Leading Off
Toddy Petty and Texas Tech have added yet another piece to their 2018 recruiting class as they signed Kennedy Bridgforth from Florida, a 5-star recruit and top 10 player in the state (TexasTech). Before Bridgforth signed, Petty already signed the No. 3 class in the nation.
Texas Tech Basketball
Remember when we talked about Chris Beard heading to Germany to watch Davide Moretti? Well, he there.
It was great to see my coach (@CoachBeardTTU) coming all the way from the States and support me during my European Championship #gunsup pic.twitter.com/WBslgMWuif
— Davide Moretti (@davide25moretti) July 18, 2018
Also, Moretti had 15 points yesterday in a win over Greece and will play Croatia today at 8:45 this morning.
Texas Tech Football
I’m a bit surprised that running back Da’Leon Ward was named to the Doak Walker Award watch list (I’m happy for him, just surprised) (TexasTech). As an aside, I’m still in the camp that I thought that Ward was the best running back this spring from the two events I attended, so yeah, I’m on Team Ward.
A couple of videos from the Big 12 Media Day, the first one follows Dakota Allen and I really liked the last part of the video where a player, maybe from TCU, comes up to Allen and gives him some recognition for what he did on Last Chance U. The second video is of Jah’Shawn Johnson interviewing some of the reporters where they gave a bunch of non-answers . . . except for you guy Don Williams who went above and beyond.
Dakota Allen takes over the mic at @Big12Conference Media Day. 🎙
🔴#WreckEm⚫ pic.twitter.com/1yui0YgsNy
— Texas Tech Football (@TexasTechFB) July 18, 2018
Well, well, well, how the turntables…
Ja’Shawn Johnson turns the mic toward the media.
🔴#WreckEm⚫ pic.twitter.com/NUmF6LFgHF
— Texas Tech Football (@TexasTechFB) July 18, 2018
Some of the coaches took out some of the players, the offense, secondary and special teams:
No better way to bond with your teammates than an intense battle of paintball!! #gunsup #LETR pic.twitter.com/aV2bnbBq75
— Kevin Johns (@kjfbcoach) July 19, 2018
Enjoy everyday with this group! #Four #TopShelf #806D pic.twitter.com/tM8xQSNr4N
— Brett Dewhurst (@_BrettDew) July 19, 2018
Competitive night w/the @TexasTechFB Specialists. Happy to say that “Team Kicker”, made up of @ReedBowman38, @trey_wolff2 & @Clayton96Hat beat “Team 25 & Over” and “Snap Team 6” lead by an “ICE IN HIS VEINS” performance by @Clayton96Hat! #simulatingpressure pic.twitter.com/0E3U4sFb13
— Adam Scheier (@CoachScheier) July 19, 2018
So I think that that Tom Herman is probably a rick with a “p” and , maybe a very talented football coach, but I bet he’s a handful. Anyway, Former Longhorn DeShon Elliott tweeted a bunch of stuff, including telling Tom Herman tand the coaches to stop talking about him, and according to Statesman’s Brian Davis, this was the result of a pool party that Elliott held on July 4th and Herman telling players not to hang out with Elliott. Sounds like things are going well.
Star-Telegram’s Mac Engle has a very long interview with former Baylor defensive coordinator Phil Bennett. I’ve read most of it and there are a few things that stand out to me: 1) Bennett pretty much said that the Pepper Hamilton report was a bunch of crap, that the people interviewing him, which they would not let him have an attorney present, didn’t know anything about football; 2) This seems to mesh with what former AD Ian McCaw said about the investigation that it was all a sham; 3) the word “victim” only appears once in Bennett’s answers:
“I’ve had so many emotions even before talking to you. The thing that bothered me the most was the sensationalism to all of it. The lies. The reports and headlines of ‘52 rapes’ and ‘Rape Culture.’ None of that was true. There are so many things. Never at any point did I think this program was out of control, from Ian on down. We were trying to get the best players, and character is part of that mix. I thought we would reach our goals there and that would be my last job. Art and I talked that maybe Kendal would take over. I’m happy those assistants are getting Power 5 jobs again. Art is older and he got paid, but there is an emptiness when you talk to him he will never get back unless he gets another chance.
“I say this again, I just felt the system was a failure to help anybody, us or the victims.”
Juxtapose that with what one of the victims had in their petition to sue Baylor:
The lawsuit contained explicit descriptions of the alleged gang rape. Players yelled, “Grab her phone! Delete my numbers and texts!” following the rape in an off-campus apartment, and the plaintiff recalled glow-in-the-dark stars on the ceiling, according to the complaint.
Freshman football players were tasked with bringing women to the parties, where they would be drugged and gang raped, “or in the words of the football players, ‘trains’ would be run on” the women, the plaintiff, referred to as Jane Doe, alleged.
That sounds like a culture.