The Morning Stake | 2020.05.06

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Well, after two days of you all helping me out, I’m good. Thus far, we’ve collected $1,539.57, with 25% being $385 and the rest will be given to the staff for all of their continuous hard work. That means each member of the staff will receive $145 for all of their hard work. As an aside, the $385 is going to go to my biggest expense of the year, which is a $308 annual payment to a website called Sucuri, that helps me keep things safe. It’s one of things that you wish you didn’t have to pay for, but if you don’t and your website gets hacked and then blacklisted by Google, then you’ll wish that you had it. That’s happened one time (someone was able to put some sort of code embedded in the site a handful of years ago). And to pull back the curtain further, my monthly costs are $30 a month ($20 for hosting and $10 for no ads on the Disqus commenting system). I’m happy to pay these costs each month on my own.

Thank you so much. It’s greatly appreciated.

As a show of my thanks, here’s the best thing I’ve watched all week.

ESPN’s Bill Connelly has his most important 25 games in the spread revolution and this is a fun read. There are three Texas Tech games featured (1 win and 2 losses) (and there could have been more). Here is the featured win:

Quick word-association game: When I say “four verticals,” what do you think of? The odds are pretty good you thought, “Harrell to Crabtree.”

In his ninth season at Texas Tech, Mike Leach found a breakthrough. With a blue-chip quarterback (Graham Harrell) and the best receiver in college football (Michael Crabtree), the Red Raiders began 2008 10-0, thanks in part to this classic. They raced to a 19-0 lead against top-ranked Texas, but the Longhorns clawed back and took a 33-32 lead with 89 seconds remaining. Eighty-eight seconds later, Crabtree scored running Four Verticals, maybe the single most enduring and devastating route combination of the era.

Four verts forever.

This story is from The Monitor and the small town of Weslaco, which is near Brownsville and about defensive back Richard Olszak (5-9/180). Oslzak originally played at Crown College in Saint Bonifacius, Minnesota, and transferred to Texas Tech:

“My childhood goal was to play at the Division I level and play on that big stage. Being at Crown I loved the team and stuff, but it wasn’t my dream and it wasn’t what I wanted as a person,” he said. “I definitely emailed the coaches a lot at Tech, signed all the recruiting forms and then attended one of the camps to kind of get my name on their radar with the one-on-one drills and 40 times and stuff as well as tagging them in my workout videos on Twitter.”

I think the offer is probably a preferred walk-on

Avalanche-Journal’s Carlos Silva, Jr. writes about Hunter Dobbins deciding to play in the Collegiate Summer Baseball Invitational, which is set for June 4th through the 6th.

“I’m excited to be home (Bryan/College Station) again where I grew up and what an honor it is to be part of this exciting baseball tournament,” Dobbins said in a release from the CSBI. “It’s going to be fun to play ball again.”

Midland Reporter-Telegram’s Christopher Hadorn talked with Midland Lee receiver Loic Fouonji about getting ready for Texas Tech:

“It’s a little bit of the same stuff, but it’s a lot newer and different concepts,” Fouonji said of the Texas Tech offense. “It’s very in-depth and you’ve got to know exactly what type of play and what to do on that specific play. It’s a lot more precise and in-depth compared to Lee.”

Fouonji, who plans to major in computer engineering at Texas Tech, says the current state of times has taught him to stay focused on his goals, and to manage his time wisely.

“Enjoy spending time with your family and friends because time can go away at any moment,” Fouonji said. “If you have time, take advantage of it. Also, keep in mind what you’ve actually got to do today and do as much as you can.”

CBS Sports’ David Cobb ranks the 10 classes that will benefit their teams the most in 2020 and at #1 is Oklahoma State, which I would agree with, and at #4 is Texas Tech:

Breakdown: The Red Raiders have a signed a higher-ranked class each year under Chris Beard as he enters his fifth season with an Elite Eight and national title game appearance already under his belt. This year’s group is ranked No. 11 nationally by 247Sports and is highlighted by three four-star signees. It also includes junior college forward Esahia Nyiwe and big-time transfer Marcus Santos-Silva from VCU. Collectively, the class should more than cover the production of departing one-and-done player Jahmi’us Ramsey, who led Texas Tech in scoring as a freshman during an 18-13 campaign this season.

Here are some tweets.

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