ESPN’s Max Olson spent a couple of days with the Texas Tech staff and I’m sure more stuff will be posted as we go along, but Olson tweeted out five general impressions about the coaching staff and Texas Tech’s football team. Let’s take them one at a time.
1. Tech couldn’t be more excited about its RBs. Justin Stockton will be a stud. Felton gets a lot of praise, too.
— Max Olson (@max_olson) April 8, 2015
I think we all know this is ture and I suggested a week or so ago that it would be terrific for this team to have 2,000 yards rushing and 20+ touchdowns during the course of this year. There’s no doubt in my mind that this is the most talented and deepest position on the team. Olson wrote about the running backs and you should take the time to read it. Running backs coach Mike Jinks had high praise for DeAndre Washington, and rightfully so as he’s one of the team’s best players:
“You’d be challenged to find a more intelligent player at that position in the Big 12,” Jinks said. “He’s an unbelievably tough runner. If you watch how many tackles he broke between the tackles, it’s pretty phenomenal. His elusiveness in tight quarters is special.”
2. Mahomes/Webb battle at QB isn’t over, but players confident they can win with either QB. Baseball hasn’t held Mahomes back at all. — Max Olson (@max_olson) April 8, 2015
I think this is all true, and we addressed this earlier this week. There’s no reason for Kingsbury to just flat-out name Patrick Mahomes as the starter. There are two things that could happen: 1) Davis Webb could then just decide to transfer since he’s out of the picture; and 2) Mahomes could just coast his way through the rest of the year knowing he doesn’t have anyone pushing him.
3. The phrase I heard repeatedly about new DC David Gibbs: he’s brought a calming effect. Lot of wisdom. Lot of respect.
— Max Olson (@max_olson) April 8, 2015
I think we’ve all been impressed with the “real talk” from defensive coordinator David Gibbs. Nothing fancy or really inspiring from the standpoint that we’ve all motivated by what Gibbs says, but rather I think we are relatively impressed with the no-nonsense approach. I was really surprised about Gibb’s discussion of Josh Outlaw, who said that he needs to mature, both on and off the field.
4. Freshman class will be relied upon, no question. Depth needed at OL, WR. Fehoko having good spring, sure looks the part. — Max Olson (@max_olson) April 8, 2015
Just looking at the depth chart and nothing from our hangout (by the way, we Brian, Spencer and I all have microphones now) that Texas Tech was playing three walk-on offensive linemen in the second team offense. Having Paul Stawarz commit helps a ton in terms of depth because I think Stawarz can play multiple positions.
5. Tech staff’s Netflix rec: “Peaky Blinders.” British gangster drama. Evidently, it’s a must-watch. So there you go.
— Max Olson (@max_olson) April 8, 2015
I actually added Peaky Blinders to my Netflix lineup a while back, but I’m waiting on my wife to make her way through all 5 seasons of Friday Night Lights. Once she’s done with that, we’re all up in Peaky Blinders.
I think this maybe also speaks to the idea that the staff isn’t really doing anything other than watching some television after practice and the fact that they know about Peaky Blinders, which gets rave reviews, maybe speaks to the fact that they are as huddled up and working hard as you’d expect.
You can also check out Olson on Double T 104.3’s Chris Level and Brian Hanni where he goes into a lot more detail about some of these thoughts.