Friday can only mean one thing for the discriminating Red Raider fan.
It's time for another edition of the Red Raider Confidential! The ground rules
are simple and easy to follow: everything reported in this report is not to be disclosed elsewhere. This feature is posted in the premium forum to ensure that this information stays exclusively within the
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This will continue to be successful only if everyone
does their part and keeps the discussions limited to this board.
Is Mims still an option?
As far
as we can tell, at this point, Tevin Mims is no longer a legitimate option for
Texas Tech. It appears as though someone has gotten into Mims’ head and
convinced him that Tech is “just too far away,” and being close to home is his
number one priority.
This latest twist caps off a bizarre month in Mims’ recruitment. After nearly
committing to Texas Tech in early November, he decided to hold off and then
proceeded to turn his cell phone off for a month during his team’s playoff run.
And now it appears as though he’s reversed course.
“I mean, I told them I was going to commit, but that didn’t mean I was
committing like right then, you know what I’m saying? I was saying that was what
I was going to do eventually, but then I talked it over and thought about it and
it’s just too far away. I told my family I’d try to narrow it down, and I think
I’ve done that.”
Mims claims his family thought it would be a good idea to narrow it down to
Texas, TCU, or Texas A&M.
Here’s the bottom line - Mims says he still likes Tech and that he “wouldn’t
mind visiting (Tech) at all,” but the truth of the matter is that, barring
something strange happening, he won’t be in Lubbock next fall. If Texas offers,
in our opinion, he’s a Longhorn, otherwise we think he’ll wind up at TCU or A&M.
Bowie definitely gone
We reported
late last night that Sand Springs (OK) Charles Page offensive lineman
Michael Bowie had decommitted from Texas Tech. We exchanged a few text messages
with him earlier this morning which confirmed that report.
"I decided on my college and I'm going to OSU," he texted. "I decided on that
last night. It's just better for me."
In the end, it was all about location. Bowie lives about an hour from Stillwater
and felt more comfortable there.
"It's (Lubbock) just too far for me and my family."
Expect the Red Raiders to go after another quality offensive lineman to fill
this vacated spot. We'll stay on top of things and let you know as soon as we
hear anything.
Premium Photo: Texas Tech OL commit Kyle Clark
(Texas Tech offensive line coach Matt Moore is in the background.)
Cathey close to qualifying?
Presumably, one of the reasons that All-Everything defensive tackle Romario
Cathey only has two stars beside his name is the thought that he was going to be
an academic risk. While that quite possibly the case a year ago, Texas Tech’s
Dennis Simmons has put in some serious time and effort to correct his academic
issues, and appears to have been successful.
“Me and Coach Simmons have been talking a bunch about academics,” said Cathey.
“He keeps up with me, you know, just makes sure I’m staying up with my stuff.”
And just what does Cathey need to do to make sure he’s on campus this summer?
“I need to get my core GPA at a 2.5, which I’m really close to doing,” he
explained. “We’ll know more about that after my finals this week. And then I
just needed like above a 17 on the ACT, and I got an 18, so I’m good there. But
just to be sure, I’ll be taking that again in February to try to get that score
up.”
If Cathey takes care of business and qualifies, it will be a huge get for Tech,
who will land an unbelievably undervalued talent simply because their staff was
willing to put in the leg work, time, effort necessary to make simply make sure
Cathey knew what he needed to do in order to qualify. Our hats are off to them.
Premium Q&A: Texas Tech RB commit Eric Stephens
What have
you been up to?
ES: "Mostly I’ve been working out. I’m trying to get stronger. I’m working
out with the track team and debating whether I’m going to do that or not. Other
than that, I’m just trying to enjoy my senior year."
So you don’t know if you’re actually going to do track?
ES: "Yeah, I’m not sure. I know I’m going to work out with them but as far
as running in the meets, I’m not sure. "
What’s the determining factor in if you’re going to do track?
ES: "It’s pretty much whether or not I want to. If I run then I’m more than
likely going to run the 100 in the 4.x1. My coach wants me to run the high jump
and I might do it to help the team but I’d rather just run because that’s why
I’m even considering track."
Have you heard from any other teams besides Texas Tech?
ES: "I pretty much keep myself out of that situation, I really haven’t
talked to anyone else. Once I committed to Tech, that’s what it was. I would try
to keep in contact with schools at a distance. If a coach were to stop by the
school, I’d say 'Hi' but that’d be it. There’s really not anyone else that I’m
considering or even talking to."
What’s the latest with Texas Tech?
ES: "Coach Littrell stopped by last Sunday and he hung out with us. Coach
Leach called me the other day and let me know he’d be down some time after the
New Year. I’ve talked to coach Littrell briefly about my game plan for when I
get to Lubbock. We’re building our relationship right now. I can’t wait to get a
chance to sit down and have a full conversation with coach Leach. I don’t want
to bother him but I can’t wait for him to come so we can have a real
conversation. I talked to him once time when we went on my visit."
Can you talk about your phone conversation with Coach Leach?
ES: "We talked for about 10 to 15 minutes. He was just saying that he’s
excited that I’m on board. He talked about some of the things that he has
planned for me and the offense. He told me how he is going to come see me at the
first of the year."
Did you have any questions for him?
ES: "He asked if I had any question and I asked him if he was going to be
here and if he would resign his contract. He said that since he got named the
coach of the year that any job that opens; his name will be thrown in it. He
said that he loved Tech though and he was going to be there. He’s been there
nine years and he said he’s going to do it again. That’s all I needed to hear.
If I didn’t trust them, I wouldn’t have decommitted form Minnesota to go there.
I trust the whole staff. Coach Littrell is a great and coach Leach is great. I
hope I get a chance to build a relationship with some of the other coaches as
well."
King seeing all orange right now
Things have gotten a little more complicated with Memphis, Tennessee linebacker
Greg King lately. With Texas Tech being on him from the beginning, it’s been the
Red Raiders and Alabama the whole way.
That’s until earlier this week when Lane Kiffin and more than half of his
Volunteer staff came into King’s living room and made a lasting impression.
“Alabama and Texas Tech were in my top two but Tennessee is looking real good
now,” King echoed. “So that’s my top three right now.”
Our conversation with King was less than 24 hours after the Tennessee visit and
it seemed that’s what he wanted to talk about the most.
“Coach Kiffin is a cool person. He’s a very cool person. He’s down to earth and
isn’t just trying to tell you stuff. He’s really cool and I talk a whole lot
with the running back coach. It seems like a cool place to be. I want to get up
there and see how it is.”
The three-star prospect did admit that the Volunteers have made a late push.
“I’ve lived Memphis all my life. I never thought about Tennessee at first until
they really started looking at me. They did make a big change to open my eyes
even more. They want me to come there. They’re real cool and they’re going to
give me a full ride. They’re ready. If they play on making me a better person,
then why not?”
Some may believe that Tennessee has an advantage because they’re the home state
team. After all, King has lived in Memphis all his life so it’s a given that
he’s dreamed of being a Volunteer, right?
“No, I wouldn’t say that. I’ve always wanted to travel. My biggest dream was to
get away from Memphis.”
Still, Kiffin has seemed to change King’s mind on that as well.
“But why not stay in the state? You never know. The last 15 years they’ve put 34
people in the NFL and that’s the highest rate of people into the NFL. I pay
attention to that. They have a whole lot of commitments coming out of Memphis.
They felt like they should keep the talent in Tennessee and have a program to
win games. It makes the other people in Memphis want to go to Tennessee as well.
It’s a big deal to the younger people.”
Tech is still in this thing and King spent time with Dennis Simmons and Ruffin
McNeill a day after Tennessee came by. The relationship with Simmons is one
that’s strong and will ultimately be the biggest factor in this recruitment.
“He’s a cool person. I call to talk to him about anything, life or anything. He
says that even if I don’t go to Texas Tech, he still wants me to become better
and be a better person and grow up and be great man. He’s a great person. That’s
one thing I liked about him from the beginning. To him, it doesn’t matter where
I go, he wants me to grow and I respect that from him. He put it all out there
at the beginning.”
The coaching staff have done enough to convince King that he needs to use his
first official visit this weekend on a trip to Lubbock.
“I’ve been to Texas but I haven’t gone to Lubbock. I was in Irving and Dallas
and I enjoyed it but the traffic is crazy. It’s a big place. I saw a video about
that place and I saw a lot and I thought it was kind of cool. It’s top notch.
You can do a lot out there. I’m going to see how I like it and see if it’s for
me. If it is, then that’s what it’s going to be based on.”
Don’t think for a minute that Tech’s one-loss season hasn’t had a huge impact on
King as well.
“Yes sir, it really has. They’ve been balling. You never thought that Texas Tech
would be this good. They’ve been shocking everybody. When they play, they play
with the mentality that they’re coming to play. They took care of their business
and that’s why they were so successful. They were winning by big leads and
taking care of their business. You can’t get any better than that. They’re in a
bowl game so they’re good to go. They took care of their business. You never
thought Texas Tech would go that far. When their defense starts getting better,
they grew through the season. Both their offense and defense got better and it
all improved every time they played.”
It’s good that Tech is going to get a visit out of King but he’s still going to
be a tough one to reach. Tech fans need to hope he has the time of his life this
weekend and it’s enough to keep the Red Raiders fresh in his mind through his
next four official visits.
“I’m going to take all five. I want to travel anyway and see how everything is.”
His remaining stops? Tennessee, Miami, Alabama and his other visit is between
Georgia or Arkansas.
Nash not fully concentrating on recruiting yet
Sulphur Springs defensive end Colton Nash had a list of seven offers going into
this week. With the most prestigious school on the list being Kansas, it was
thought that the official offer from Texas Tech he received on Monday would blow
him away.
Whether it’s the fact that the 6-foot-6, 240-pounder is naturally soft spoken or
that he’s concentrating fully on this weekend’s state championship game, he
didn’t have much to say.
“Recruiting is going well,” said Nash. “I really don’t know what’s going on with
Texas Tech. They called my coach Monday and they offered.”
The Red Raiders had never talked to Nash before so he could’ve possibly been a
little stunned.
“I wasn’t there when they called. My coach called me to the office and told me
they offered. He said that they’re going to offer me a full scholarship. I’m
happy about it.”
The following night, defensive coordinator Ruffin McNeill called Nash to have a
15 minute conversation with him about the offer.
“He sounded really cool. He was really excited. He was just telling me about the
five defensive ends that they’re going to have next year and that I might have a
chance to play early.”
Nash has only taken one official visit this year and that was to Colorado last
October.
“Yeah, Colorado is probably ahead right now. I talk to them about two or three
times a week. They came by today, Coach Anderson, the defensive end coach.
They’re real good with the players. It’s just a nice play to be.”
A visit to Tech is something that Nash says he’ll go on in October. The only
other program he mentioned on visiting was Oklahoma State, who has not offered
yet.
“I’ve been talking to them lately. They’ve got a real good team and I like how
they’re defense plays.”
Nash admitted that he doesn’t know much about the Red Raiders or Cowboys. He
hopes to look into both of them in the near future. As for now, he has a state
championship to win this weekend.
“Coach is trying to make it this week the same as all the others, as much as
possible. We’re not doing anything extra like pep rallies and everything. He
just is having us be focused like always.”
Once Nash changes his focus, expect him to take both of those visits. The main
thing Colorado has up on the other schools is the amount of time that they’ve
been on Nash. There’s certain amount of loyalty there from the Sulphur Springs
product. If he has a good enough time on his visit to Lubbock to get past that,
then he could be a Red Raider by February.
Oklahoma State could possibly throw a kink into things if they were to offer.
Nash is showing an awful lot of attention in them when they haven’t even offered
and eight other teams have.
?
Quotables from yesterday's practice
We ended up not using these quotes in the notebook, but wanted to pass them
along anyways.
"To get to meet President Bush was really special. He’s just a laid back, good
old Texas boy; it was fun. But like I said, he’s very down to earth, just glad
to be from Texas, like Mr. Texas, but he was fun to be around. He talked about
Texas Tech football, he talked about Ennis football. You know, like I said, he
knew a lot about where we’re from and where we’ve been, and he’s very
knowledgeable. And like I said, just very laid back and relaxed." - Graham
Harrell, on meeting President George W. Bush.
"It’s pretty good. It was a little rocky to start off with, but he’s a good guy.
We’ve become pretty good friends. After the Kansas game was a big bonding moment
so we’re behind each other for everything. I’m behind him on kickoffs and
everything he does and the long field goals, and so it’s just a lot of
encouragement now and I think it’s been a good foundation for the friendship not
just with him but all the kickers and specialists." - Matt Williams, on his
relationship with Donnie Carona.
"Coach Leach does a great job of keeping us focused and our minds in the right
place. You know, it’s something that we’ll harp on going down there especially
that we need to be flying around, that we need to be excited, and we have one
goal when we’re down there in Dallas, and that’s to win the Cotton Bowl, and we
really could care less about anything else." - Eric Morris, on the importance of
being excited to play in the Cotton Bowl.
Premium Q&A: 2010 guard Rickey Scott
You took an unofficial visit to Tech to watch the Red Raiders play Texas in
football. How did that trip go?
RS: “That was the most exciting football game I’ve ever seen. Like the
environment and how the crowd reacted was real nice.”
What did you think of Tech’s 167 point outburst against East Central
Oklahoma?
RS: “That was amazing. I’ve never seen a team score 167 points in a game.”
What do you think of your recruiting coach from Tech, associate head coach
Chris Beard?
RS: “I like him. He’s a real nice dude. I can hang out with him anytime. He
tells me that Lubbock is Tech and that may not necessarily be the case in Austin
or Waco."
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This post was edited on 12/19 9:54 AM by A. Dickens
