Tech Starting DE McKinner Dixon-Grade Casualty

[GoRedGoBlue]

Meanwhile...SMU graduates 100% of their players last season for 1st place in the NCAA

[Corso]

Hard to believe this kid flunked Professor Hanspard's class.

[dandyfan]

So I guess E. J. Holub wont be suited up for this game either then?

[Stallion]

nm

[Stallion]

Tech also lost another pretty talent DE in Rashad Hunt to academics and as everybody knew would happen when they signed 34 last year about 1/3rd of their classes did not report. Several like Adam James and superstar track athlete Lyle Leong (one of the top long jumpers in the nation) were among that list but they as well as several others were expected to be greyshirts anyway reporting at mid-term. For those interested Rivals does an "Enrolled Ranking" now which can be access under the Rankings tab directly below "Team Ranking". It is not yet done for the 2006 class yet. It appears that Tech's ranking actually might go up in "Average Ranking per recruit" but should go down considerably in the Total Points rankings. Most of them were not the big names in the Class. I really think the NCAA should step in and not allow a school to SIGN a kid if he doesn't qualify by the end of the spring signing period or at least does not commit to a "greyshirt". Otherwise, these schools that annually oversign are cheating other kids out of a chance.

[Lotus]

Maybe I'm reading your post wrong -- does the last sentence mean that the guys who academically didn't make it or are sitting out as grayshirts are mostly the high-end guys or the low-end guys in Tech's class? Personally, I hope some of them play. That way we can hope for some freshman mistakes.

[Stallion]

I saw the list earlier today on a Tech site but off the top of my head I think there were about 6 2 stars, 1 4 star Leornard Hewitt, 2 3 stars including James who I just believe is a questionable 3 star and who was a projected grey shirt all the way. Again many of those will and always have been planned greyshirts. When you sign 34 players its not surprising that some were expected to miss qualification. It should severely limit the number of scholarships availiable to Tech this year which may explain the perceived slow start by Tech in compaison to other Big 12 South teams. The greyshirt I think projects as an outstanding greyshirt is the Lyle Leong kid from Abilene or West Texas who jumped something like 25 feet in Track this year. Tech wanted to redshirt the kid because he is so frail at 6-2, 159 or something. Put a little meat on his bones and you got a 6-2, 185 pound kid who as amazing athletic ability.

[Stallion]

actually make that two 4 stars (Hewitt and Daniel Johnson who were academic questionmarks all the way), Four 3 stars including a couple of out of staters, and Five 2 stars.

[RHS]

Losing Dixon hurts, but we knew about it last spring and worked others in his place. Supposedly he has until August 16 to make the grade and some still hold out hope he will be ready. I don't. I think we will be OK without Dixon, but obviously don't have anyone with his kind of potential.

It sounds like the experiment to move Keyunta Dawson from DE to OLB may be at an end though. That is the part that hurts. It would have been nice to see a 6'2, 255, 4.6 OLB.

LB Fletcher Session is good and we have a bunch of servicable guys. We have a lot of players we have 3 DL who are 5th year SRs who started in 2003 as RS FR. That was the first year of the new DC and the new scheme and we had a terrible D. The D improved each year and I expect they will improve again. Dawson and Session were backups that year who started last year.

At CB we have Chris Parker from Dallas Sunset who showed a lot of potential last year and should be good this year. And we have 4th year starter Antonio Huffman. We have Plainview athlete and stud track star Jamar Wall and Marcus Bunton who looked good as a backup last year.

At S we have Darcel McBath from Gainsville. He would have played a lot last year if he didn't break an arm just before the season started. The other S is up in the air.

I think the D will get more INT than last year but cause less fumbles. We will also get less personal fouls. Sylvester Brinkley and Dwayne Slay had 5 between them. Brinkley had 2 in one drive in the OU game that allowed OU to get in the game. Slay had one against Nebraska that sparked Nebraska's comeback.

The O I think you know. WR Joel Filani and WR Jarrett Hicks are going to be really good this year. Look for a SO named LA Reed. He is trying to break into the H spot, and if he does, he gives us 4 WR 6'2 or taller on the field at the same time. I think he is about to make himself known as the most physical WR in college ball.

Losing Henderson at RB is tough, but we worried about losing Ricky Williams after the 2001 season. Kobey Lewis would start if he was big enough to block as often as it is required. Shannon Woods is probably the starter for the SMU game. He is bigger and faster than Henderson and runs more north/south. It remains to be seen if he is better than Henderson or not. A lot of Red Raiders think it is just a matter of time before true FR Barron Batch takes over. I expect Tech will use 4 RBs in the non conference games to see who emerges.

[Grider]

Dixon and Hewitt?? What's going on at Lufkin High these days?

[RHS]

Dixon and Hewitt?? What's going on at Lufkin High these days?

Add Hunt who was going to be a 3rd string DE. I'm not sure if Tech is recruiting Lufkin any more.