr.

LCB--Marcus Bunton, Sr.; LaRon Moore, So.

Feel free to leave your own opinion of the depth chart and why.  I would love to discuss players and personnel.

I was just looking at Graham's statistics for this past season, and it really just hit me that Graham had an amazing season.  Even with the speedbump games of Mizzou and Colorado Graham had one of the best statistical seasons in the history of college football.

Now let's look at the stats per ESPN.com

Graham Harrell stats 2007:
512/713 5705 yards 71.8% cmp% 48 TD 14 INT 16 Sacks 157.31 QB Rating

Graham Harrell stats 2006:
412/617 4555 yards 66.8% cmp% 38 TD 11 INT 18 Sacks 145.54 QB Rating

BJ Symons stats 2003:
470/719 5833 yards 65.4% cmp% 52 TD 22 INT 22 Sacks 151.26 QB Rating

Now, if you remember, BJ Symons holds the NCAA record for passing yards in a single season with 5,833.  Harrell threw for exactly 128 yards less that the all-time single season record.  Damn!  I mean, I really like Harrell and think he is an awesome QB, but he had a spectacular season!  He somewhat flew under the radar when you think about how well Harrell played for the season as a whole.  Harrell had exactly 6.4% better completion % this season than BJ had his senior season.  BJ had 4 more TD passes than Harrell, but was sacked 8 more times and had 6 more interceptions that Harrell had this season.  The fact remains that BJ had one of the most storied seasons for a Tech quarterback EVER, and Graham almost met or surpassed BJ's numbers in almost every category!

Let's say for example that Harrell continues to work hard and makes the same kind of improvements that he made from 2006 to 2007.  
This is what Harrell's 2008 senior season should look like:

6855 yards 76.8% cmp% 58 TD 17 INT 14 Sacks 169.08 QB Rating

Of course, this is purely fictional and an example of what the numbers would be if Harrell were to make the same improvements that he made for this season.  Honestly though, I don't see this being too far from what really could happen.  I see a 6,000 yard season next year, and the 58 TD's is obtainable.  The 76.8 completion percentage would be insane, especially for how many times we throw the ball.  the QB rating could be reachable, but Harrell would have to cut down the INT's.  For comparison purposes, Colt Brennan had a 185.96 QB Rating in 2006.  So the QB Rating is a possibility.

I think we can look forward to a season for the recordbooks next year.  I expect Harrell to be a top 5 Heisman candidate next year, and if he exceeds the 6,000 yards mark, that trophy has his name engraved on it.

Has anyone heard about the position change for L.A. Reed?  The latest thing that I have heard is that Reed will be moving to safety.  At 6'2" and 203 lbs, he is a massive guy.  We all know he can run, because he played receiver for 3 years.  I beleive he runs around a 4.5 forty.  Reed has been one of our top flankers on the punt team for 2 seasons now.  We have all seen that he can pack some punch on the hits.  At SMU this year he had one of the best hits I saw all year on a guy returning a punt.

I am really excited about L.A. Reed moving to safety because it became obvious late in the season the Ed Britton was a better receiver.  I think that L.A. will make a smooth transition because he knows how to make plays on the ball and he has a receiver mentality.

Any thoughts?

possibly going to Arkansas?  I personally think it is stupid.  I don't really know why he would leave when you look at the team we have coming back next year.  Also, when you see how Arkansas fans had treated Houston Nutt while he was at Arkansas, it was really pitiful.  They treated that poor guy like crap, and I don't blame him one bit for leaving.  I really believe that Leach is satisfied in Lubbock.  The fans are great, and they accept his wierd interests (Pirates).  Leach has everything put into place as far as our team goes.  We have a great offense with 10 of 11 coming back.  The defense really did make strides last year and we are now in a good situation about either hiring Ruffin as the full-time DC or bringing in someone that we really want.

So, what do all of you think?

I don't have a membership to Rivals.com, but they mentioned that there were at least 5 official visitors and several other unofficial visitors at the game last weekend.  Does anyone know who they were?  I am so proud to be a Red Raider fan after that win.  I live in Arkansas where everyone is a razorback fan.  I let it known who I cheer for, and it was great.  I had tons of people calling me and congratulating our Red Raiders after the game.  I do know this....The whole country saw us pretty much man-handle the #3 team in the country.  That has to do wonders for how recruits look at our program.  Leach has turned this program into one that CAN compete with the big boys.  We don't always win against the big boys, but you can tell over the last two seasons that we are playing competitive games against Texas and Oklahoma.  I gotta believe that big-time receivers coming out of high school that were watching that game were thinking "I could be the next Crabtree!"

I was looking at Scout.com today like I usually do everyday.  I noticed that our class was moved up one spot from #32 to #31.  I looked closer to find out that another one of our Juco players was bumped up to a 4-star ranking.

Our 2008 recruiting class now looks like this:
5-star players: 0
4-star players: 5
3-star players: 6
2-star players: 2

This gives Texas Tech an average star ranking of 3.23 for the 2008 recruiting class so far.  The previous best class was in 2006 when Tech had an average star class of 2.88.

Also, the weekend that Tech plays Oklahoma, there are a couple of big-time recruits coming to Lubbock.  Current Arkansas commit Jarius Wright (4-star, #42 WR) will be visiting. Along with Wright, Spencer Reeves (3-star, #19 LB) will be coming to the Hub City.  It would be great to knock off the sooners and pick up 2 great commitments all in the same weekend!

The game this saturday at Columbia will be Tech's toughest game yet.  Mizzou is a very solid team with a great QB.  They will be fired up, especially coming off that loss to Oklahoma.  There are several things that Tech must do in order to come out of this game with a win.

Priority #1:  Take the crowd out of the game.  If Tech's offense can go in there and possibly get an early lead, by scoring on our first possession, this would be great.  Get all of the big game jitters out so we can be loose for the rest of the game.

Priority #2:  Defense must continue their enthusiasm and energy.  As we all know, Ruffin has made a huge, almost 180 degree turn from the Oklahoma State game.  If Tech can stay fired up, and fly to the football, we have a chance to come out of Columbia with a win.

Priority #3:  No Turnovers.  Last year Mizzou started the game by leading 21-0.  This was partly due to the fact that Graham threw 2 interceptions on back-to-back plays deep in our own territory.  Graham has matured a ton since that game, and he is better at making reads and checks at the line of scrimmage.  If Harrell plays with the same savvy that he has for the first 7 games, Tech has a great chance in this one.

Priority #4:  Win on 3rd down.  Mizzou is 1st in the big 12 in 3rd down conversions.  Tech is 2nd.  In order to beat Mizzou on 3rd down, we must contain Chase Daniel.  I distinctly remember him beating us many times last year on 3rd down by scrambling for the 1st down.  

This game is huge.  This game is huge for Tech and for Mizzou.  Tech has been playing so well since Oklahoma State, and I hope they will keep it up with this tough road game.  Last year, Mizzou didn't beat Tech, Tech beat Tech.  Other than those 2 first quarter turnovers, Tech outplayed and outscored Mizzou.  We can beat Mizzou if we stick to the basics and play with that same fire that we have the last 3 weeks.

GO TECH!

I have looked at the 2007 football schedule, and I see 5 major tests for Tech this season.  The 5 tests are:  Oklahoma State, A&M, Mizzou, Texas, and Oklahoma.

As of right now, we are 0-1 in the tests (Lost to Okla St.).  Tech cannot lose more than 3 games this season and still be considered as a legitimate contendor.

In order for Tech to start getting national recognition, we will have to stop relying on statistics and previous success.  No matter what Harrell and Crabtree do individually, if the team can't notch wins against the "big boys" of the Big 12, then nobody will ever take Tech seriously.

Last year, Tech had leads on both Texas and OU in the 4th quarter of each game.  We lost both of those games.  In order for Tech to get recognition and Tech's players to get the recognition that they deserve, Tech needs to pass these tests.