Texas Tech 2009

I promised my sister I would give my thoughts about the Raiders this next next season so here we go. Most of my information comes from observations of last season and a die-hard Raider fan whom I went to high school with. The OLine took some big hits with graduation but with a few people moved around it will hold its own against the Big 12 DLines. The success of the raiders lies in the hands on new QB Taylor Potts who has been struggling in Spring practice but with the competition of younger QBs he should be ready come this fall. Look out for freshman receiver Eric Ward to get some playing time. This kid decommitted from OU and should help ease some post-crabtree worries. The defense took some big hits especially in their secondary. They will be young so it looks like the raiders will be known for giving up big plays through the air unless they click very soon. I think the raider offense will have a more balanced run game than in the past. They need to take advantage of an experienced backfield to help offset a rebuilding air attack. All in all the raiders will be decent and could do well. The Big 12 south gets murky at the botton and it should be an interesting battle between Tech, Baylor, and A&M. The top three are pretty much a lock with Texas, OU, ans OSU. I have the Baylor vs. Tech remach circled for many reasons, one of them being that it will be played in the new Cowboy's stadium. I cannot think of a better way to introduce North Texas to the new face of Baylor football. On a side note I worked out with Robert Griffen at the SLC a week before school let out. He has gained about ten pounds and looks like he has baseballs stuffed in his calves. The guy is a straight up man now...he looks damn fast too.

Spring Game Thoughts

So on Thursday I went to Baylor's annual Spring Game. It started at four and was held at the new athletic facility. I showed up around 2:30 and started tailgating with my Phi Delt friends. Baylor was holding a tailgating competition judged by Art Briles himself. He came around to each group with a T.V. crew and taste tested the food. It was really great to see everyone out there and being able to chat with the man himself. Afterwards I headed into the field to watch the game. What I love about Baylor football is that the practices are open to the public and you can go stand on the sidelines right next to the players. I was even able to see Jason Smith, the possible number one pick in this year's draft! I met a few recruits that I had been reading about and welcomed them to Baylor. This one kid from Denton named Garret is pretty high on Baylor's list and after talking with I later heard he moved Baylor up on his list above UT and OU because of the "family" atmosphere he experienced. If he chooses to commit to BU I'm going to take personal responsibility for his recruitment.
The game was great. We are dangerously fast on offense and our defense should cause some more problems with its experience and reloading on the front four. Phil Taylor, our transfer from Penn St should have a very big year next year forcing double teams each and every time. He busted through the line several time for what would be a sure sack and almost blocked a punt. Three people to watch for next year will be Phil Taylor, Terrance Williams (WR), and Jared Salubi (RB). Williams and Salubi are both redshirt freshmen and after watching both of them over the spring I have to say watch out. Williams is a big receiver with smarts and strength. He could easily be out number two receiver next year. He has the ability to take short passes and turn them into big gains with just a few moves. Salubi will be fun to watch as well, he is fast and several times made a move in the open field that caused the defensive sidelines to ohh and ahh. He by far has the best hands on the team and will be a great security blanket for Griffin. Speaking of superman, Griffin is bigger and throws the ball very well. I met up with him after practice and asked if the added weight was to help him run through tackles, he replied, "Sure, if they can catch me." Him and Kendal Wright will break all QB/WR records at Baylor. There is almost a sixth sense between those two when they are on the field. The game to watch will have to be the Baylor/Nebraska rematch in Waco. Both teams are looking to make that next step and I would love to see second year Bo Pelini defense against a second year Art Briles offense.

Bo Locked Up

Yesterday Nebraska made sure everyone knew who the head coach is going to be for the next five years. Bo Pelini was given a nice little pay raise from 1.1 million annually to about 1.8. Oddly enough this is still only the 6th highest in the Big 12. Was this a good decision by Neb? I mean its only been one year. I think Bo symbolizes what Nebraska football is all about and they really needed that stability which will pay dividends in recruiting. Bo lead the Huskers to a 9-4 season. While none of those wins except the one against Clemson were impressive, he did rebuild many bridges that had been burned down by Callahan. He brought back the beloved walk-on program and reinvigorated the Husker fan base. The defense improved and if it were not for the ridiculous numbers put up by other Big 12 offenses Nebraska would have been given a lot more credit for their offensive production. Still, I am not quite ready to crown Bo as the savior of Nebraska football. He had a good year, but that was about it. His recruiting class was not too impressive. The year Callahan took over he brought in a top five recruiting class. As of now the 2009 class was ranked number 45. What will be interesting to watch next season is if Nebraska will be able to form an identity on offense like they were at defense. That was the Achilles heel of the team this year because they were hot and cold all throughout the season and would have trouble with the weaker defenses of the Big 12. I like Bo as the head coach of Nebraska and think he is heading in the right direction, but I am not ready to place him next to the legends of Husker football. Should he have been awarded a pay raise? Since when did the Husker nation award mediocracy?

Baylor Recruiting Update

Wow, its been awhile but my sister says I need to get back to blogging so here we go. I emailed Art Briles about two months ago asking him for some pretty cool gifts for my birthday. In that email I told him about my lil trip to Lincoln for the BU/NEB game and my thoughts about the season. For those of you that do not know my birthday is Feb 4th. This is significant because that happened to be NSD (National Signing Day) for all the young players being recruited. To my suprise Coach Briles emailed me back saying that I should expect an amazing birthday along with the rest of the Baylor faithful and thanked me for all the support.
Thats what I love about Coach Briles, he makes the football team feel like ours again and he goes out of his way to get us involved. That being said it was probably our best recruiting class in many years. We actually outrecruited Mizzouri and stole recruits from power programs like Nebraska and Oklahoma. Our class was highlighted by offensive linemen and skilled players. Glasco Martin is our stud running back who will likely see some playing time but will be a major threat once he puts on some more weight. This will be Art Briles second class to bring to Baylor and seeing what he did with the limited talent he inherited and the few players from his first class, it will be really interesting to see what happens when you have his offense being run by all "Art Briles" players. Next update I'll talk about how Nebraska did recruiting wise and a lil about Texas Tech so my sister can be updated as well.

Hey Uncle Wayne!

Make sure that when you pray for the entire country you do not make it too Christany, otherwise it won't count.

Inauguration Prayer

Closet Treasures

The other night I was sifting through my closet and looking at some of my old stuff. I came across my high school's literary magazine that was put together my senior year and found one of my works published in it. I had written an alternate ending to a book we read in my English class called "Metamorphosis." This was a lame assignment given to me while I was suffering from severe senioritis so naturally I put very little effort forth but somehow my work was published. Please enjoy and give me your thoughts as to why this is publish worthy.

"After Gregor's father threw the apple, Gregor was filled with tremendous rage. The next day he went into the dining room while his family was eating breakfast and proceeded to murder them. Their soft flesh tasted much better than bread and milk. Then something amazing happened...he grew! So it seems that human flesh caused Gregor to grow in size and strength. Finally, a chance for revenge on all of the people that laughed at his misfortune had come. Gregor then proceeded to eat all of the citizens in his small town, all the while growing. He became the size of a two story house, and continued to roam across the country killing everyone in sight. Meanwhile, the apple had rotted inside his back and became infected. Soon enough, Gregor became ill. After a few weeks of bed rest, he died. With everyone dead there was no one to pass down the story of Gregor, the giant bug that ate everyone."

By: Matt Larson

New Year, New Goals

Its that time of the year again!

1. Get into the Word on a daily basis. This is most important to me and will be the toughest one, but with the help from the guy who disciples me, Tim, and good friend Torres I think I will have enough accountability on this one.
2. Max out my PFA (or Physical Fitness Assessment for all you non-military folks). This means doing 62 push ups in one minute, 55 sit-ups in one minute, and running a mile and a half in 9:30. On top of that I want to gain about 15 pounds.
3. Get an average GPA of 3.0 and stay on top of all my classes.
4. Buy a car.

This all sounds like a reasonable set of goals for 2009. If anyone can help me out on these (mainly buying the car one), hit me up!

Fanya Kazi

Post Gator Bowl Thoughts...

I was close when I predicted that Nebraska would win by ten points but was dead wrong by saying they would have a dominating run game. Don't be confused by a few good runs here and there by the Huskers because the Clemson defense dominated up front the entire game. The only reason the Huskers moved every now and then was because the Clemson defense was burdened with playing a little offense too. All in all this was a great win for the Husker nation and it showed the character this team has when faced with a challenge. They never gave up, even when victory seemed out of reach. What I believe won it for the Huskers this afternoon was senior leadership and a fighting spirit. They have to be feeling really good heading into the offseason after a win like that. With Mizzou losing Chase Daniel and a few others it looks like Nebraska might be the favorite to win the Big 12 North next year. That is, of course, if they can successfully replace Joe Ganz and Nate Swift. Their defense should only get better and with high school offensive studs QB Greene and RB Burkman coming in it looks like Bo will have some fresh talent ready to make a statement. One thing is for certain, I want Clemson's defense...wow.