Texas Tech offensive coordinator Sonny Cumbie held his weekly get-together with the media on Tuesday to discuss the Red Raiders’ upcoming challenge against TCU on Saturday.

Cumbie talked about how he knows a lot of the TCU players well but on defense they’re playing with a lot of newer guys that he isn’t as familiar with. Regardless of personnel, Cumbie said head coach Gary Patterson will have his group ready to go.

“He’ll have them coached up, they’re going to be flying around and I know they’re going to be prepared really well. You try (to predict what they’ll do) the best you can based off the experiences you’ve had with them, but at the end of the day his preparation and ability to break people down is second to none and he’ll have them ready.”

Cumbie said he thought Henry Colombi was “very calm and poised” against the Mountaineers last Saturday.

“He doesn’t really get too high or low. There was a lull for us offensively in third quarter and he really answered that,” said Cumbie. “You saw the first quarter and a half of the game the momentum was really on our side and the crowd was out of it because of his execution. He knew where to go with the ball and didn’t make it that complicated,” said Cumbie. “We’re going to see a ton of different stuff defensively on Saturday and he’s going to have to remain levelheaded and stay the course this week as well.”

Cumbie said he feels like Kaylon Geiger’s emergence has a lot to do with understanding his skillset and what he’s good at and finding ways to get him the ball and isolate him.

“The kid is a freaking competitor. You watch him out here at practice every day and he practices at the same speed he plays on Saturdays. He’s a humble kid,” said Cumbie. “He’s had a long road to get to this point and he’s very appreciative of where he’s at and works really hard.”

Cumbie said he can tell that SaRodorick Thompson is making progress in getting his game legs back under him and it’s noticeable in the speed in which he played with in the second half against West Virginia, breaking tackles and being a factor down the stretch of the game.

Cumbie became emotional when talking about his relationship with Coach Patterson.

“Part of my maturation as a coach, a lot of it, I owe to him. A lot of the lessons that I’ve learned are from him, I’m very appreciate of Coach Patterson. He’s probably one of the top coaches there is and as a young coach took a chance on me and really stood behind me a lot. I love him as a coach, and he’s been very good to me and my family.”

Cumbie talked about Colombi’s maturity when it comes to Donovan Smith getting reps at quarterback.

“I think Henry is incredibly mature about it. He understands why we’re doing it and he understands what element Donovan adds to our offense, and he’s really excited about it,” said Cumbie. “I think Donovan, on the first play we ran him realized that he’s 235 pounds and people really don’t want to tackle him. He had a really good look in his eye and that was a big environment,” he said. “That’s a hard place to play and for a kid who’s never really taken a meaningful snap to go in on a third-and-short and do what he did. As a coach that’s good to see”

Cumbie said the development of Loic Fouonji in the offense has been huge the last few weeks.

“Right out there (the practice field) for the last three weeks he’s been doing just that. He’s been making plays and been very consistent with his hands. I think that’s the biggest thing is that he’s caught the ball consistently well for the last three weeks,” said Cumbie. “Then he when out and arguably made the biggest play of the game on the first play of the fourth quarter on a third-and-four. That place was going nuts and the one time they come up and play man in our face, he runs right by the guy and makes a huge play.”

Cumbie noted one thing that makes this TCU defense unique is their speed and the brains behind it all.

“Coach Patterson, his mind for defense and his ability to call defenses and match the strengths of what his players do well to what you try to do on offense. I think that’s the thing that he does a really good job of is putting his players in positions to be successful, clear-minded, and play fast.