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The Tuberville Era - Week 1
The feeling and atmosphere at the Football Training Facility during Thursday's
media availability was much different than it has been in years past. That
really shouldn't come as much of a surprise considering how Tommy
Tuberville and Mike Leach are on opposite ends of the
spectrum in many respects.
Tuberville's Texas Tech program -- again, this shouldn't surprise anyone -- has
begun to take on a very SEC feel. He is obviously a 14-year veteran of the SEC,
both of his coordinators are coming from programs in the southeast and the
majority of his staff has extensive ties to that area of the country.
But that SEC feel goes beyond previous coaching stops. There's been a polish
surrounding the program over the last week that is hard to describe. Everything
is very professional. Everyone from strength coaches to trainers to equipment
managers are wearing Texas Tech polo-style shirts and slacks. Tuberville, seen
walking around the building a couple of times, was wearing a tie, slacks and
dress shoes, smiled at the assembled media, made small talk -- you wonder how
his stint with ESPN over the past year affected his opinion of and stance
towards the media.
Speaking of the media, Tuberville has been all over the place over the past
seven days. ESPN, ESPNU, ESPN News, Tech Talk, numerous other sports radio shows
outside of the South Plains and sit-down one-on-ones with all of the local
television stations. From a recruiting standpoint, the dead week prevented him
from having any in-person contact with prospects, but his face has been out
there plenty.
Just to illustrate how different things are now compared to a month ago,
according to a player that we spoke with on Thursday, during the team meeting
earlier this week, Tuberville talked a lot about "championships." This player
told us that, under Leach, the focus was always on the next game or the next
play; it was heavily frowned upon to even mention the word "championship."
Tuberville is more of a big picture, look ahead guy who embraces the long-term
goals. Neither approach is the right or wrong way to do it, but it's a good
example of how different things are going to be for the Red Raiders moving
forward.
Boone speaks with Brown
We have learned from sources within the Rivals.com network that Ocala
(Fla.) Trinity Catholic wide receiver Kadron Boone spoke with
new Texas Tech offensive coordinator Neal Brown on Thursday.
This source also tells us that Boone will have an in-home visit with Tuberville,
Brown and Dennis Simmons next Tuesday.
Based on this information, we assume that in-home visits with Ft. Lauderdale
(Fla.) Cardinal Gibbons wide receiver Shawn Corker and Lakeland
(Fla.) wide receiver Benjamin McRoy will also occur on Tuesday.
Feedback on Chad Scott, Travaris Robinson
In an effort to get some feedback on the recruiting ability of Texas Tech
running backs coach Chad Scott and defensive backs coach
Travaris Robinson, we spoke with two people with unique
perspectives.
Drew Champlin, the Troy beat writer for the
Dothan Eagle,
has covered Scott for the last few years and was kind enough to share his
insight into his ability on the recruiting trail.
"He's made excellent contacts in the South Florida area, and was able to get
running back Chris Anderson in 2008 when some bigger schools were after him,"
Champlin said. "Anderson was somewhat of a late qualifier. If Tech wants to
establish or keep a presence in South Florida, Scott should be able to do that.
He's helped Troy sign several guys from down there."
For some feedback on Robinson, we spoke with Texas Tech cornerback commit
Urell Johnson. Robinson helped recruit Johnson for the Golden
Eagles and worked with him at one of Southern Miss' summer camps last year.
"He's a great guy. He's a nice guy for the job," Johnson said. "I know I'm going
to enjoy him being my coach and I look forward to the future.
"He'll push you a lot. He's a nice person to have around, he has big
expectations for you. He works you hard and
pushes for the best."
Dial may take visits
Sulphur Springs (Texas) defensive end Kedrick Dial seems to be
taking the departure of former defensive coordinator Ruffin McNeill
the hardest of any of the program's current commits. In a Facebook post earlier
this week, he indicated that he was considering visiting Baylor, Oklahoma State
and Texas A&M. When reached later, Dial confirmed that the reason behind him
exploring potential visits to other program was related to McNeill no longer
being a member of the Red Raider staff.
"The one that I bonded with left," Dial said. "Coach McNeill, he's going to
leave and he was the main one, the main guy that I really liked there. He made
me feel all good about myself, made me feel happy. Him not being there, it's
like, I just bonded with him for no reason and now somebody else is coming in. I
don't know."
Dial said that he didn't think he had time to visit three other programs before
National Signing Day on Feb. 3, and also acknowledged that some schools, notably
Texas A&M and Oklahoma State, may no longer have room for him. Baylor, though,
has been pursuing him vigorously over the last several weeks.
"Baylor, they really want me, bad," he said. "Bad. I talked to them (on
Wednesday), they really want me. I know that Texas A&M offered me, I think they
probably have their spots filled in for defensive end. That's just an option.
All of this stuff, is really just now hitting me."
Despite his obvious uncertainty, Dial admitted that a good visit to Texas Tech
this weekend could put all of his doubts to rest and make any further trips
unnecessary.
"I'm taking my official visit to Texas Tech this weekend. I'll see how well that
goes," he said. "If I like it, then I won't think about visiting other schools.
If it's just okay, then I might want to go do it and see what's out there. It's
my future, you know?"??
Simek not visiting
Prague (Okla.) offensive lineman Denton Simek will
not be visiting Texas Tech this weekend as originally planned.
"I'm supposed to work this weekend and I can't get off," he said. "I've got my
dad and a bunch of other people, my grandparents, are sick so I have to work for
them this weekend."
Simek, who sounded more than a bit under the weather himself, confirmed that he
had opened his recruitment back up to some degree and will be evaluating his
opportunities at Arizona, Nebraska and Oklahoma State -- his final three before
surprisingly committing to Texas Tech in August.
"That's what I'm going to do," Simek said. "Texas Tech's not going to be the
same without Coach Leach. I haven't really sat down and talked with Coach
Tuberville. I'm not going to say I'm decommitted because I'm not yet, but that
makes a huge difference."
What may be preventing Simek from decommitting at this point is a potential lack
of options among the three programs he is considering. The Huskers reportedly
only have three spots left and are not necessarily expected to take another
offensive lineman while the Cowboys and Wildcats each have five offensive
linemen verballed to their 2010 classes.
Premium Q&A: Schertz (Texas) Clemens LB Zac Winbush
On if he is still officially visiting Texas Tech this weekend:
ZW: "Yes sir, I still am."
On his conversation with Tuberville:
ZW: "I did that yesterday. It was great. He said that he was
very interested in seeing me and that he couldn’t wait to see me on the 15th for
the official visit, and you know, that he was still interested and that
hopefully I can go to Tech."
On questions he asked Tuberville:
ZW: "Pretty much whether or not they’re keeping the staff.
Whether or not they’re going to follow through on the recruiting process and if
I’d be eligible to continue with my scholarship or not."
On what he will be focusing on during his visit:
ZW: "Pretty much just finding out as much as possible. I don’t
know what’s going on fully, you know, because we’ve got a new coach. I want to
find out what his plans are. I don’t know if they’re going to keep the staff, or
fire someone, move someone in. I really don’t know what’s going on so I’ll have
to wait and see."
On his knowledge of Tuberville:
ZW: "He’s a very good coach, you know. His defenses have been
excellent and he’d be a great asset to our school. I’m looking forward to
playing for him."
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This post was edited on 1/17 2:26 AM by A. Dickens
