Takeaways: Texas Tech's backup QB, local surprise at receiver and more
Texas Tech is 19 days away from its first game of the year and the debut of coach Matt Wells and Co. The product Red Raider fans can expect to see if shaping in fall camp. With some work needing to still be done, Wells discussed standout players, injuries and more following practice on Monday. Here is what he had to say about his team.
INJURY UPDATES
- TJ. Vasher, Ta’Zhawn Henry and Sarodorick Thompson were out during practice on Monday. Armand Shyne and McLane Mannix, who were no-go’s on Friday then partially played in Saturday’s scrimmage were back.
- Terence Steele and Lonzell Gilmore are still out with their own injuries, Steele with an upper body issue and Gilmore with a bicep injury.
“Day-to-Day. Training camp – day-to-day,” Wells said. “Nothing major. Remember? We had a deal. Out for the year, I’m going to tell you. Major for awhile, I’m going to tell you. Day-to-day or full.”
“No, same thing. All in the same boat,” Wells said about Steele and Gilmore.
“It’s just training camp. You’re dealing with bumps, bruises, tweaks, small sprains, stuff like that,” Wells added. “Everybody in the country’s got it. You get better looks at other guys, you start working other parts of your game. Certainly none of us thought everybody in the three-deep on both sides of the ball was going to stay perfectly healthy. That’s fairly common in all the years that we’ve done this as well as everywhere in the country. So, it’s just something you deal with and you manage and you get through.”
OFFENSIVE LINE SYNC
- Wells said Dawson Deaton, who has been getting the reps at center with the first team, and Jack Anderson are getting acclimated with the offense. Both were out in the spring with injuries and have been trying to get the system under their belts going into double-digit practice sessions now.
- Wells said the communication has to improve amongst the entirety of the offensive line.
- Offensive coordinator David Yost said Deaton is solidifying himself at the center position as time goes. As far as tackle goes, Casey Verhulst, Troy Bradshaw and Zach Adams are playing a lot either behind Travis Bruffy or at the open spot opposite of him with Steele’s absence. Verhulst has earned his time, though, and has been filling in more often than the other two at Steele’s spot.
SURPRISE, SURPRISE! XAVIER WHITE’S POTENTIAL
- The inside receiver position has three potential guys who can fill the spot with Seth Collins’ collarbone issue still lingering. McLane Mannix, Dalton Rigdon, who are familiar with Division I football and then ... Lubbock Monterey alumnus Xavier White, who could have gone to JUCO for another season but instead took a non-scholarship spot with the Red Raiders. Early on in practice White has been pushing and pushing for playing time and reps. He’s stood out to both coordinators and Wells as a big surprise during camp.
“Yeah, Xavier is maybe one of the surprises of camp only because he wasn’t with us during the spring and really most of the summer,” Wells said. “Lubbock kid, good story. Could have gone back to junior college and have a really good year and chose to come here as a non-scholarship guy and he’s put himself in the conversation to get some playing time.”
- Wells said White approached them in the spring while they were recruiting. He has to improve on route running but has made decent blocks and is fast with the ball in his hands. “I’m proud of him ... He’s got himself into the conversation for the next two weeks.”
DISCIPLINED FOOTBALL
- On Saturday, Wells brought in a Big 12 officiating crew. Here’s what he said about how his guys handled themselves:
“I would probably classify it as okay to acceptable. Not bad for a first scrimmage. We didn’t have a whole lot of procedure and all that stuff with new quarterbacks, all of that. A real Big 12 crew here I thought we handled that fairly well. Really, on both sides, we had very few pre-snap penalties and I don’t think any post-snap and you guys know I’m going to harp on that – pre-snap and post-whistle, not post-snap. We minimize those that’s not beating yourself. We’ll try to handle the penalties within the play.”
KICKING AND SCREAMING
- One takeaway from Monday’s post-practice availability is that freshman punter Austin McNamara seems to have a slight edge on that starting spot over Cody Waddell.
- After that – Wells didn’t want to discuss kicking.
Reporter: “Kickers and punters, how are they...?”
Wells: “Ah, they’re out there.”
Wells: “I think we got a pretty good set of two punters – Cody and McNamara ... If we had to play today Austin would start. Cody’s one of them ore improved players on the football team coming out of spring ball ... Cody is battling. I’m all about done talking about kickers and punters.”
QB BREAKDOWN
- QB Alan Bowman still needs to take steps forward in his fundamentals. Wells said he has new targets at his disposable but even the returners are still growing their relationship with Bowman including Vasher. Wells hit on the fact that Bowman and Vasher haven’t been throwing together in-game for more than a year due to Bowman’s injury, mix in Vasher’s absence during half of the spring and the time together isn’t where you want it.
- Yost said they’re coaching Bowman on being more of a smart quarterback instead of trying to make a play happen every single snap. Yost treats it like golf with Bowman staying in the fairway. He wants the team put in the best position to win. He mentioned a drive during practice on Monday where he and the offense set up a game-winning field goal. Wells said they’re not going to force anything on him.
“I think (he’ll grow) naturally. We’re not going to force it on Alan. He’s handled everything like a pro. You got to manage a game at quarterback then there’s times where you got to be the guy and understand, ‘hey, I’m going to rip this ball into tight coverage and I’m going to take a little bit of a chance right here,’ but they’re calculated chances, too, and it comes with maturity – let me rephrase that – maturity in the offense. It’s not so much chronological maturity. It’s maturity in the offense.”
- As far as the other quarterbacks go, Maverick McIvor, Jett Duffey and Jackson Tyner are all three in a “big bucket right now.” Yost also said each day one guy takes more snaps with the twos then the others but for the most part is pretty even on reps. Wells said 10 days out from gameday and we’ll start to see more answers on who is solidified at what positions even the backup QB slot.
- Yost was asked about Jett Duffey’s progress. Here’s what he said about the scrambling QB:
“Well, he’s improved. I think we’re ahead of where we were in the spring with him understanding the offense and those types of things. But, then it comes down to production and everything. Maverick and Jackson are both putting a lot of pressure on him. And he knows you gotta produce to stay in your role and that’s what he has to continue to do. There were some good things today but not enough really on Saturday, so, that puts more pressure on him. Every job is there to be had and they earn their jobs. We don’t give them – all we do is evaluate it. They kinda decide who’s going to be the guys playing for us so it’s a good competition. We gotta bunch of guys kinda competing for that number two spot.”