The Morning Stake | 2018.12.03

Leading Off

I feel like there are so many things to write about I can’t focus to write one. I haven’t had that feeling in a long time. I’ve spent the better part of the time I normally reserve for writing absolutely stuck in the mud, trying to figure out what direction to go and not really getting anywhere. I think I’ve figured out where I want to go, at least for today, and I’m sure that I’ll get there moving forward, just been an odd feeling to be a bit overwhelmed by the amount of stuff to write about.

Texas Tech Track & Field

And that’s 500 pounds on the bar at the end of the video for that female student-athlete. Quite impressive.

Lady Raider Basketball

The ladies fell to Florida, who is now 1-6 on the year, an moved to 5-2 on the year. I have no idea how to judge this team and this was one of the first tests, but with Florida being 0-6 heading into the game, I’m a bit concerned about how the season will play out. Florida has lost to Gardner-Webb, Mercer, Florida State, Northwestern, Indiana and Northeastern before beating Texas Tech. I think Marlene Stollings inherited a rough roster, so if you have expectations that this team is going to finish the middle of the pack, those may be a bit high for the time being. Good news is that Brittany Brewer absolutely balled out yesterday, 28 points, 13 rebounds and 6 blocks and add in 5 of 9 from the three-point and that’s a heck of a weapon. Freshman Chrislyn Carr (the only freshman of Stollings class, who was actually signed up by the prior staff) finished with 19 points on 7 of 15 and that’s a good sign as well.

Texas Tech Basketball

ESPN’s Jeff Borzello has his top 16 power rankings and has Texas Tech at #10:

The Red Raiders shook off a slow start and ended up handling Memphis by double digits. Jarrett Culver continued his stellar sophomore campaign, finishing with 20 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists. He’s now hit 20-plus points in four of his past five games.

Texas Tech Football

A-J Media’s Don Williams writes about David Yost and summarizes the press conference below. We’ll get to both coordinators in due time (Yost today for sure) and here’s a bit from Williams:

“We’re a tempo team,” he said. “It’s stuff I was able to steal the ideas from when I went to Oregon as far as how to signal that, how to communicate it, how to get it to everybody as fast as we can. We’re a tempo team first and foremost.”

With that said, Yost said Utah State’s gone up-tempo 60-62 percent of the time this year and a little less than 50 percent of the time last year. Also, Yost uses only a fraction of the playbook, not the whole thing, when going hurry-up mode.

“We have certain plays we run fast that we feel are the most efficient plays, or the play we can get the most efficient at to be successful,” he said.

A-J Media’s Don Williams also writes about new defensive coordinator Keith Patterson

Patterson incorporates a position he used at Arizona State — and one West Virginia still uses — called “Spur” that can vary from year to year based on the man playing it. Generally speaking, it’s 60 percent defensive back/40 percent linebacker, but Patterson said he’s plugged in players at Spur whose skill sets have ranged from safety to cornerback to linebacker. An example of the latter was Terence Garvin, who was listed at 6-foot-3 and 222 pounds when he played that spot for West Virginia.

“That particular position has more defensive back skills,” Patterson said. “Our boundary outside linebacker, which I changed yesterday to the Raider position, is a young man that possesses a little bit more of a defensive end/pass rush, up-front type compared to about 40 percent defensive line. So they are different, even though they’re both outside linebacker positions. I just have to evaluate it.”

Williams also noted at the end of the article, that as of right now, four commits have said that they are re-evaluating and will consider their options: quarterback Maverick McIvor, defensive end Steven Parker, cornerback Keeyon Stewart and cornerback Alex Hogan.

Wells said that priority #1 was the guys on the team and the room in Lubbock, and 1B was the recruiting class. It’s going to be really tough to put this thing together so hope for the best here.

There was a thought that Kingsbury would end up at USC, but that may be on hold as he has additional coaching opportunities. I know that I’m not Kingsbury, but I think a head coach right now may not be in his best interest. If you’re going to work in the NFL, then take a few years about how to be a pro.

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