Who’s playing first team linebacker?
The Tech linebacking scheme is made up of roughly six main packages or so: Base, 30, Cougar, 65, Okie, and Jet.
Most of the defense is ran through base or 30.
It’s obvious that the base middle group will consist of the starters: strongside Kellen Tillman, middle Paul Williams, and weakside Chad Hill.
The 30 package should be utiltized a little more often this year, showing speedsters, which would give the idea that possibly Tech would be blitzing a little bit more with this group: Tillman, P. Williams, Blake Collier, and Victor Hunter.
If you’re a little surprised to see Collier’s name in the first team mix, maybe you shouldn’t be. Collier looks to be listed at the top of the depth chart for the other remaining packages as well.
What does this mean? That the 4.4 speed of the Justin, Texas cannot be ignored.
Of note, sophomore weakside linebacker Marlon Williams has not been getting any reps with the first team. If and when he plays, he will be utilized as a backup.
Doege taking it day by day
Since tearing ligaments in his knee, Frenship quarterback and Tech commit Seth Doege has been able to put things into perspective.
“I don’t know how to explain how fortunate and how grateful I am to have the opportunity to get to know the Tech coaches and they staying committed to their scholarship,” said Doege. “It really meant the world to me. Them giving me another opportunity to play football again in my life is probably one of the best gifts I’ve ever received. Someday I hope that I can pay those Tech coaches back by helping Tech get to a championship game.
“I just think the world of those guys that they’ve given me a second chance. It really touched my heart and my family and in my eyes, Texas Tech is the best school in the country.”
It’s been a great feeling for Doege to know that his future teammates have been keeping him in mind as well.
“I text messaged Graham and he told me to keep my head up. He told that there was going to be an opportunity or me at Texas Tech and to keep working and get through it.”
It’s all about taking one step at a time.
“Right now, it’s everyday get better and everyday get the knee stronger. I want to be ready by the time I graduate. My senior year is still going to be a fun year because I’m going to be able to watch my teammates have a great season. I won’t be playing with them but I’ll be right there with them and doing everything I can for them. It’s all about working hard, doing the rehab, and getting after it.”
The senior quarterback added that he could have not gotten through the tough times if it wasn’t for his current team as well.
“My teammates have been real supportive of me and they come down everyday and we talk about practice and we laugh. They keep my spirits up. Mason Walters and Ryan Haliburton, Ryan keeps saying that we’re going to play another down together. Mason has been real supportive of me and told me that he would do anything for me and would follow me off a cliff. That really touched me.
“All the Frenship coaches feel real bad for what happened but they know what kind of person I am and I’m going to get through it. It’s just going to be another knee injury, when I get it fixed and keep going, it’s not going to affect anything. I know that Frenship was a great team before I got here so I know they’ll be a great team without me. So I’m going to be on the sidelines cheering them on and helping in anyway that I can.”
Doege will most definitely be in attendance tomorrow night when his team takes on Wichita Falls Rider in Abilene for the GoFridayNight.com Classic.
The Adrian Hamilton story
Once upon a time, Tech walk-on Adrian Hamilton had more than half a dozen offers to schools all over the country. Now, the defensive lineman has been put in a position where he will have to earn a scholarship offer all over again.
“I can’t really complain because it’s division-I,” said Hamilton. “Right now I have to fight to play for Tech but I hope that it shouldn’t be hard. I hope that I come in and it will be a smooth transition, and I will be a scholarship player.”
During the spring semester at Kilgore, Hamilton was taking reps at wide receiver, safety, and linebacker. But his roles for the Red Raiders will be different as the former Dallas Carter star will be placed at defensive end.
“I played it in high school so it’s not a big adjustment because I lost a couple of pounds playing safety. I just have to get the weight and speed of the game back and it’ll be alright.”
Hamilton, who is currently 6-foot-3, 236-pounds, knows that he has an uphill battle to climb but has an idea of how to soon reach his goal of competing for a starting role.
“First of all, I’m going to look towards my defensive coach and ask for extra help so that I can compete. As I compete and get comfortable back at the position, it should all fall into place.”
The newest addition to the Red Raider family also adds that the atmosphere around the team will help him excel in the future also.
“As I talk to the players, they show interest in wanting to win and having the drive to be better. That makes me want to be better.”
On Tuesday, we asked Hamilton what he had thought about the players around him.
“I’ve only been here for two days and I don’t know all the players so I can’t name them. But I’ve seen a couple of good interesting players - like a corner and defensive end that I’ve seen stand out in the one practice I have been to. They do have talent.”
Hamilton made the decision to walk-on at Tech after only visiting one time last fall. He not only attributes his commitment to former Carter teammate Michael Crabtree, but also mentioned that quality control director Dennis Simmons and academic advisor Darren Ford were very influential throughout the process as well.
There were many questions brought up as to how and why Hamilton did not attend Oklahoma State University after signing with them in February of ’06. Here’s what we know:
It was in the middle of Hamilton’s summer after he had graduated when he realized that all his other friends who had committed to colleges had already left and were participating in practices. When he called the OSU coaching staff, they told him that his SAT score was red flagged and he needed to retake it.
After retaking the test, Hamilton was told a few weeks later that his score of over 900 was not high enough to qualify.
Confused and frustrated, Hamilton needed the fall semester to sit back and figure out where he was going to make his next move.
As was stated earlier in the week, there was much talk about getting the lineman here in January. At one point, it looked like it was going to happen but for whatever reason it was not worked out in time.
Therefore, Hamilton knew that he could not take another semester off completely away from football, so he attended Kilgore Junior College. The coach at Kilgore was confused about Hamilton’s academic eligibility since his SAT score appeared to be good enough, but OSU had still turned him down.
Upon further research from both the coach and Hamilton, it was discovered that the Cowboys had used his scholarship after finding out that he had been red flagged as they did not believe he was going to make it.
Don’t think for one minute that the way OSU handled this situation doesn’t travel through Hamilton’s mind everyday. His blood is still boiling and he’s ready for payback.
Hamilton had been keeping in contact with the University of Miami and it appeared that there was a walk-on opportunity for him with the Hurricanes, but Hamilton came to Tech for one main reason.
“I want to play Oklahoma State,” said Hamilton with a gigantic grin on his face. “September 23rd. That’s the date we play them this year. I cannot wait till that game.”
Dixon and knee problems?
Cisco Junior College sophomore McKinner Dixon has been enjoying his new team so far this year.
“Things are going great”, said Dixon. “I think the chemistry between the defense gets better and better everyday.”
Where does CJC have Dixon taking reps?
“They have me at weak end right now, more like a rush end. I’m feeling great, man. I’m feeling real good and getting in the weight room and getting my knee strong. It’s gotten better within the last couple of days there’s been a big improvement. I’ve gained a lot of confidence.”
When did this knee injury occur?
“I hurt my knee in the off-season in the 10th grade. When the weather changes I have to ice it and make sure I rehab. I haven’t had rehabbed it in about a year. I just got back out here and it started getting sore. I have to get back in the groove of rehabbing and working on my knee. It might not be something that I always have to do but until it gets strong enough to where I feel like it’s 100%, I maybe still just do the rehab to keep it strong. I keep the knee brace on all the time, even if it’s feeling good. It’s just as strong as my other knee. I just like to have it on to give me that confidence.”
Heading into his second semester at CJC, Dixon said that he feels well acquainted with those around him.
“I feel like we’re a close unit. They say that guys hang around each other and get that chemistry of playing together. When someone is down, we have the strength to pick them up and keep them going and motivating ourselves. We have a lot of leaders on this team.”
What about the class load for Dixon?
“I’m taking 17 hours this semester to try to get my business straight and get on the ball.
I don’t think it will really be as hard now as it was at Tech because that was my first year coming there.”
Has Dixon been keeping in contact with the Tech coaching staff?
“I talk to those guys a lot. I talk to Dennis (Simmons), Coach Ruff (McNeill), and Coach Setencich. I talk to them pretty much on a regular basis, pretty much once every two weeks.”
Dixon hopes to be at SMU this weekend to observe the Red Raiders, but has plans of performing on the field himself this year.
“I’m just ready to play. I plan on doing something big this year, it’s really important to me.”
Jocques talks about Aaron
Crawford has been feeling good through workouts and the first game at CJC as well.
“I’m having a good time,” Crawford said last week before their first game on Friday.
“Our defense is going to be very good this year. The only problem I have is that our defense is so good and I’m on the same side of McKinner Dixon and I’m afraid I won’t get in on any plays unless he slacks off a little bit,” laughed Crawford.
Like Dixon, Crawford hopes to be in Dallas this weekend.
“I plan on going to the Tech and SMU game because we have a bye that week. We have a game on a Thursday later in the season and I’m going to catch that game if it’s a home game, so I plan on coming up there.”
Now that it known evident that Crawford’s little brother, Aaron, will not be traveling with the Red Raider this weekend we are not sure if Jocques will still make the trip.
Speaking of Aaron, Jocques told us how his younger sibling has been doing at Tech.
“At first, he was kind of a little homesick than anything but now he says that it’s football all day and now that he knows I’m closer, it’s alright because I told him that I’d visit him when I have a bye week.
“He tells me that he thinks he’s doing bad in practice but the coaches think he’s doing good. He knows that he came in a little bit out of shape. I worked out with him over the summer and I know that he wasn’t in shape. His main problem is that he doesn’t hydrate himself well before practice. He dehydrates and gets sick. I think that if he hydrates himself properly then he’ll be fine. I’m sure that Bennie is going to keep him hydrated and eating the right foods.”
Aaron has been improving tremendously over the last week or two. He has been looking faster, stronger, and is picking up the offense.
Davis Solid to Tech
When Stephenville safety Cody Davis pulled the trigger for Tech earlier this year, there were still several schools attempting to sway his decision. Luckily, with the NCAA’s recent ban on text messaging, that appears to have died down a little.
“Since August I haven’t really heard much from anyone,” he explained. “I get some from Baylor and I get quite a bit from Vanderbilt, and then of course Tech.”
Davis also had to deal with increased pressure from Oklahoma State in July, but gave a fairly simple explanation as to why he didn’t listen to their overtures.
“I just really like Tech,” he explained. “I’ve always liked Tech. They’ve got good, experienced defensive coaches and I know they know what they’re doing. I just really like everything about it.”
However, Oklahoma State’s loss in recruiting has given Davis something to razz his teammate Kody Spano, an OSU commit.
“We’ll joke around a little bit,” he laughed. “I give him a little bit of a hard time, but nothing serious. I just like giving him a hard time about it.”
In a show of obvious commitment to his new school, Davis has already been in contact with future teammate and fellow 2008 commit Seth Doege.
“I actually talked to him after it happened,” he explained. “I just asked him how he was and he said he was still strong and was looking forward to coming to Tech and making a big comeback. I think he’s going to surprise a lot of people.”
Lynn Still Likes Tech
Though many have counted four-star athlete and Tech legacy D’ Anton Lynn out of the game for Tech, Lynn says that’s simply not the case.
“Tech is very much still in it,” he said when asked if the Red Raiders were still one of his favorites. “I love Lubbock. It’s a special place to my family and I like how the program is on the rise.”
Lynn also mentioned that his dad still knows several of the coaches.
“Coach Mainord, the safeties coach, is really close with my dad,” he said. “My dad has so much respect for him and he’s coaches for a long time, so playing for him would be really great. He’s an excellent coach. I think he knows Coach Sadler and a few others too. Shoot, he even knows the receptionist and stuff from when he was there. They’re all still the same people. It’s crazy.”
Another factor in Tech’s favor could be the option of playing on either side of the ball.
“Tech has said I can play on either offense or defense,” he said. “And Penn State has said they might use me a little on both, which gives both of them a leg up. I think it would be nice to at least have the option.”
For Tech though, Red Raider fans must hope that they make it into Lynn’s final two or three, because they might get a boost at that point.
“My dad hasn’t said anything at all to me about recruiting yet,” he explained. “Everything I’ve done has been my own research. But once I get down to my final few, he’s going to give me some advice. I have no idea what he’ll say, but he said he’d give his opinion when I was down to two or three.”
The Tech linebacking scheme is made up of roughly six main packages or so: Base, 30, Cougar, 65, Okie, and Jet.
Most of the defense is ran through base or 30.
It’s obvious that the base middle group will consist of the starters: strongside Kellen Tillman, middle Paul Williams, and weakside Chad Hill.
The 30 package should be utiltized a little more often this year, showing speedsters, which would give the idea that possibly Tech would be blitzing a little bit more with this group: Tillman, P. Williams, Blake Collier, and Victor Hunter.
If you’re a little surprised to see Collier’s name in the first team mix, maybe you shouldn’t be. Collier looks to be listed at the top of the depth chart for the other remaining packages as well.
What does this mean? That the 4.4 speed of the Justin, Texas cannot be ignored.
Of note, sophomore weakside linebacker Marlon Williams has not been getting any reps with the first team. If and when he plays, he will be utilized as a backup.
Doege taking it day by day
Since tearing ligaments in his knee, Frenship quarterback and Tech commit Seth Doege has been able to put things into perspective.
“I don’t know how to explain how fortunate and how grateful I am to have the opportunity to get to know the Tech coaches and they staying committed to their scholarship,” said Doege. “It really meant the world to me. Them giving me another opportunity to play football again in my life is probably one of the best gifts I’ve ever received. Someday I hope that I can pay those Tech coaches back by helping Tech get to a championship game.
“I just think the world of those guys that they’ve given me a second chance. It really touched my heart and my family and in my eyes, Texas Tech is the best school in the country.”
It’s been a great feeling for Doege to know that his future teammates have been keeping him in mind as well.
“I text messaged Graham and he told me to keep my head up. He told that there was going to be an opportunity or me at Texas Tech and to keep working and get through it.”
It’s all about taking one step at a time.
“Right now, it’s everyday get better and everyday get the knee stronger. I want to be ready by the time I graduate. My senior year is still going to be a fun year because I’m going to be able to watch my teammates have a great season. I won’t be playing with them but I’ll be right there with them and doing everything I can for them. It’s all about working hard, doing the rehab, and getting after it.”
The senior quarterback added that he could have not gotten through the tough times if it wasn’t for his current team as well.
“My teammates have been real supportive of me and they come down everyday and we talk about practice and we laugh. They keep my spirits up. Mason Walters and Ryan Haliburton, Ryan keeps saying that we’re going to play another down together. Mason has been real supportive of me and told me that he would do anything for me and would follow me off a cliff. That really touched me.
“All the Frenship coaches feel real bad for what happened but they know what kind of person I am and I’m going to get through it. It’s just going to be another knee injury, when I get it fixed and keep going, it’s not going to affect anything. I know that Frenship was a great team before I got here so I know they’ll be a great team without me. So I’m going to be on the sidelines cheering them on and helping in anyway that I can.”
Doege will most definitely be in attendance tomorrow night when his team takes on Wichita Falls Rider in Abilene for the GoFridayNight.com Classic.
The Adrian Hamilton story
Once upon a time, Tech walk-on Adrian Hamilton had more than half a dozen offers to schools all over the country. Now, the defensive lineman has been put in a position where he will have to earn a scholarship offer all over again.
“I can’t really complain because it’s division-I,” said Hamilton. “Right now I have to fight to play for Tech but I hope that it shouldn’t be hard. I hope that I come in and it will be a smooth transition, and I will be a scholarship player.”
During the spring semester at Kilgore, Hamilton was taking reps at wide receiver, safety, and linebacker. But his roles for the Red Raiders will be different as the former Dallas Carter star will be placed at defensive end.
“I played it in high school so it’s not a big adjustment because I lost a couple of pounds playing safety. I just have to get the weight and speed of the game back and it’ll be alright.”
Hamilton, who is currently 6-foot-3, 236-pounds, knows that he has an uphill battle to climb but has an idea of how to soon reach his goal of competing for a starting role.
“First of all, I’m going to look towards my defensive coach and ask for extra help so that I can compete. As I compete and get comfortable back at the position, it should all fall into place.”
The newest addition to the Red Raider family also adds that the atmosphere around the team will help him excel in the future also.
“As I talk to the players, they show interest in wanting to win and having the drive to be better. That makes me want to be better.”
On Tuesday, we asked Hamilton what he had thought about the players around him.
“I’ve only been here for two days and I don’t know all the players so I can’t name them. But I’ve seen a couple of good interesting players - like a corner and defensive end that I’ve seen stand out in the one practice I have been to. They do have talent.”
Hamilton made the decision to walk-on at Tech after only visiting one time last fall. He not only attributes his commitment to former Carter teammate Michael Crabtree, but also mentioned that quality control director Dennis Simmons and academic advisor Darren Ford were very influential throughout the process as well.
There were many questions brought up as to how and why Hamilton did not attend Oklahoma State University after signing with them in February of ’06. Here’s what we know:
It was in the middle of Hamilton’s summer after he had graduated when he realized that all his other friends who had committed to colleges had already left and were participating in practices. When he called the OSU coaching staff, they told him that his SAT score was red flagged and he needed to retake it.
After retaking the test, Hamilton was told a few weeks later that his score of over 900 was not high enough to qualify.
Confused and frustrated, Hamilton needed the fall semester to sit back and figure out where he was going to make his next move.
As was stated earlier in the week, there was much talk about getting the lineman here in January. At one point, it looked like it was going to happen but for whatever reason it was not worked out in time.
Therefore, Hamilton knew that he could not take another semester off completely away from football, so he attended Kilgore Junior College. The coach at Kilgore was confused about Hamilton’s academic eligibility since his SAT score appeared to be good enough, but OSU had still turned him down.
Upon further research from both the coach and Hamilton, it was discovered that the Cowboys had used his scholarship after finding out that he had been red flagged as they did not believe he was going to make it.
Don’t think for one minute that the way OSU handled this situation doesn’t travel through Hamilton’s mind everyday. His blood is still boiling and he’s ready for payback.
Hamilton had been keeping in contact with the University of Miami and it appeared that there was a walk-on opportunity for him with the Hurricanes, but Hamilton came to Tech for one main reason.
“I want to play Oklahoma State,” said Hamilton with a gigantic grin on his face. “September 23rd. That’s the date we play them this year. I cannot wait till that game.”
Dixon and knee problems?
Cisco Junior College sophomore McKinner Dixon has been enjoying his new team so far this year.
“Things are going great”, said Dixon. “I think the chemistry between the defense gets better and better everyday.”
Where does CJC have Dixon taking reps?
“They have me at weak end right now, more like a rush end. I’m feeling great, man. I’m feeling real good and getting in the weight room and getting my knee strong. It’s gotten better within the last couple of days there’s been a big improvement. I’ve gained a lot of confidence.”
When did this knee injury occur?
“I hurt my knee in the off-season in the 10th grade. When the weather changes I have to ice it and make sure I rehab. I haven’t had rehabbed it in about a year. I just got back out here and it started getting sore. I have to get back in the groove of rehabbing and working on my knee. It might not be something that I always have to do but until it gets strong enough to where I feel like it’s 100%, I maybe still just do the rehab to keep it strong. I keep the knee brace on all the time, even if it’s feeling good. It’s just as strong as my other knee. I just like to have it on to give me that confidence.”
Heading into his second semester at CJC, Dixon said that he feels well acquainted with those around him.
“I feel like we’re a close unit. They say that guys hang around each other and get that chemistry of playing together. When someone is down, we have the strength to pick them up and keep them going and motivating ourselves. We have a lot of leaders on this team.”
What about the class load for Dixon?
“I’m taking 17 hours this semester to try to get my business straight and get on the ball.
I don’t think it will really be as hard now as it was at Tech because that was my first year coming there.”
Has Dixon been keeping in contact with the Tech coaching staff?
“I talk to those guys a lot. I talk to Dennis (Simmons), Coach Ruff (McNeill), and Coach Setencich. I talk to them pretty much on a regular basis, pretty much once every two weeks.”
Dixon hopes to be at SMU this weekend to observe the Red Raiders, but has plans of performing on the field himself this year.
“I’m just ready to play. I plan on doing something big this year, it’s really important to me.”
Jocques talks about Aaron
Crawford has been feeling good through workouts and the first game at CJC as well.
“I’m having a good time,” Crawford said last week before their first game on Friday.
“Our defense is going to be very good this year. The only problem I have is that our defense is so good and I’m on the same side of McKinner Dixon and I’m afraid I won’t get in on any plays unless he slacks off a little bit,” laughed Crawford.
Like Dixon, Crawford hopes to be in Dallas this weekend.
“I plan on going to the Tech and SMU game because we have a bye that week. We have a game on a Thursday later in the season and I’m going to catch that game if it’s a home game, so I plan on coming up there.”
Now that it known evident that Crawford’s little brother, Aaron, will not be traveling with the Red Raider this weekend we are not sure if Jocques will still make the trip.
Speaking of Aaron, Jocques told us how his younger sibling has been doing at Tech.
“At first, he was kind of a little homesick than anything but now he says that it’s football all day and now that he knows I’m closer, it’s alright because I told him that I’d visit him when I have a bye week.
“He tells me that he thinks he’s doing bad in practice but the coaches think he’s doing good. He knows that he came in a little bit out of shape. I worked out with him over the summer and I know that he wasn’t in shape. His main problem is that he doesn’t hydrate himself well before practice. He dehydrates and gets sick. I think that if he hydrates himself properly then he’ll be fine. I’m sure that Bennie is going to keep him hydrated and eating the right foods.”
Aaron has been improving tremendously over the last week or two. He has been looking faster, stronger, and is picking up the offense.
Davis Solid to Tech
When Stephenville safety Cody Davis pulled the trigger for Tech earlier this year, there were still several schools attempting to sway his decision. Luckily, with the NCAA’s recent ban on text messaging, that appears to have died down a little.
“Since August I haven’t really heard much from anyone,” he explained. “I get some from Baylor and I get quite a bit from Vanderbilt, and then of course Tech.”
Davis also had to deal with increased pressure from Oklahoma State in July, but gave a fairly simple explanation as to why he didn’t listen to their overtures.
“I just really like Tech,” he explained. “I’ve always liked Tech. They’ve got good, experienced defensive coaches and I know they know what they’re doing. I just really like everything about it.”
However, Oklahoma State’s loss in recruiting has given Davis something to razz his teammate Kody Spano, an OSU commit.
“We’ll joke around a little bit,” he laughed. “I give him a little bit of a hard time, but nothing serious. I just like giving him a hard time about it.”
In a show of obvious commitment to his new school, Davis has already been in contact with future teammate and fellow 2008 commit Seth Doege.
“I actually talked to him after it happened,” he explained. “I just asked him how he was and he said he was still strong and was looking forward to coming to Tech and making a big comeback. I think he’s going to surprise a lot of people.”
Lynn Still Likes Tech
Though many have counted four-star athlete and Tech legacy D’ Anton Lynn out of the game for Tech, Lynn says that’s simply not the case.
“Tech is very much still in it,” he said when asked if the Red Raiders were still one of his favorites. “I love Lubbock. It’s a special place to my family and I like how the program is on the rise.”
Lynn also mentioned that his dad still knows several of the coaches.
“Coach Mainord, the safeties coach, is really close with my dad,” he said. “My dad has so much respect for him and he’s coaches for a long time, so playing for him would be really great. He’s an excellent coach. I think he knows Coach Sadler and a few others too. Shoot, he even knows the receptionist and stuff from when he was there. They’re all still the same people. It’s crazy.”
Another factor in Tech’s favor could be the option of playing on either side of the ball.
“Tech has said I can play on either offense or defense,” he said. “And Penn State has said they might use me a little on both, which gives both of them a leg up. I think it would be nice to at least have the option.”
For Tech though, Red Raider fans must hope that they make it into Lynn’s final two or three, because they might get a boost at that point.
“My dad hasn’t said anything at all to me about recruiting yet,” he explained. “Everything I’ve done has been my own research. But once I get down to my final few, he’s going to give me some advice. I have no idea what he’ll say, but he said he’d give his opinion when I was down to two or three.”
