Texas Tech Update

[50's PONY]

Raiders facing new questions



By JOHN MILLER
For the first time since 2002, Texas Tech coach Mike Leach heads into spring practice with no debate as to who will be starting at quarterback as Graham Harrell returns for his junior season.
But unlike recent years, the coach is not as certain about who will be catching passes and protecting his quarterback.

Texas Tech will be searching for almost an entirely new starting offensive line and will have a revamped starting wide receiver lineup when it starts spring practice today. Harrell is coming off the best sophomore season in school history after he completed 66.8 percent of his passes for 4,555 yards and 38 touchdowns.

But three of his top targets from last season -- Joel Filani, Robert Johnson and Jarrett Hicks -- are gone. Filani and Johnson combined for 2,171 yards and 24 touchdowns. Senior Danny Amendola is the only returning receiver with more than four starts last season.

One of the top candidates to move into the starting lineup is freshman Michael Crabtree, who was redshirted last season for academic reasons. But he was able to practice with the team and showed tremendous potential.

Another candidate at wide receiver is junior L.A. Reed, who only caught 12 passes for 157 yards last season but excelled on special teams. Leach said he sees some of the same things in Reed that he saw in Filani right before Filani had his breakout season as a junior.

"He just needs to continue to become a complete player," Leach said. "He's done some impressive things this off-season."

Among the offensive lineman, only junior Louis Vasquez returns from last season's squad, which allowed only 18 sacks, or one every 36.4 pass attempts, which was the best in the Big 12.

Four offensive lineman -- senior Ofa Mohetau, junior Rylan Reed and sophomores Brandon Carter and Marlon Winn -- saw significant playing time as backups last season.

"I think our young group is at a better starting point and more physical than the ones that we have had in the past," Leach said. "If they play well and develop, they have a chance to be better than last year's group."

Even with Harrell established as the No. 1 guy going into the spring, there will always be questions that need to be answered at quarterback at pass-happy Texas Tech.

"We have to find a second guy, now," Leach said. "We've got good candidates with some young guys, now we have to see how they respond."

ONLINE: texastech.com

IN THE KNOW

Three questions

1. Will Michael Crabtree live up to the hype? Crabtree was a highly recruited freshman wide receiver last season. He was on the second-team depth chart before the season and then was forced to redshirt for academic reasons. He showed the potential in practice to step into the starting lineup this season.

2. Who will stop the run? The Red Raiders' top three defensive tackles were all seniors last season and one of the top backups transferred. They have other backups groomed from last season, but to develop a solid rotation, they also need a few young players to step up.

3. Will Graham Harrell have time to throw? Texas Tech returns only one starting offensive lineman. Two others combined for three starts and two more were regular backups last season, giving the Red Raiders an inexperienced group heading into spring drills.

[The PonyGrad]

This is why it is nice to play TT first.