Takeaways: Red Raiders wrap up first week of spring practice
Texas Tech football finished up its last practice before Spring Break. With the conclusion of the first week of spring practice, head coach Matt Wells, junior wide receiver McLane Mannix and redshirt freshman wide receiver Erik Ezukanma spoke with the media.
Matt Wells
- Wells started out by saying Douglas Coleman, Adam Beck, Myller Royals, T.J. Vasher and Seth Collins all stuck out to him in practice today with Vasher making a big catch and Collins making a few diving catches.
- Wells said there is still a lot of work to do. “These guys are coming out, they want to work hard. We need to learn how to practice, we need to learn how to practice for two hours, we need to know how to transition from drill to drill.”
- Wells said the expectation for this first week of practice was for the players to come out and be coachable. “I think they did that.”
- On outside receiver coaches Joel Filani, “He will bring a desire to want to be great. He’s kind of a grinder. I think he is a grinder by trade. A guy that had good talent and came in and really overachieved because he was a grinder. I don’t think he ever thought something was going to be handed to him.”
- On Zach Adams and the offensive line, “I think Zach like all of them is drinking from a firehose. They’re all trying to learn a new language, new tempo, new pace and so every one of those guys I think are being coachable.”
- Over spring break, the coaches will evaluate the practice tape and grade it. There will also be meetings between coaches and players tomorrow. “I’ve got a lot of boxes to unpack at my house and I’ve got a Red Raider baseball game to go to.”
- Wells then gave some hitting advice to a member of the media after getting the two more questions warning, “Sit on your back foot, pick up the red dot, angle your bat, catch it right out in front and drive it to right-center. Tadlock like that?”
- Wells said he hopes Ta’Zhawn Henry will be back after spring break.
- When asked whether he will throw the first pitch this weekend, Wells responded, “I have not been invited to do that yet. I look forward to that phone call. We’re coming with pace. I will throw with heat. I’ll try to keep it out of the dirt.”
McLane Mannix
- Mannix started off saying he had some family medical stuff going on which is what brought him to Tech. “I just needed to get back closer to my mom and be closer to my family and I’m excited to be back in West Texas and play under this coaching staff.”
- Mannix will have a lot of friends and family in Midland for the Midland Scrimmage in a few weeks.
- Mannix then went through the process of him coming to Tech and stated first he talked to the Nevada coaching staff and told them about his situation. “They were very understanding, and I told them I wanted to move closer to home and Coach Wells emailed me and we started talking, got down here on a visit and decided this was the best place for me.”
- Mannix said he and Desmon Smith grew up together as well as Jax Welch.
- Mannix did apply for a hardship waiver to be immediately eligible and was supposed to hear back from the NCAA yesterday, but has yet to receive any word on that.
Erik Ezukanma
- Regarding Vasher, Ezukanma said he has been doing a good job right now of stepping up into the leadership role for the receivers.
- Right now, Ezukanma is playing X, which is a position he has always played.
- Ezukanma described the offense as much faster compared to last year’s.
- Ezukanma shouted out Caden Leggett as a receiver that has stood out to him so far in these first few days of practice. “That dude impresses me every day with his route running and ability to catch the ball in traffic.”
- During his redshirt year, Ezukanma gained weight from being 190 to 206 pounds now.