In this week's edition of the Roundtable, the RRS staff debates this question:
Which player will improve the most from the Sam Houston game to the UTEP game, and why?
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Level: Rika Levi. I fully admit that I was expecting much, much more from Levi out of the gate and he just didn't deliver. I think he'd admit to being extremely disappointed in his performance. I know that Coach Kingsbury, Coach Gibbs and specifically Coach Smith have been on him about producing and I think he'll respond vs the Miners. Levi has got to win some one-on-one matchups for this defense to improve. Far too often he takes himself out of the play and is a non-factor. That has to change and I think it will start to on Saturday.
Dickens: I don't know about an individual player, but I think the Red Raider linebacking corps will play better as a group against UTEP than they did against Sam Houston State. Now, granted, that's a pretty low bar as I don't think that group played well against the Bearkats, but I think we'll see a better overall performance on Saturday.
McKay: The player I believe will have the biggest leap is Micah Awe. Before going out of the game against Sam Houston, Awe did have 10 tackles, but he didn't have a great day. I think he'll have a big comeback week against the Miners on Saturday, and I expect him to help the linebacking corps have a much better afternoon than they did last week.
Clare: I'm going to go with Justin Stockton here. Of course everyone reading this is looking for the defensive line and linebackers to improve from last week, but I figured those were obvious picks.
Stockton had a rough day against Sam Houston St. last weekend and dropped a sure fire touchdown pass on a wheel route in the third quarter. He had a pretty good game against UTEP in El Paso last year and should get a handful of opportunities to make some plays on Saturday. With his speed and versatility, it's important to see Stockton capitalize on the pass catching opportunities when the coaches call designed plays for him. There just weren't as many of the electric plays we watched last season when Stockton got his hands on the ball. I feel like he is due for a few big plays this weekend.
Wright: Yet another tough question. Really I could list almost anyone from the defense because only a few players from that side of the ball had a good game. Then I'd have to go back and re-watch the game to single out just one player who could have the biggest one-week turnaround. Can I say the whole front seven except Micah Awe? If not, I'm going with Patrick Mahomes. He was great last week throwing for 425 yards, four touchdowns and only one pick - completing 62 percent of his passes. This week, those numbers go up. He throws for more than 500 yards and five touchdowns and completes at least 70 percent of his passes with no turnovers.
Kohnle: My pick here is DeAndre Washington. No, Washington didn’t have a terrible game last Saturday --he definitely made the most of his limited touches – but you kept getting the feeling that there could have been so much more. He didn’t light up the stat sheet against Sam Houston State, but I expect that to change this week against UTEP as Tech will look to impose their will against a less-talented defensive line. The senior running back will have the hot-hand in this game giving Kingsbury no choice but to give him more carries. Look for Washington to break 100 yards and find the end zone at least twice, thus improving on his week 1 performance and building a solid foundation for the coming weeks.
Koch: It will be interesting to see what Johnathan Giles does in the upcoming week. In the win against Sam Houston State, Giles registered two catches for 12 yards, which is not a monster stat line but a good start.
Texas Tech offensive coordinator Eric Morris said on Monday .. "We've got to find a way to get him on the field a little bit more because he's earned the right."
Morris went on saying they are looking at getting him 10 to 15 more snaps a game in different places on the field. So Giles is a dark horse at the wide receiver position, but will be interesting to see how he is used differently in the Red Raider offense for the rest of the season. It will be fun to watch his talent develop this season and really see what he can do so keep an eye on him.
Martin: Look for running back Justin Stockton to do some damage to the Miners' defense this Saturday. He was limited to two touches against Sam Houston, but this just might be his week. UTEP has traditionally shown serious inconsistencies with tackling in space, particularly when they've dealt with speedsters like Stockton. Last week, UTEP gave up 182 yards on the ground to Arkansas, and this weekend could shape up to be similar. If Stockton is allotted enough carries, he'll have the opportunity to turn them into explosive plays for the Red Raiders.
Which player will improve the most from the Sam Houston game to the UTEP game, and why?
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Level: Rika Levi. I fully admit that I was expecting much, much more from Levi out of the gate and he just didn't deliver. I think he'd admit to being extremely disappointed in his performance. I know that Coach Kingsbury, Coach Gibbs and specifically Coach Smith have been on him about producing and I think he'll respond vs the Miners. Levi has got to win some one-on-one matchups for this defense to improve. Far too often he takes himself out of the play and is a non-factor. That has to change and I think it will start to on Saturday.
Dickens: I don't know about an individual player, but I think the Red Raider linebacking corps will play better as a group against UTEP than they did against Sam Houston State. Now, granted, that's a pretty low bar as I don't think that group played well against the Bearkats, but I think we'll see a better overall performance on Saturday.
McKay: The player I believe will have the biggest leap is Micah Awe. Before going out of the game against Sam Houston, Awe did have 10 tackles, but he didn't have a great day. I think he'll have a big comeback week against the Miners on Saturday, and I expect him to help the linebacking corps have a much better afternoon than they did last week.
Clare: I'm going to go with Justin Stockton here. Of course everyone reading this is looking for the defensive line and linebackers to improve from last week, but I figured those were obvious picks.
Stockton had a rough day against Sam Houston St. last weekend and dropped a sure fire touchdown pass on a wheel route in the third quarter. He had a pretty good game against UTEP in El Paso last year and should get a handful of opportunities to make some plays on Saturday. With his speed and versatility, it's important to see Stockton capitalize on the pass catching opportunities when the coaches call designed plays for him. There just weren't as many of the electric plays we watched last season when Stockton got his hands on the ball. I feel like he is due for a few big plays this weekend.
Wright: Yet another tough question. Really I could list almost anyone from the defense because only a few players from that side of the ball had a good game. Then I'd have to go back and re-watch the game to single out just one player who could have the biggest one-week turnaround. Can I say the whole front seven except Micah Awe? If not, I'm going with Patrick Mahomes. He was great last week throwing for 425 yards, four touchdowns and only one pick - completing 62 percent of his passes. This week, those numbers go up. He throws for more than 500 yards and five touchdowns and completes at least 70 percent of his passes with no turnovers.
Kohnle: My pick here is DeAndre Washington. No, Washington didn’t have a terrible game last Saturday --he definitely made the most of his limited touches – but you kept getting the feeling that there could have been so much more. He didn’t light up the stat sheet against Sam Houston State, but I expect that to change this week against UTEP as Tech will look to impose their will against a less-talented defensive line. The senior running back will have the hot-hand in this game giving Kingsbury no choice but to give him more carries. Look for Washington to break 100 yards and find the end zone at least twice, thus improving on his week 1 performance and building a solid foundation for the coming weeks.
Koch: It will be interesting to see what Johnathan Giles does in the upcoming week. In the win against Sam Houston State, Giles registered two catches for 12 yards, which is not a monster stat line but a good start.
Texas Tech offensive coordinator Eric Morris said on Monday .. "We've got to find a way to get him on the field a little bit more because he's earned the right."
Morris went on saying they are looking at getting him 10 to 15 more snaps a game in different places on the field. So Giles is a dark horse at the wide receiver position, but will be interesting to see how he is used differently in the Red Raider offense for the rest of the season. It will be fun to watch his talent develop this season and really see what he can do so keep an eye on him.
Martin: Look for running back Justin Stockton to do some damage to the Miners' defense this Saturday. He was limited to two touches against Sam Houston, but this just might be his week. UTEP has traditionally shown serious inconsistencies with tackling in space, particularly when they've dealt with speedsters like Stockton. Last week, UTEP gave up 182 yards on the ground to Arkansas, and this weekend could shape up to be similar. If Stockton is allotted enough carries, he'll have the opportunity to turn them into explosive plays for the Red Raiders.
