Notebook: Coming into focus
With fall camp coming to a close, Tommy Tuberville and his staff
have started narrowing down their lists of potential starters and two-deep
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players. Tuberville said that the repetition loads will change in the coming
days.
Click Here to view this Link."Now we're getting to the situation where we're getting ready to play 22 guys on
both sides of the ball -- 22, 25, and we'll cut that down," he said. "They'll
get more reps in practice. That'll make us better, because right now they've
been kind of sitting back and enjoying a little bit of rest time. They won't get
much rest time between now and about mid-next week."
DOEGE THE STARTER
Seth Doege was named Tech's starting quarterback on Monday, marking an
end to a competition that never really materialized during camp.
"Seth Doege right now is going to be our starter. Everybody pretty much knows
that. That again could change depending on how he practices," Tuberville said.
"There's going to be competition every day, every week. We pretty much figured
that he'd be the guy that would get the reigns early, but I want to keep
pressure on him and give a chance for all the other guys to have a chance to
throw their hat in the ring."
Tuberville also described how the quarterback position would look from a
repetition standpoint moving forward.
"Seth will get most of the snaps over the next two weeks going into this first
game with the first team," Tuberville said. "Jacob Karam will get most
of the snaps with the seconds, along with Scotty (Young) and (Michael) Brewer
working in with him a little bit, but right now it looks like that's going to be
our rotation."
O-LINE WOES
Tuberville expressed disappointment with the Red Raiders' offensive line on
Monday.
"I don't think we're playing very good on the offensive line right now," he
said. "We're giving up way too many pressures to our quarterback, and he's
getting knocked around a little bit. With offensive line being the supposed
strength of our offense, we're not playing like it right now, and I just told
them that."
Offensive coordinator Neal Brown, however, believes that the starting
o-line will be okay as long as they play with more aggression.
"Our ones are playing fine," Brown said. "They need to be more aggressive. I
think they need to be more aggressive. The standard we have for them is higher
than everybody else just because all those guys have played a lot of football.
They've got to be more aggressive. They've got to be better leaders within our
offense."
MCDANIEL DOING WELL AT CENTER
Offensive lineman Terry McDaniel made his scrimmage debut at center on
Saturday and, considering his inexperience at the position, performed well.
"He looked pretty good," Tuberville said. "Much better, only been practicing
there for two or three days. I thought our snaps were good. He has to set the
front and make the calls, and I thought he did a good job."
WIDE RECEIVER TWO-DEEP UNVEILED
Brown said Monday that the team's depth chart at receiver has begun to
crystalize after Saturday's scrimmage.
"If we played today, Darrin Moore would start at Z with Bradley
Marquez being his back up," Brown said. "At X we would look at Tramain Swindall. He's had a really good camp. He would start, and Jacoby Franks would be his backup. Shawn Corker would kind of be the
swing guy, the fifth guy at those spots. We're waiting for Eric Ward.
If everything went well today, he can get our here and practice. He'll be a
factor in that battle."
"Inside at Y, Alex Torres will be our starter," he said. "Adam James and Jace Amaro are competing for that number two spot. I
think that will probably go into game week and probably beyond. At H, we're
looking at (Cornelius) Douglas and (Austin) Zouzalik. They'll kind if be our co-starters there."
KENNARD, EDWARDS IN LINE FOR REDSHIRT
Derek Edwards and Marcus Kennard, two former four-star
prospects, are likely in line for redshirts this season.
"(Kennard's) probably looking at a redshirt if we stay injury free," Brown said.
"He's a guy that needs to get bigger and stronger. I think he's seen that we've
got plenty of video opportunities to show why he need to do that, so the plan
right now is to look at redshirt him and Derek Edwards also."
MOVERS AND SHAKERS
Defensive coordinator Chad Glasgow has also been adjusting his depth
chart in the days following Saturday's scrimmage. Pete Robertson has
now moved from free safety to strong safety, and Happiness Osunde,
Giorgio Durham and Aundrey Barr all saw themselves inch further
up the depth chart.
"Pete Robertson we moved over to strong safety," Glasgow said. "We moved Junior
Osunde up, and Giorgio Durham ran some with the two's today at free safety.
Aundrey Barr, you saw him there with the two's some. We'll continue to tweak
things a little bit as we go through all of it."
GLASGOW COMFORTABLE WITH CORNERS
Glasgow praised the play of his corners during Saturday's scrimmage,
specifically Derrick Mays.
"Derrick Mays made some plays the other day. He picked one ball off, and it was
a huge deal for us when we went to the two minute deal. We've got to teach him
to get his butt down on the ground when that happens. The ballgame's over if we
do that. Then he had a chance to pick another one later in that same deal."
Glasgow also feels that if the secondary can gain some consistent play, then
there's nothing to worry about.
"If we'll continue to play consistently, get our eyes in the right spot, and
have patience we'll be fine."