Texas Tech Mailbag: Ranking the toughest games on the schedule

Intro welcome to another edition of The Insider mailback I'm Jared Johnson and we have a handful of really good questions from inside the red rer subscribers so let's Dive Right into them first one comes from cedo who wants to know about preferred walk on Adam Hill he says how's he been doing and do I expect he'll see any playing time this season other than maybe on special teams Adam Hill first off yeah Adam Hill has been impressive um he has good size to him 61 215 but he's built solidly he has definitely stood out more than I would say the average preferred walk-on to me maybe that's because he's playing running back um and I tend to you know notice that position but uh no I I think he's played really well every drill I've seen him perform in uh he's held up he does not look like a true freshman walk-on that being said obviously you have one of the you have All-American as the starter uh you have some other very talented guys buying for snaps so I don't think Adam Hill will get significant playing time at running back this year and he may not even stay a running back um even s mentioned that he thought he might play linebacker and Joey Maguire head coach Joey McGuire said earlier this year or this fall camp that uh part of the reason why Adam Hill was you know in the running back room was to kind of balance out those two room rooms because there's a lot of linebackers and they need somebody with his size to hold up uh you know if he was forced into action in pass protection and he definitely has shown especially for a true freshman uh capability to do that so I really like Adam Hill I think there's a chance hopefully he hangs a tech and they could keep him and all that moving forward because uh he looks like he's going to be a player wherever they play him uh I'm not saying he'd be your starting running back but he could definitely be a uh uh you know secondary option and a third down type back or a HB kind of dude and then of course I'd like to see him a linebacker because I know uh that's where they originally projected him to play at but Adam Hills looked really good he definitely looks like he belongs what a great pickup for Texas Cameron Dicky Tech Raider football 86 says what freshman not speaking of freshman not name michah Hudson will make the biggest impact on this year's team yeah for me at least going into the season that's a pretty easy answer I think that's Cameron Dicky staying at running back um first off they need somebody they have Taj who's going to get the bulk of the carries of course um and then camon Valdez is a talented Runner but we'll have to see if he's what they want in terms of pass protection when somebody goes in for toss Cameron Dicky was here in the spring and immediately coaches were raving about him he looked really good early on in Fall Camp then he turned his ankle and has been out that allowed another true freshman jacobe Williams to step in and make a lot of plays and he's more like Cameron Valdez and he's more of a home run hitter uh quicker lighter kind of kind of player uh than Aaj or Cameron dicki but I do think Cameron dicki and asked coach McGuire about that just after the second scrimmage a couple of days ago uh you know the the dep chart at running back and he said that like Valdez would be 2 a and Dicky would be 2B but I think if Dicky hadn't gotten hurt in Camp he would have overtaken maybe not publicly but at least in the minds of the coaches that number two spot for sure so uh watch out for Cameron Dicky a true freshman running back um he's already about 215 220 um has good sides to him can do a lot of a lot of the same things that TSH could do to be honest now you know I'm not saying he's going to be as good as Taj but they're a similar they have a similar similar skill set Texon Top 5 toughest games 44 says how would I rank teex top five most difficult games this season and that's a great question it's not a difficult schedule on paper though there are several like quality opponents there's not um like I did the ESPN FBI and Tech was favored in eight of their 12 regular season games and even the four games where they were not favored they had in each one of those games at least a 40% chance of winning that game according to the FBI so that's I mean that's pretty good I can't remember that ever being the case for Texas Tech at least not since there's been a fpi published ESPN football power index But to answer your question number five I would say West Virginia and lck I believe that's the regular season finale uh just because they're a tough team um in terms of they'll play Smashmouth football I do you know text favor in that game will likely be favor who knows three months from now but uh going into the season uh you would think they'd be favor at home but still you know I don't think that's a that's a gimme number four at TCU I don't know how good TCU is or is not going to be this year obviously two years ago they went all the way the national championship game um but last year they had a really tough season we'll see if they can bounce back but it's in Fort Worth I know tech fans y'all will do your best to take over that stadium and TC will do their best to try and keep you from doing that but uh uh you know I I still think against an inate rival on the road that's a top five opponent uh number three and number two I kind of going back and forth I'm going to say Iowa State um though it's in November that's a it's early November um but Iowa State on the road is number three for me Top 3 um they're kind of like TCU to me like you know I know they've had some uh a pretty good amount of success here relatively recently but haven't been as great here very recently be interesting to see exactly what Iowa state is but they're always tough to play there and a in November so I have them number three Arizona's number two again I could have switched them in Iowa State in my mind but uh you know techman out there was I think it was 2019 um and it wasn't especially good Arizona team it wasn't especially good Tech Team either but Arizona really pushed Tech around it was a night game out there in Tucson and it was a tough game so we don't know what time the game's going to be yet but if it is a night game that'll be a tough one that's why I put them number two and of course uh their talented quarter back I know they have some changes there on that in that program but they still have some talented players and uh they have a couple of tough games before playing Tech but again uh they have some Talent still on that roster um can be a tough place to play especially at n number one to me this is a no-brainer at Oklahoma State they return the majority of the roster obviously the running back Al Bowman's back for 20th season or whatever it is now um at quarterback but it's a lot you know offensive lineman linebackers they have some good DBS and aen Coach so and still water is a tough place to play too especially if that game has significance in terms of the Big 12 when they play That's Another November game so um yeah lot of tough games in November it looks like um but on paper not you know not not a difficult schedule uh compared to what tech has been used to Tech freak wants to know do Baron Morton I think Baron morn will make it through the whole season as the qb1 starter well I sure hope so uh you know Tech is due some luck in terms of quarterback Health but some of that is going to be on the offensive line uh how well they hold up uh the play calling Zack key are is he gonna protect him some and then Baron Morton this is something both he well really he kley and Mard have all talked about that not only has he been working to get better and be healthy and all that which he he does appear to be so uh but he's been working on making better decisions in terms of protecting his body so a lot of things need to happen for him to stay healthy but uh you know if you want me to say yes or no I think the odds would have to be no but uh I'm hopeful you know uh like the worms got a turn in terms of uh QB injury bug at some point right I mean just odds also dictate that at some point they're going to have somebody be able to start the whole season and be healthy and all that so I I would like to see what tech can do with the healthy be more than also final nasraer question comes from nas raer who says from what you have have observed and heard uh what do I expect from the offense this year in terms of run pass ratio opening it up vertically or conservative more hor horizontally passing game and wide receiver tight end utilization well the can uh answer is they're going to do whatever the defense dictates which honestly philosophically I don't really like I get it also philosophically that they want to attack where the defense is weakest take advantage of that that's really the a strength of kitley offense is the quarterback reading the def him and the quarterback reading the defense at the line of scrimmage changing the play getting a more advantageous play and uh you know really striking there um it puts a lot on the quarterback so obviously quarterback going back to that question before needs to stay healthy but they want to be explosive they brought in guys like uh Caleb Douglas Josh Kelly even Jam Conor the tied end with an idea of creating more explosive plays um and all those guys are capable of that offensive Line's got to hold up um and in terms of a ratio run to pass I mean you got All-American in your backfield running back but I still say it's going to be more like 7030 or 65 35 uh pass to run um because that's I mean it's kitley comes from an air raid system it's Texas Tech uh they brought in all these shiny new toys at receiver you guys like K aen returning as well um and they believe they can do a lot in the passing game I think they believe a lot of the defenses are going to be geared to shut down Taj and then they're going to hit some big passing plays off that they're still going to run screens they're still going to have the horizontal uh passing game I hope they run a lot of Crossing routes they do more of that than what we've seen in the past and take advantage of that because I think they got some guys like Josh Kelly and some tight ends like Mason thp and jayen Conor who could be really dangerous uh Brady Boyd that kind of dude I think kaen too um all those guys can be uh Dre McCrae who I haven't mentioned yet can be very dangerous uh in that regard but uh they want to be explosive um they you know they want to throw the ball around the yard but they're going to give the ball a Taj they better uh as well and in terms of tight end utilization they're a big I I do think they're going to be a big part of the passing game I do um but I also think they're a huge part of the running game as well they're going to be motioned around a lot using as a lead blocker or kind of a trap uh lot a lot of their counter game they bring the tight end back over across the formation and he's leading the way uh for usually Taj so tight ends are going to be utilized a lot they're a big part of the offense uh I already mentioned Conor's in th but they really like John Carlos Miller and I do too guys are freak athletes way better than I was expecting in terms of athleticism and all that so uh watch out for him to maybe be a uh uh you know a Target at times as well in the past game so well that's going to do it for this Edition man we are just just over a week away from kicking off the season I can't wait really appreciate the questions from y'all also appreciate yall watching but until next time