Texas Tech Mailbag: Abilene Christian Week

welcome to another edition of The Insider mailbag I'm Jared Johnson and we received a lot of good questions from inside the Red Raiders subscribers this week as the Red Raiders prepare to open the season in about 24 hours from now or a little over 24 hours from now uh against abene Christian that's a 6:30 pm kickoff Saturday at the Jones unveiling the new South End Zone or the newly renovated South End Zone and and all that new UN forms lots of excitement around the season opener and uh like I said we have some good questions so let's Dive Right into them first one comes from nas Raider who wants to know what are the top three things that I'll be watching for during uh the ACU game to validate what I feel about this year's football team well I'll start out offense and the receiving Corp I do believe that Texas Tech has upgrade upgraded the receiving core the Josh Kelly Caleb douglases of the world Micah Hudson uh to go with Coy Aken who returns uh Dre McCrae those players uh Jordan Brown that also returned but I I do believe that the newcomers have added to it also throwing Jaylen Conor and John Carlos Miller at tight end to augment what you have in Mason darp so that's one thing I'm looking for another thing is just the overall uh Improvement on defense in terms of guys that have been recruited the last couple years starting to hit hit the in the two deep some in some cases start but definitely in the two deep uh on all three levels of Defense which I believe uh means that Texas Tech's going to field definitely a deeper uh team but also a bigger and faster uh defense so I want to see them play with that red RIT speed and violence as as the coaches call it um I saw that from Maguire's teams at Cedar Hill that stood out to me before I mean I had I had had a conversation with him but um before I really had an idea about who Jo Joey Maguire was for real uh his team's just for me covering multiple high school teams a week uh and throughout the throughout a season when I was at the fourstar telegram when I saw Cedar Hill play their speed and violence their aggressiveness um just how fast their defense has played really stood out to me and that's what he's trying to do here at Texas Tech and they're starting to get their guys in the two deep and I'll be anxious to see like I want to see that starting off with the season opener against avalene Christian and then I have to go back to offense and I want to see the offensive line obviously pass protect well but I want to see them get a push in the Run game I mean uh not no disrespect to Al Christian but them being at FCS school I do expect Texas Tech to have a physical uh dominance including you know with Texas Tech offensive line so I want to see you know Vinnie Scurry Sheridan Wilson Davon Carter uh all those guys specifically on the interior but the entire offensive line really get a push in the running game and allow all the running backs including Taj Brooks uh you know have some big holes to run through and be able to run the ball at pretty much at will it's what I want to see um and then moving forward we'll see how it goes against Washington State but those are the three main things I want to see and that's not counting the obvious of course that no major injuries for either team but of course Texas Tech next question comes from from synx he says does the familiarity with Tech from their ACU aaln Christian's coaches quarterback and several other players cause any concern at all you know normally it would and I do think they'll know some things about the scheme I don't I don't think mver was here uh when key was here but it's the same simil it's a similar type offense but Patterson will know some of the Personnel for sure but there's been a major overhaul since Keith Patterson aene Christian's head coach and former Texas Tech defensive coordinator uh you know was here I know it was just three years ago but um that's a long time in today's college football world so I you know I would say if it if the talent level was closer then I would be more concerned um crazier things have happened could AB Christian upset Texas Tech okay sure but Texas Tech is 32 and a half Point favorites they should win this game going away and I don't think the familiarity is going to play a role and I think the Personnel uh mismatch is going to be too much no matter if you told them I they should be able to call their plays and still be able to do it to be honest uh Raider power 81 says uh who on this team will receive all conference honors by the end of the season he says on on defense D rer has talked about how much depth they have on the defensive line but is this a depth of quality players or are all of them just on equal ability no it's a depth of quality I think in their two deep and three deep I think J you know their two deep and 3D guys would start for a lot of uh previous Texas Tech defenses which isn't saying a whole lot let's be honest especially in the last decade or so but I think Jaden Cofield which is what I was starting to say a minute ago is a great example that I've talked about on some videos on the message board on social media just that he's either in the two or three deep and uh he really wed me in practice with his strength uh his his pop off the ball uh off the snap it's it's impressive they have a very good mixture of some experienced guys who've been slowly working towards the uh starting you know for Texas Tech whether it be Quincy lead or Duda Banks Maran Banks and then they brought in some experienced transfers to bril and Carol James Hansen um I Bren Carol is somebody who's been just Lo Ed just highly praised by the coaches and I think he'll either be starting or coming off the bench you know it's a good competition there and then Trayvon mopine and Jaden Coffield is like that's three deep at those two positions and um good size um good strength and not it's I think they bring some different elements um but and some of those younger guys need experience but there's a lot more Talent on the defensive line than we've seen at Texas Tech in sometime and answer your first question I think Tosh has a very good chance to repeat his all Big 12 uh all Big 12 performer I'm curious to see what brillin Lux does I think he you know uh you gets lucky here or there a lucky bounce where he gets more maybe more turnovers um than one would expect could help him and if Texas Tech wins Jacob Rodriguez and Ben Roberts could be in the mix uh for All Conference if they get enough tackles um um Josh Kelly maybe if he catches in it passes uh Dre McCrae was a preseason all Big 12 Return Man so he could as well so they have some candidates now again some things would have to go well help with Texas Tech wins because that's generally who ends up on those teams and rightfully so in my opinion uh but they definitely have some candidates uh who can make all Big 12 all right next question comes from GB Jack he says is if the emphasis is really on protecting uh the quarterback how much uh less do I see the offense calling a design runs for Mort compared to previous Seasons well it'll be interesting just to see you know they shouldn't run a lot of read options or anything like that um with him uh because you don't want Baron running I think they will call less with Baron in terms of design quarterback runs I think that's part of the reason they brought in Cameron Brown I think he is a better passer than many of us were expecting um at least so far what we saw offseason uh spring spring game and fall camp but if nothing else he's a guy who could come in and give give the defense a different look uh I think Zack kitley said it he does bring a running option um in some short yardage or or certain package uh packages and situations but if teams play Zero coverage you know where they're up at the line of scrimmage and uh you know man man on Mana gets some text receivers than uh Brown will make him pay in that regard too so you know I think there's no doubt that I would expect less called runs for Baron Mort and more than that I think he'll get rid of the ball instead of going and taking some hits for three or four yard gains uh you know I I think he'll get rid of the ball take the incompletion go to the next down um at least that's the plan uh he is a competitor I get it but uh I hope I hope he takes less hits all the way around next question comes from tecosaurus Rex who says which fiction fictional TV show would you like to appear in he says you have to say at least one line of dialogue one line of dialogue um man I didn't put any thought into this you I'll say cheers uh because I mean I I like the bar scene looks like a fun scene um I do partake in a beer or you know drinking here there so and some dialogue Norm about Norm uh I I watched cheers where a little kid um on a little TV that was smaller than like U my smallest laptop monitor when I was a kid I was supposed to be asleep it was on whatever like fox or some late night or 10 or 11 and I kind of sneak watch cheers on my little TV I love that show so I think that's what I choose there's a bunch of action shows I like but I don't you know I don't want to put my life in jeopardy like that so I'll stick with yours Texan wants to know he says you're looking good on insiders game day thank you he says will this be a regular weekly show he's talking about the big 12 insiders podcast I believe u with Brian Henley uh Big B as I call him I I've done some uh podcasts with him talking specifically Texas Tech here earlier this week and I think I forgot to post it on the board or anything but uh uh I was part of a panel of other 247 Sports Publishers at Big 12 schools uh the Iowa State guy um the Oklahoma State guy West Virginia guy was there for a little while but yeah it is we are planning on it being a weekly thing um there might be a week here or there depending on our schedules where one of us isn't isn't there or lightning hits uh like happened in the first show where we lost one of our panelists but uh no it's good I really like Big B I like talking football with him it's different talking Big 12 broader than just focusing on Texas Tech because I get tunnel vision uh but I'm I I anticipate for me at least the podcast being more enjoyable moving forward when we have more data uh after these teams play more games starting with this week already so uh no but look forward every week I appreciate you saying that and uh thank you and speaking of that great questions this week I'm excited to finally get the season kicked off and uh thank you for watching until next time