--Tech's defensive front seven generally got the better of the offense during the inside running drill. There was a stretch of 10 plays in which the "O'' netted more than 2 yards on only eight plays -- and those were for gains of 5 and 7 yards. It has to be noted, though, that Shannon Woods, Aaron Crawford and Baron Batch were running behind mostly backup offensive linemen.
During the aforementioned sequence, Brandon Williams got Woods for a loss of 8; Daniel Howard and Richard Jones stacked up Batch behind the line for a loss of 5; Jones got Batch for a 2-yard loss; Chris Perry tackled Crawford for 2 yards on a run up the middle; and Perry and Julius Howard combined to stop Crawford after a 1-yard run as he hit up behind left guard.
A couple of plays later, Jordy Rowland, Riley Harvey and Sandy Riley were all in a stop of Woods for no gain, and two plays after that Clint Stoffels recovered a missed exchange between center and QB.
Finally, on about the 13th snap of the middle drill, Harrison Jeffers got outside and took it 10 yards to the end zone.

--Some might have expected a slam dunk for Donnie Carona in the kicking competition since the Raiders signed him to a scholarship coming out of high school, but it's not shaping up that way. It's not that Carona has looked bad -- coaches are plenty impressed with how strong his leg is -- but Cory Fowler isn't just giving Carona the job.
Fowler, best known as Tech's onside kickoff specialist, converted a 47-yard field goal on Wednesday night and was good from 35 and 45 yards on Thursday. He and Carona pretty much matched each other the last two nights, and both missed from 52 yards on Thursday.
Special teams coach Clay McGuire said Fowler appears to have improved in multiple aspects: Leg strength, accuracy, height on the ball and operation time.
"We talked in the spring,'' McGuire said, "and I told him, 'Come in. Do your job and compete. It's an open competition. It's not Donnie's a starter automatically.' And he's done that. He's worked his butt off all summer, and he's gotten a lot better.''
McGuire said Carona's demeanor has impressed him. He works hard and shows resilience.
"He had one bad day, came back and was perfect the next day,'' McGuire said.
Carona probably has kickoff duties locked up, based on his leg strength.

--While the kickers were doing their thing on one end, Jamar Wall, Eric Morris and Cornelius Douglas were fielding punts on the other. Tech's doing a drill the Cowboys and some other teams do to improve concentration. A coach throws the football up with a punt-like trajectory, the return man fields it ... and then holds it while he catches the next ... and then holds those two while he catches the next ... and then holds those three while he tries to field the next. Wall was able to control six. Dennis Simmons, the coach doing the drill, told me Eric Morris also controlled six. (I thought I saw five; guess I lost count). Douglas handled five.

--Speaking of Douglas, the Raiders have projected him as an inside receiver, but he practiced at split end on Thursday. Simmons said they're constantly evaluating talent and trying to determine where young guys fit best, so he's not sure whether Douglas will keep working out at split end or back inside. I'd expect to see him back in the slot, at least in a few days when Todd Walker gets back into workouts.

--The new wrinkle Tech's shown in camp got plenty of attention Thursday night. The play in which IR Eric Morris lines up next to the QB and takes a direct snap is the one I'm talking about. Morris and a RB cross in opposite directions, and Morris either hands off or keeps. It looks a little like a zone-read play.
Anyway, the offense ran the play at least five times -- that I marked in my notepad; it might have been one or two more -- in quick succession.
Tech coach Mike Leach told me he might keep the play or discard it, but thought it was at least worth looking at.
Where did the idea come from? Leach mentioned that it's similar to something TCU runs but with the QB either keeping or handing off.

I'm sure many people want to know the bright side on a day when Mike Leach said McKinner Dixon is likely to be ineligible.

For one thing, Brandon Sesay is good to go. He had to finish up a summer-school class this week, and he found out for sure on Thursday that he'll be able to play for the Red Raiders this season. Sesay told me he did "great'' and never worried about making it.

So there will be a 6-foot-6, 278-pound guy playing defensive end for Tech this season. I've followed Tech football for 35 years and like to think I know its history well, and I can't remember anyone of that stature lining up for the Raiders at D-end.

The other good news: Well, it's old news, but it's still worth remembering. As deep as this team is, defensive end is one of the deepest positions on the team with or without McKinner. At left end, it's Jake Ratliff, Daniel Howard and Sesay -- and I believe a lot of Tech fans underrate the first two -- and at right end, it's Brandon Williams, Brandon Sharpe and Sandy Riley. I'll say again, I think Williams will take his play up a notch this season, simply because this is his third year in the program. Two years ago, he hit the ground running to earn a role as a true freshman. Last year, he was second-team all-Big 12. Now he's all grown up -- at least so far as completely grasping what it takes to play in this league.

As for Brandon Sharpe, I've been impressed with what he's done last spring and how he's carried it over into August.

So, not to diminish the potential impact of Dixon, but if there's a position the Raiders could afford to lose a player, DE is one.

The big news out of Texas Tech camp Thursday is that DE McKinner Dixon apparently has fallen short again in his efforts to regain his academic footing and play for the Red Raiders.

Dixon was at practice Thursday night, but Mike Leach said it's doubtful he'll be playing this season. Rather than put Leach's quotes in two places, I'll let you hit the link at the bottom of this entry.

Just like the last time Dixon became ineligible, back in the spring of 2006, Leach didn't seem very sympathetic.

When he was asked Thursday how he evaluated Dixon so far, Leach said: "In the classroom, not very good.''

When a reporter clarified, asking about Dixon's on-field showing this week, Leach said: "It's irrelevant, because if you don't make it in the classroom, you don't get on the field. It's not even relevant. We're not going to rep him until he can get on the field.''

Leach mentioned the possibility of an appeal but gave no indication that he expected to see Dixon on the field this season.

--Remember that intro from "Batman,'' not the movie, the old television series? "Another glorious day in Gotham City ... ''
Well, it was another glorious evening in Lubbock. Heat-wave temperatures during the day but back into the 70s and calm for tonight's Texas Tech practice. It's 77 degrees at the moment.

The combination of high expectations and evening practices in pleasant weather has yielded a pretty good turnout at Tech practices. I'd say somewhere in the neighborhood of 150 fans, maybe 200 came out to see the workout.

The players notice.

"This is awesome,'' deep snapper Austin Burns said. "It's like an NFL camp.''

-- Some highlights: During 7-on-7, Graham Harrell hit Detron Lewis in stride on a post pattern for a touchdown that covered 40 yards. Lewis slipped past -- and Harrell dropped it in over -- safety Franklin Mitchem. ... During the one-on-one drill matching offensive and defensive linemen, OG Jake Johnson impressed everybody watching when he grabbed DT David Neill up around the neck and just slammed him to the ground. It looked like something straight out of WWE. DE Brandon Sharpe had a little more trouble with OT Mickey Okafor, but Sharpe wound up throwing Okafor to the ground and then getting into the pocket. "Give me 74!'' Sharpe called out, referring to the guy Okafor backs up, starting tackle Rylan Reed. ... Actually, there were a few one-on-one matchups that ended with someone on the ground. OT Marlon Winn got DE Jake Ratliff off-balance and put him on the turf. ... DE Sandy Riley made a good inside move to get past OT Chris Olson. ... OG Lonnie Edwards pretty much held his ground going against DT Richard Jones, and C Shawn Byrnes stoned DT Britton Barbee. ...

-- Freshman RB Harrison Jeffers experienced both ends of the spectrum during the 11-on-11 team period. He broke a play off the left side for a big gain, but then the next two times his number was called, he was swarmed the first play and dropped a handoff on the next. ... Backup MLB Sam Fehoko had the hit of the night. He just flat leveled Brandon Reid on an attempted run up the middle, dropping the freshman RB for a 2-yard loss. ... RB Aaron Crawford was juggling a pass into the flat, and DE Daniel Howard came up and popped him hard, causing an incompletion. ... The play after that, FL Mike Crabtree was matched up against CB Taylor Charbonnet, and the ball came to Crabtree on an inside screen. Charbonnet couldn't wrap him up and Crabtree turned the play back outside to get 16 yards. ... RB Shannon Woods had a sweep around right end that went for a touchdown from about 15 yards. ... Graham Harrell and backup QB Taylor Potts threw a touchdown pass apiece in the goal-line offense drill at the end of the workout. Harrell's went to IR Detron Lewis in the front of the end zone. Lyle Leong got himself lost in coverage and had no one near him as he easily snagged Potts' pass in the back of the end zone.


-- Don't know if we'll see it in a game this year, but tonight was at least the second time this week that the Raiders have tried a direct snap to IR Eric Morris in the backfield with Morris quickly handing off to a RB, in this case Baron Batch.

-- Todd Walker missed his third practice in a row because of an illness. Rashad Hawk might be benefiting from that a little bit, because Hawk gets a few extra snaps behind Ed Britton, the starter at SE.

-- OL coach Matt Moore said Shawn Byrnes was the first-string center after last season, but Byrnes and Stephen Hamby split snaps in spring practice. In preseason camp, it's a similar situation: They're getting equal snaps again, though Moore still says that Hamby is No. 1 on the depth chart, the way it was when they ended spring.

-- Tonight was the team's first practice in shoulder pads, in keeping with NCAA rules. CB L.A. Reed worked out, but didn't have the shoulder pads on. I was kind of expecting that at the beginning of the week. With his arm in a cast, they don't want him involved in contact right now.

-- At nearly every position on this team, there is a returning starter, and there's even established backups at most spots. That being the case, for any true freshmen to play this season, they'll have to be impressive. WR Dennis Simmons said a few freshmen have caught his eye so far. "Austin Zouzalik has done some good things. Cornelius Douglas has done some good things. (Harrison Jeffers) has done some good things. Now, does that mean those guys are going to play this year? I don't know,'' Simmons said. OL coach Matt Moore said he won't play any of his freshmen unless injuries put the line into a dire situation. Safeties coach Carlos Mainord said even though the team will lose a boatload of senior safeties after this season, he wouldn't want to waste a year for Cody Davis just to get him into a few plays a game.

In doing the Texas Tech section for Texas Football this year, I picked Detron Lewis to be Tech's "Breakout Player of the Year.''

I'm hoping Lewis makes me look good after I dropped the ball last year. See in 2007, as Tech's "Breakout Player of the Year,'' I went with Ed Britton. Not that he flopped. Britton did make 48 catches for 631 yards and four touchdowns, and that was way more than what he had the year before. It was, in fact, a breakout year for Britton.

But in hindsight, I guess that Crabtree character probably did more to earn BPOY. (I made the mistake of thinking, be careful, he's just a freshman. How good can a freshman be?).

Anyhow, I'm feeling pretty good about my pick this year. On Tuesday night, Lewis wowed all the fans along the sideline by going up -- and I mean way up -- over the middle and snagging a pass with one hand. Brought it down easy as you please and kept on going. But as impressive as he was during his first year on campus, that sort of thing from Lewis doesn't seem very shocking.

Graham Harrell made the comparison to No. 5 when he was asked about Lewis after Monday's practice.

"He's very similar to Crab, just his body control and stuff like that,'' Harrell said. "They're not exactly the same type of receiver, but as far as body control, what he can do with the ball, he is very similar to Crab. So he’s going to cause a problem for a lot of teams. Especially if he gets matched up on linebackers and stuff like that, it's going to be trouble for them.''

Todd Walker hasn't practiced the first two nights. As you know, Tech is hush-hush with injury information. However, Todd came into the Football Training Facility on Sunday, players reporting day, and looked groggy and not well. I was told it's a respiratory infection or something of that nature.

So I"m assuming that's the reason he's not been out there for the first two workouts.

Former Tech LB Mike Smith and former Tech WR Jarrett Hicks were at practice on Monday night. Tuesday was basketball coaches night. Tech basketball coach Pat Knight stopped by as did longtime Shallowater basketball coach Ray Morris, who checks in when time permits to see how his son, Eric, is doing.

I also visited with Andrew Swofford, who was ringleader of the well-populated "78 Posse'' that I did a feature on a couple of years ago. That was the special cheering section that former Tech OT Gabe Hall had. I have to admit, I did a double take when Swoff approached me. He said he's dropped 83 pounds -- down to a svelte 235. Way to go, Andrew. Thought those who know him would be pleased to hear that. And he's moved back to Lubbock, too, after some time in the Metroplex.

With day three of college football practice comes shoulder pads. With shoulder pads comes tackling.

That's what's in store for Wednesday's Texas Tech practice.

"We'll tackle every day as long as coach (Mike Leach) allows me to be defensive coordinator,'' Ruffin McNeill said Tuesday night. "We'll tackle every day -- before practice, during drills and during practice. We're going to work on tackling. That won't change.''

That's a sure way to many a Tech fan's heart, based on the last few years.

Special teams coach Clay McGuire said tonight that Mike Crabtree is being considered to return kickoffs, but not punts. Nothing's set in stone; it's just an experiment. But the thinking is if Crabtree can touch the ball another two or three times a game, then that could be another six points ... or better field position to start a drive or two.

As it stands, however, Detron Lewis and Edward Britton are the first pairing of deep men on kickoff returns.

Mr. Everything Mike Crabtree got some work returning kicks on Monday night. It's something that Tech coach Mike Leach evidently has signed off on.

"I think he'd be good at it and have (thought so) for a while,'' Leach said. "I think he'd have a chance to be pretty good at either one (returning kickoffs or punts), maybe better at punt.''

In any case, we probably haven't seen the last of Crabtree on special teams.

Will the Raiders do more with their star receiver in the kicking game?

"Yeah, probabaly,'' Leach said. "We'll see.''

For discussion purposes, I'll throw it out there for readers.
Do you:
A) Want Crabtree returning kicks, figuring the more the ball is in his hands the better?

Or
B) Not want Crabtree returning kicks, because it's a chance for some special-teams hero to light him up and send him to the sidelines for an extended period?