Practice Eleven Takeaways presented by Open Door FA
After the eleventh day of fall camp for Texas Tech, offensive coordinator Zach Kittley and defensive coordinator Tim DeRuyter were made available to the media.
Zach Kittley:
Kittley spoke about the quarterback competition to open his availability, which head coach Joey McGuire said a decision will be announced sometime next week.
“Those guys are splitting reps,” Kittley said. “What we’re really looking for is for someone to really take the reigns and run with it.”
Kittley remained confident about all of the quarterbacks and seemed not to be in a rush to make a decision about the starter.
“I’m not nervous by any means,” Kittley said. “We can step out there and win with any of those three guys. I feel confident in any of those three guys right now.”
Kittley spoke about his outlook on the wide receiver room, giving some sort of rough draft of a depth chart.
“Myles Price, he’s solidified himself as the starter in the slot,” Kittley said. “At the X, you have both JBs, Jerand Bradley and Jordan Brown, JJ Sparkman’s back now. At the other spot, Loic, Brady Boyd’s out there, and you got Coy Eakin coming back now.”
Kittley also mentioned that Trey Cleveland will slot in at the Z spot but is working in the slot position as well.
Kittley also spoke about the tight end room and the outlook for that position group during the season.
“Mason’s been out for a couple days, he’s fine just keeping him out for safety reasons,” Kittley said. “Baylor is coming along very well. Henry Teeter man, I mean, he’s what were looking for here. Jaden York, he’s a walk-on that’s really coming around for us.”
Kittley also spoke about a special role for Xavier White and Nehemiah Martinez, using both as wide receivers and running backs in the offense, his “H” position.
Tim DeRuyter:
DeRuyter spoke a bit about his scheme, echoing the sentiment that the defense will have lots of looks and be relatively complicated to the regular college defense.
“What were going to do is base out of three and four down fronts, we’ll have the ability to bounce back and forth between the two with the same personnel,” DeRuyter said. “We’ll play multiple zones, multiple mans, sometimes we’ll rush five, six, seven, sometimes we’ll rush eight.”
DeRuyter gave some insight into the plans for standout linebacker and edge rusher Tyree Wilson.
“Not to give up our game plans or anything, but he’ll be rushing more than dropping,” DeRuyter said. “The best thing he does is rush the passer.”
DeRuyter also spoke about the two-deep setup for multiple positions on the defense.
“We feel good about all three corners with Malik, Rayshad, and Adrian, but Kobee’s come on,” DeRuyter said. “Up front, I really like what (Jaylon Hutchings) and Tony are doing but we signed Videl and he looks like he can be in that two-deep. Philip Blidi, he’s going to be apart of that two-deep.”
