Basketball
College Hoops Today’s Jon Rothstein is reporting that Texas Tech will replace Oklahoma in the 2023 Battle for Atlantis (which is the 2023-24 season) and will include North Carolina, Villanova, Arkansas, Michigan, Memphis, Stanford, and Northern Iowa.
Football
Dallas Morning News’ Ryan Mainville has 10 key players for Texas Tech and here’s #4 because 4 is my favorite number:
4. SaRodorick Thompson
Senior RB / 6-0, 220 pounds2021 stats: 500 rushing yards, 10 touchdowns, 4.7 yards per carry
Breakdown: The beauty of Texas Tech’s run game is that it’s a double-edged sword. When Brooks needs a breather, in comes the veteran Thompson. A proven workhorse, Thompson has led the Red Raiders in rushing yards for two of his four seasons at Texas Tech. He’s more of a head-down runner than Brooks, but has surprising speed in the open field. While Kittley may want to keep the ball in the air, he has an embarrassment of riches in the backfield.
Dallas Morning News’ Chuck Carlton has 3 keys to Texas Tech’s season and also writes about how Joey McGuire and Kirby Hocutt think that McGuire has reinvigorated Texas Tech football:
“I would dare anybody to say that Texas Tech can’t compete in any arena or any field in intercollegiate athletics,” Hocutt said. “What people forget is we’re a large growing public university. And yes, west Texas is our home and we’re very proud of that. But the fan base and the alumni base that we have in the Dallas-Fort Worth market is second to none.”
Hocutt pointed to TCU making Red Raiders fans buy tickets to three home football games to attend the Tech at TCU game this season.
“All you have to do is look at what TCU did this year to try to prevent our fans from coming to the football game in Fort Worth because they know Red Raiders would overtake that stadium,” Hocutt said.
This is fun.
We’re all in this Ŧogether 🤞
We appreciate everything @TTUGoinBand does for us and our school and can’t wait for Saturdays in Jones AT&T Stadium! pic.twitter.com/HZIrklnt2v
— Texas Tech Football (@TexasTechFB) August 18, 2022
Watermelon after practice just HITS DIFFERENT 🍉 pic.twitter.com/IOIaLemR5V
— Texas Tech Football (@TexasTechFB) August 18, 2022
Lubbock Avalanche-Journal’s Don Williams writes about Xavier White continuing to be a weapon at an old position:
“Mainly, it was the thought of Kittley’s offense, his explosive offense,” White said Tuesday. “I just wanted to be able to be a part of that explosive offense and make plays at receiver.”
Though he’s been away from receiver for the past two seasons, White was a 1,000-yard receiver his senior year in high school on a Monterey team that was a Class 5A Division I regional semifinalist. In that 2019 opener, Wells’ first game as Tech coach, White caught five passes for 107 yards, including a 45-yard touchdown.
“I know I have the skills and the skill set to play receiver,” he said, “so it’s just like riding a bicycle. It’s mainly just getting my craft back, getting that creativity in my routes back. Other than that, it’s pretty fun.”