Some housekeeping items before we get to anything of note. I updated the 2023 football commitment page that’s on STP. I must say that the menu to get there from mobile is horrible, but on the regular site it works fine. On that page I’ve got a map with all of the commits and everything else. I also am using the composite rankings for 24/7 Sports and On3 rather than their own rankings. It’s too difficult to dig into and this project was already tedious enough. I was surprised that ESPN had updated their rankings as much as they have.
You’ll note that there are two commits that are missing, cornerback Calvin Simpson-Hunt flipped to Ohio State and running back LJ Martin flipped to Stanford. It obviously stinks to lose those two players, but dems da breaks.
Dallas Morning News’ Chuck Carlton on offensive coordinator Zach Kittley:
Kittley and McGuire still haven’t named a starting quarterback yet between original 2021 starter Tyler Shough, Liberty Bowl standout Donovan Smith and once-heralded recruit Behren Morton.
“It’s a brand new offense,” McGuire said. “I think that Coach Kittley has done a phenomenal job of preparing these guys. I think they do feel like we have a plan to put them in place to be successful.”
Said Shough, who once led Oregon to a Pac-12 championship: “Coach Kittley has kind of given us the key to the car.”
Kittley is convinced that Tech will get to where it wants to be soon offensively, while admitting it’s not there yet. He admits that he has to coach the three quarterbacks differently because of where they stand in their careers.
“A guy like Tyler Shough, for example, he’s a seasoned veteran. He’s one of the smartest guys I’ve ever been around,” Kittley said. “You have a guy like Donovan who’s kind of more middle of the road as far as the knowledge of the game because he has had more game experience, but still has a high ceiling and a lot to learn.
“Then, you got a guy like B[ehren] Morton who’s got unbelievable talent, and is going to be one of the best quarterbacks probably to ever play at Texas Tech, but doesn’t have that experience and it’s still really growing in the game of learning how to play the position and understanding defenses.”
Just a couple of conference realignment links because the holiday just didn’t produce a lot of content. Via Yahoo! Sports, this is from a reporter for 24/7 Sports (grain of salt on all of this of course) that the Big Ten’s wishlist is Notre Dame, Oregon, Stanford, and North Carolina, with not being as confident in North Carolina. The one institution that doesn’t have to make a decision about realignment is Notre Dame. Notre Dame will join the game when Notre Dame is good and ready to join the game. They can absolutely play the long-game.
The Big Ten could have Oregon and Stanford yesterday, so I’m not sure why they would be on a “wishlist”.
This is a couple of days old, but from On3, a summary of Bruce Feldman on what he thinks the Big 12 should do:
“I think you go on the offensive if you’re Brett Yormark. I think you try to go get a swath of Colorado or maybe the Arizona schools and you try to build up for your own deal that could be coming. You need to position your league. I really feel like the four schools that the Big 12 added, 10 years from now, could be the best four schools in that league. I mean, Baylor’s had a great recent run and Oklahoma State, obviously, has been a very consistent top-25 program under Mike Gundy. But when you look at the markets and you look at the talent that’s available, certainly Cincinnati, Houston and UCF are well-positioned for success. I don’t think today’s a dire day for Brett Yormark by any means, but I think they very quickly have to start having macro discussions so they don’t get left behind.”
As was linked up yesterday, the Big 12 is reportedly set to meet with Arizona, Arizona State, Utah, and Colorado today. So it sounds as if that sort of thing is already in action.