Today from Lubbock, TX, on Locked On Texas Tech:
- Morton vibes
- o-line progress
- close, but few d-line cigars
- Bralyn Lux, Macho Stevenson
All coming up on Locked On Texas Tech -- the best daily podcast made for Red Raiders, by Red Raiders! Part of the Locked On Podcast Network
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[MUSIC PLAYING] It's the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Five-hour energy shots give you the feeling of alertness and energy you need to get in the zone and get things done. With zero sugar, a convenient portable size, and coming in several flavors like watermelon, tropical burst, or my personal favorite grape, it's exactly what you need to get through the day. Head to five-hourenergy.com, the set of our five-hourenergy.com, and use our code locked on CFB to receive 20% off your order. This offer is only valid until September 30th on one order and cannot be used with other promotions. The code is not good on subscription orders. Go to five-hourenergy.com today. Coming up today on Lockdown Texas Tech, how are we feeling about bearing Morton four games into the season? How much better can it get up front on either side of the ball for Tech, and what do we expect out of Ritalin Luxe this week? We're into it next on Lockdown Texas Tech. You are locked on Texas Tech, your daily podcast on the Texas Tech Red Raiders. Part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Great to be with you again on Lockdown Texas Tech on the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day, always free and available on YouTube or anywhere. You get podcasts, and today's episode brought to you by Game Time, download the Game Time app, create an account, and use our code locked on college for $20 off your first purchase. With the only Chris level, I'm Casey Cowan, back to kick off a brand new week, and this time with a big 12 win now in the rear view. Hope you caught the reaction episode we kicked out on Sunday as Tech gets a win over Arizona State 30 to 22. A lot of good to like about that ball game, Chris, and of course, a lot still to improve upon as you get ready for big 12 contest number two. It has since an adi coming to town from Joan Stadium on Saturday nights, and I will have plenty to say about the Bearcats this week as we get closer to that kick off. But wanted to get to a couple of things that we did not really dive into in depth on the reaction episode, particularly within the trenches, as far as what we saw along the offensive line and the defensive front as well. Want to get into the absence of Braylon Luxe, and maybe what we can expect coming up. And of course, a question that we get every week, as everyone is always zeroed in on the quarterback here in the LBK. Wanted to check in on the vibe surrounding Baron Morton, I think post game on Saturday, and visiting with some Matador mob insiders, which you can be one if you hit the show notes. Check out the link there. It's your direct line to Chris and I anytime, anywhere. But a question got over and over and over how you feel about Baron Morton. So no need to trick up the question. I guess I could just ask you the same thing. Obviously an effort good enough to be a part of his team getting a win, but was sort of an atypical day. There's no doubt about that. I think less than five yards per attempt, which is not something you see all that often. Nothing was really coming easy. We've seen some big plays in the passing game this season, but we did not see many of them on Saturday against the Sun Devils. I know he's under pressure. I know he's having to move around and maybe occasionally looking a little sped up. But as we sit here about a month into the season, four weeks into the season, what's the general take on Baron Morton from your perspective? - Yeah, I think Saturday was a game where there's some things to like and feel good about and a lot of things where you're like, okay, I'm not, but the context, which is really what, that's what matters here. I mean, Coach Dillingham, after the game, he said, we were not letting them give up the big chunk play. We were inviting them to run the ball. We showed him a light box on purpose 'cause I think they knew that's the cat mouse. It's like, show it to them, make them take the bait. Yeah, there's the cheese. We know you want to eat it, go for it. And because I think that's maybe the way that Baron is coached, hey, man, if that's a light box, like take it, take our five and move on. Sometimes you did, sometimes you didn't. But schematically, they were purposely trying to not give you anything deep. I think there was one, there was a couple in the red zone that you throw that I think would have been 20-ish completions, but I think it was funny 'cause Kenny Dillingham, he knew exactly, he's like asking the media in front of him. He's like, what was their longest completion? And he rattled off a number, like what, 15, 16 yards? What was their longest or average per attempt? So they were clearly, that was their focus. Almost the point where they were, like I trust my run defense to handle Taj Brooks, but what worries us are the Josh Kelly's, the Caleb Douglas's, the RPO concepts that give up the big chunk plays. And you missed, whether it should have been caught or whether it's a misfire, there's one RPO, I think it was late in the first half, maybe when you drop it in there, pull it and then throw it to Caleb Douglas. And he would have been running into the North End Zone and it's just like, there's maybe a hand that kind of gets in the way of the ball for a second and maybe that throws off Caleb's concentration. But there were five or six drops, is that on Baron, is that on the receiver? I'll let other people decide that, but that's bottom line. You had a shovel pass that's gonna show up on the stat sheet that just got blown up by an interior defensive lineman to Jalen Conyers trying to get him to ball in a unique way. That shows up on Baron's stat sheet. But this was a short controlled passing game and for as much as, again, that made frustrates some, there were some touchdown plays called here too. I mean, there just was and a lot of first downs converted. Rewatching the broadcast of it. I mean, Spencer Tillman who did the color, these TV guys were remote, so they weren't actually on site doing it, but they kept talking about, this is an extension of the run game. And it is, they're corners. I actually talked about that quite a bit on the radio broadcast during the game. The corners are seven, eight, nine yards off. And again, it's an invite. Hey, just throw it out there. And you did at times, 'cause some teams get bored with it. If you go back and look at what Texas State was doing, they get up 217 doing these things, 'cause one of them broke it and went 70 yards. But in the second half, when they quit doing that, they get bored with some of that. And I don't know if that ultimately cost them or not, but yeah, so I mean, I could see where people maybe want more out of Barron or the offense or this and that, but Arizona State had something to do with that too. And I think maybe what was around Barron, whether it be up front or his receivers, had something to do with it too. They all share that together a bit. But hey, man, it was enough. And it was a grind, which is what Arizona State wanted you to have to grind, like make them snap it again, make them have to work for it. And 'cause the drives that you did score on, there was 16 yards here, four yards here, two yards here, eight yards there. I mean, that's kind of how it went. But I love the play call. I guess it was maybe your first touchdown. You get in that diamond formation. And I thought back to what Kenny Dillingham had said, they're gonna give you something different you haven't seen each week. Last week, that was strictly a run formation. And you scored off of it three times. Do you remember this? Yeah, and it's the first drive. Well, now we're gonna fake the handoff. We're just gonna throw that little swing pass out there to John Carlos Miller and he walks into the end zone. So Kenny, you did get something different week to week, but you got the same thing too. That's what, I thought that was kind of a fun, because I thought, oh, they're gonna hand it off. I've seen this before, but nope. It was a variation of it. So anyway, but yeah, I get it. And there's a standard here at QB. I certainly get it. I think that has some to do with it. The way I do it right, yeah. But this is a different era. And I think you're, you know, and again, 'cause how often are, why are you not handing it to Taj more? Like, what's the deal? Run the ball. And you did that plenty too. So this is just a bit different. This, again, I just, and maybe I'm trying to give Arizona State too much credit and maybe others are not wanting to give them that much credit. I don't know who's right. It doesn't really matter. But they had something to do with kind of how much of a grind it was in my opinion. - Thank you for that reminder. The other team does get to try. They've got an opportunity to try to screw up what you're doing as well, which somehow I feel like it's lost on folks ever once in a while, or maybe all the time. And I guess it just depends sort of on your perspective in the way that you wanna process things. But my perspective is I got into a little bit on the reaction episode on Sunday, is just that none of it was coming easy passing-wise. The big plays were very limited. You only had two over 20 yards and they were like 20 and 21. You had three over 15. I mean, that was it, as far as what you might consider a chunk play. And you still win the game, which to me is cause for celebration, whereas others are like, oh, this is a terrible fantasy day or something like that. I'm so upset. You won the game. And so, I mean, I guess it's just up to you out there to determine how you wanna decipher those things because there are a lot of times where you're not winning the game if it's not kind of coming easy to you. Or if there are not just mucho-chunk plays or tremendous breakdowns by the opposing defense or whatever. So, I don't have any problem necessarily with statistically and not being one of those days that'll go down in history as one of the greats for our quarterback or for Aaron Morton. But at the end of the day, it goes down as a win. You are allowed to rely on every phase of the game to get a win, which Texas Tech had to do on Saturday. And I don't think it's any cause for a five alarm fire. You know, this, go ahead. - Well, it's actually a really good blueprint and how to play the Red Raiders because what's the one thing Taj Brooks lacks? - Explosiveness, house probability. - Yeah, that elite level speed. And they're basically saying, okay, Texas Tech, we're gonna let Taj get his in between the 20s or whatever. But we know that he's not necessarily a threat to house call it, you know? And so I think it's up to everybody on that side of the ball to not get bored with that if that's what they're willing to do. And you still be able to make them, to hurt them a bit whenever they are inviting you to do this. But that's, they're kind of using his lack of speed against you in some ways by saying. - First, today's episode brought to you by FanDuel. And NFL fans, you can start this season with a big return on FanDuel, America's number one sports book. Say you're watching the game, you get hit with a hunch. An instinctual calling. Well, you can check out the latest stats, view live play-by-play and so much more on the same page where you're gonna place your best to keep up with everything going down in real time as you submit that slip. And right now, FanDuel is gonna get you started with $200 in bonus bets guaranteed when you place your first $5 bet. That's right, $200 in bonus bets guaranteed with only a $5 bet out the gate at FanDuel.com. - They're kind of using his lack of speed against you in some ways by saying, 'cause even the long passes you attempted, one into the end zone, to Caleb Douglas on the north end, and I think Mason Thorpe is right there, but there's two DBs right there. The one on the RPO concept that went to Caleb Douglas, you're, there's two DBs right there, basically kind of surrounding Caleb Douglas. And one just kind of gets that hand in front and he's behind them, but I think on the TV call it was called Banjo coverage and the explanation is, 'cause they're playing both sides, you know, like each side you're playing the banjo. I don't know, I don't know where that came from, but that's-- - I don't even think about a banjo. - Exactly, me neither. - Although, you're one in the woods run. - Although, I remember during COVID and you're just sitting around really bored and you're flipping around like, I didn't know I had all these channels on my TV, let me see what's going on, some of these. And I think I'll watch three hours of He-Haul one day. So, God bless Banjo, God bless. Shout out to Roy Clark and Millie Pearl. Yeah, that's right, I mean, no doubt. - Didn't have a He-Haul mention on my bingo card today. - I was gonna say you can check that off. But anyway, so there was traffic down the field. But what was there was a lot of the comeback routes, the hitch routes, dealing with the soft cushion, you just have to be, you know, continue to be willing to take it. I mean, Koi Aiken had a 16 yard reception on a stop route. There was a lot of that, you know, six yards up the field and then a lot of screens and a lot of them worked. You scored on some, you, but bottom line is Barron would tell you the same thing. When it's a two score game, the definition of complimentary football, we've got to go do our part. And you had to settle for field goals late in the game. You couldn't get over the hump and you've got to figure out a way to execute. And it's the entire offense. Coach Kitley, Barron, all the way on down. And there's some penalties there that you'd love to have back and some, you know, a pre snap here and all that kind of mixed in, but ultimately it was enough. Is that going to be enough on some Saturdays? Maybe not. And that's why I certainly understand the criticism there, but, you know, hey, man, I'll always look for reasons to improve after a win. We've talked about this. I mean, I'll sit here as long as you want to and talk about all the improvement that you need to make after a win. That's the most fun. I do not feel like number two is the biggest limiting factor offensively by any stretch. I know some may be in that camp, but. Well, he's the quarterback. I mean, that's not. If anybody's asking that question to you, like if they got a little glimpse of Will Hammond, you can flush that because that is nowhere near like a thing or even remotely being even suggested. You know, that's the, he is the quarterback and he will be the quarterback if he's healthy. And had to be on the move was under pressure, took some big shots. One of them, he looked like he was dead or something. And then he just like the undertaker rises up. Thank God. But we already knew he was tough. So not surprised to see him weathering that storm. And that brings us to what I want to discuss also with you, Chris, which essentially is the trench work on both sides of the ball, but starting along the offensive line. I don't know how many times we've used the term work in progress, but kind of wondering, and it still remains true, but wondering when you could really see some progress be made. I think it's way too soon to be like, boy, have we hit the ceiling for these guys? I mean, we saw Sterling Porsche return to availability, but Dalton Merriman remained in the starting lineup. Again, you've already had to make a big change with Vinny Scurry being lost for the season. I'm not saying it's ever looking pretty so far, but I still feel like it's fairly early to kind of, I feel like it would be jumping the gun to say, well, this is just who they are. Not that the ceiling is incredibly high. I don't know that I necessarily believe that, but I do think we are probably still yet to see some of their best weeks. And I just feel like it's really still too early to return a final grade on what this group is gonna be. But there's no doubt that there's still some major struggles that you're having upfront, whether in past protection or trying to open up some room for Tosh. - Yeah, and I just, I go back to saying, I mean, Arizona State had something to do with that too. I mean, this is a good run defense. I mean, Texas State puts up a lot of points typically. They went into Waco a year ago and just embarrassed Baylor. And I thought Arizona State did a good job of settling into that game and limiting what the G.J. Kinney coach team, and I'm not trying to say Texas State some juggernaut, but they make a lot of people look bad and yeah, it was a tricky game. Arizona State went in and kind of settled in and had a lot to do with some of the issues that Texas State had on office. And I think some of that plays into what you're dealing with. I think other than the penalties, Dalton Merryman, I think he's been good, but this is an inexperienced player here, folks. I think there's some upside there. He's a junior. If he can stay there, I think that that clears up something that you may have a question about for next season is that he could be your left tackle for. And one of the penalties, speaking of your undertaker reference, it's like you have the wrestling, you have the runout where the guy comes in to save his buddy that's getting beaten up by the bad guys in the ring. Dalton Merryman gets flagged for 15 yards for going to pull off a defensive lineman off of his running back. And Joey McGuire talked about that after the game with me in my post-game interview is like, yeah, do we want that? No, but I don't have a problem with the sentiment. Those guys' job is literally their job is to protect two and 28 and whatnot. You just got to be smarter about it, but then there was a couple other penalties that did Merryman because I think he had three on the day, three of your nine total were on Merriman, but you just got to live with some of these hiccups. And I thought there's going to stay blitzed a bit more in the second half. They sent a bit more pressure, more that you could kind of pick up. They blew up a few things. I mentioned the shovel pass that you were trying to get the ball to Jalen Connors and there's just a delignment going, I'll take that, thank you. So, but it's going to continue to be a work in progress. That's just going to be the reality of it. Where does Sterling Porche settle in here? I don't know. I think he's a tackle at heart. I think he may continue to maybe be a swing tackle. I don't know if he like would provide you any answer or depth at guard, which is what Davey on Carter and Caleb Rogers are playing right now. But so we'll just kind of see again, you just can't forget. Sherrod and Wilson, red shirt freshman. I mean, red shirt freshman folks. I mean, so that's just going to be kind of, you know, what you're dealing with. So the tight ends will continue to be heavily involved in what you're trying to do in the run game. And I'll say this. I thought I said this last year or last year, this summer coming into this year. I thought your group last year had a big, you know, Baylor Cup and Jay New York and Mason were had a lot to do with your run game and what you were able to produce. I wasn't sure that this particular group would be able to do it. And so far, I think that that's been pretty good. That continues also to be work in progress. The big knock on Jalen Conyers was he's great in space. He's a target. You could do a variety of things with him. You got to be better in the run game. And Jalen said that the beginning of August. I feel like I had a pretty good year last year, but I just wasn't involved in the run game. That's a goal of mine. And he's got to be more well rounded. The NFL folks have told him this. John Carlos Miller is a great downfield target. What does John Carlos Miller have already? Do you have three touchdown receptions? Is that right? - I think so. - He had the dunk. He had one against, yeah, he had one against, it was in the state. Obviously, the first touchdown I think you scored was the short one. And then I think he's had one in one of the first two weeks too. So yeah, that's fun too. But can they hold up in the run game? 'Cause number 80 is clearly your best blocker there in the run game. That's why he plays so many snaps, although not targeted as much. But he gets a big pat on the back in the run game too. It's an extension of an offensive lineman. So yeah, I don't know if I've answered anything, but work in progress, yes. I see this same group who played every snap in this game together. This is gonna be what you're gonna roll with in my opinion. So we'll see. - Well, and you'd like to hope that more time together, knock on wood from a health standpoint, we'll produce some benefit as you move forward week to week. And I'd like to hope just in general from a program standpoint that we're on the tail end of reaping what was sown in a very dark way as far as offensive line recruiting for the past decade, which fell off a cliff. And I think Joey McGuire and company, at least I'd like to think, have addressed some of that in a positive way. But we all know with that position, the type of time it takes to bring those guys from a high school level or prep level to really being a contributor on this level. And it takes some time. So when will that begin to pay off? Don't quite know, but I think there's a reason why you've had to go so heavy portal wise. And there's a reason why it's been such a struggle along the offensive line for so many years. And a lot of that has to do with a real dearth of talent that you were bringing to campus as far as that recruiting over the past maybe 10 plus years. Okay, I wanna stick with the trenches but get to the other side of the football. First, today's episode brought to you by Game Time. Never swept by and tickets to your favorite event again with Game Time. It's always a breeze using the Game Time app where you're gonna find the best last minute deals. And I love being able to scout out of you from any seat before pulling the trigger. Of course, you're always doing it at the lowest price guarantee. Game Time has deals on tickets right up to the start of the event. And even an hour after it begins, which means you can finish off that final brought, that final beer at your own pace at the tailgate because Game Time is the place to find last minute seats to any event. Game Time gives you the fastest and easiest way to buy tickets but not just fast, also secure and simple to use. So right now download the Game Time app and create an account and use our promo code locked on college for $20 off your first purchase terms do apply. Again, create an account and redeem our code locked on college for $20 off. Download the Game Time app today for last minute tickets at the lowest price guaranteed. I spent some time being complimentary of the defense and obviously for good reason, Chris, but as far as what's happening upfront, maybe frustration is just the key word because you're so close to getting to opposing quarterbacks but you have not really collected the number of sacks or even hits on the quarterback or something like that that I think all of us would like to see. And like we all know, can really impact a football game for the better for your team. Will that change as weeks roll on? I'm not quite sure but again, just so frustrating and I know there's some impact and benefit obviously from just speeding up the quarterback and making him move around. So this is not a conversation to say that it's been bad but maybe just a conversation to say that I'm greedy and I want more and I want them to get there a little more often as the season rolls on. How would you kind of assess what you've seen? And I say D line, it's not just them, obviously linebackers and others can be involved in this also but how would you assess from what we've seen from the front of that tech defense so far? Yeah because you do make this Arizona State quarterback hurry a throw early in the game and it equaled an interception. He threw it away before he was ready to and floated it and I do think some of his misfires on the deep balls rolling to his right is the result of some pressure. You moved him off of his spot some and he's an athlete, he's gonna be a harder one or was gonna be a harder one to kind of sack and all that. I will say, think about it this way. How scared were we all about his ability to really hurt you with his legs? A few plays, sure, but he didn't beat you with it. I mean, he got loose a few times and I think that you were very concerned about that and we've seen a opposing quarterbacks just hammer you with that where it's like, oh my gosh. So yeah, I mean, do you want forced fumbles and hitting the quarterback and all these kinds of things? Absolutely, your group is a bit compromised 'cause you've had Harvey Dyson back there for the first time in three weeks. I thought Amir Washington played well early then had to leave the game, you know, your pressure players, I guess is who I'm referring to. And Isaac Smith, it helped me the first one to tell you he's not back to form yet. I think the game is still in the process of slowing down for him and he gets a bit better and a bit more comfortable as the week goes along. He's still a very young player but just hadn't played a ton of football. And you're still without Charles Esther's and then obviously we know about a day to day and Dylan Spencer, they're out for the year but it'll keep me in better. It's not, you don't have a Tyree Wilson up there. You just don't and here's the other thing. You know who I watched to wreak a lot of havoc? Don't say it. Yeah, I'll just say it was the road team in Boulder, Colorado was doing some damage. You saw the same thing I did and I don't know if that was ever, I mean, he kind of opted out of the bowl and was just never really right here. You know, always kind of something wrong and all that. I don't know if they're getting the best version but I saw was like, that's the guy that I thought we were getting last year. You know, I don't remember him ever playing this hard for the Red Raiders. So anyway, We're talking about Steve Linton for those. Yeah, we are. I just hate to speak his name. Yes, we are. So we'll see. We'll see what that looks like going forward. But I get it. Amen, we can all be greedy. Now, I just, I think there's a difference between being greedy and being needy and you still got and are getting a few things. It's just not gonna happen overnight. And I don't know if you have a draft pick up there that's just gonna emerge as like, whoa, this guy. I don't know if you have a Josh Kelly or Tash Brooks, which as I said in a recent show, that's the beauty of those guys. It's consistently good. It's consistently good. No matter the scheme, the this or the that, they just produce. And it's a bit hit and miss with some guys. Or you're having to throw some numbers at it. And it's kind of, that's your strength right now. We kind of do this. So with that comes some, you know, ups and downs a bit. Yeah, and you know, maybe you have to get a little more creative and like you talk about throw some additional numbers at it, which is no great sin. I do feel like there has been some pressure. But again, just really getting there and getting over the top and a sack or a strip sack or something like that. Again, maybe a little greedy, but would love to see it. But I don't want to construe it as necessarily bad at all. But wondering if maybe they can take it a next step further to the next. I think they can. Yeah. I do think they can. I do think they can, but you're not gonna face, we can talk about what you're supposed to do and look at these schedules on paper. You're not gonna face some, some gimme or some weak link really on either side of the ball going forward. It's just not there. And it's funny 'cause you look at some of the teams at the bottom of the, I mean, I wish you had Houston on your schedule. Okay, so I'll take that back. Although eventually Willard Fritz will, he's a really good coach. He will get that thing turned around. But I mean, you got a preseason top 25 ranked team in your league that's now one in three. And it's gonna be desperate. You got, you know, a team that would play the National Championship game two years ago and people are very frustrated with the head coach and foot worth, who was ejected over the weekend. And so it's hard to figure this league, teams will improve. I mean, 'cause the two leaders in the clubhouse right now on paper that everybody's gonna point to and go, they look like contenders. Utah, which we knew, Iowa State, not many people call that one, but that's kind of what it looks like at least early. But that's gonna be the fun and maddening part about this league week in a week out. But teams will get better. And I think the Red Raider defense in front will certainly be a big part of it. Nothing stays the same aside from the very best or maybe the very worst. It is a week to week sport. And there were plenty more examples of that over the weekend, whether it was Northern Illinois being dropped by Buffalo after it went against the Irish or the Aggies struggling with Bowling Green or K-State and Provo or, I mean, just take your pick almost. North Texas gets back up and waxes Wyoming. I mean, it's just, you never really know what to expect, which is part of the fun, I suppose. But it's for those teams in the GUI middle, which is certainly where Texas Tech is, I get the Georges of the world, some consistency there for them. - And like, you want to see some inept offense, take a look at what's going on in Norman, Oklahoma right now. - Whoof. - I mean, you know, and some-- - Wonderful. - And like, and well, really just the state of Oklahoma in general. I mean, that's one of the biggest mysteries in the league right now is Ali Gordon, the nation's leading rusher and all five starters on the offensive line. Your quarterback returns, your best receiver and Brennan Presley returns. And they look like they can't play offense. I mean, it just go figure. I can't figure it out. I don't know, but, you know, doubt them at your own risk when Mike Dundee's done all these things, you know, all these-- - See where they are in November. - Exactly. - And don't be surprised if they've figured something out. - I know, and we'll see them in November too. - Yeah, we will. - Kind of makes me nervous. Like, why can't we move this? We scheduled that, switch it up and play them now. So-- - I know we don't have a lot of time left, but I wanted to touch on Braylon Luxe and just wondering if you got any feel for kind of what his situation is and maybe what to expect this week. We'll get an update obviously this Monday from Joey McGuire on some of these things. They'll have another list that they'll kick out. He was on the questionable list last week. And I was also curious just for a take on Macho Stevenson. I was kicking out, as I mentioned, some takeaways to the Matador mob insiders. And I mentioned, I thought Macho Stevenson battled and for the most part handled himself pretty well. He had a big breakup on a fourth down in the fourth quarter. I saw him being tough on some tackles also, but then I was immediately met with some responses reminding me of a whiff on the 66 yarder from Scataboo where he looked somewhat disinterested in that collision. I'm not gonna say that I blame him as I was processing that for my hammock on the patio last night, but I was curious on some thoughts about Braylon Luxe and then what you see from Stevenson is, I was kind of wondering is it people's that's back in the mix, but no, we saw number 12 out there. - Yeah, there's a lot of things to get into. So I'll try to do it rather quickly. On the interception return versus North Texas, Braylon kind of, you know, limp is too strong of a word, but looked a little gimpy, maybe is the right word. I don't know, he continued to play. They're calling it a leg injury, which is what we get. So is that hamstring, is that quad, is that calf? I don't know, I bet he's, you know, so Braylon will be on either outlist again or the questionable list when we see that later today, I guess it would be. And I think that there's, yeah, so we don't bury the lead here. Matzo Stevenson, he passed up, not just Jalen Peoples, but Devin Cromwell during the week. We talked about this on the radio broadcast. Tim DeRuder, before the game had told us and we relayed this story on the broadcast, you know, we had Cromwell, we had Jalen and we had Macho and we knew Braylon wasn't going to be able to play. We told them, hey, whoever practices the best this week is going to get the start, Macho won it. And he played 72 snaps, 72. This is one of your, you know, fun recruits that you got a few years ago, not just because of his name, but you were excited about the way he can run, how physical he could be. This was his first start. It wasn't pretty. He got flagged at times, I say, but I'm going to say that, okay, so the two negatives that people can talk about, yeah, you whiff on the swing pass this kind of boot. He gets the PI on one of those first plays from Arizona State or first series. I should say, I don't know if I blame him. He probably may actually made a good play by saying, nope, you're not going to catch a long touchdown here. We'll move it 15 yards and all that, even though it was a fourth in one. I thought he kept Arizona State in check for the most part when he was in man coverage. I thought he played the run well. This is somebody that will only get better. I mean, this is a red shirt freshman, folks. And you're going to have some, you just can't lose sight of the fact you've got a lot of sophomore and under guys playing a lot of meaningful snaps on that defense. It's everywhere. And that's just the reality, there'll be a payoff. If you can keep them all here, you're going to have some ups and downs as we get to that point. But this is where some of the fun recruiting is kind of saying hello to you a little bit when you start to see some of these names. I remember this guy and we talked about him in August that they had seen a lot of good things. Well, I mean, here we are in late September and he kind of had a good week. And I think, you know, if Braylon can't go again, I bet he earned another start. So we'll see. - I'm looking forward to finding out. I no doubt about that. Cincinnati under the lights. Saturday night from Jones Stadium, as the Red Raiders are going for win 6-0-1. Historically, not of the season. And win number two within Big 12 play. Chris, appreciate the time. As always, man, we'll get into some thoughts from Red Raider head coach Joey McGuire on the next episode as he kicks off the week with his press conference. So thanks for the time, as always. And we'll see you for the next one. - Absolutely. Enjoyed it. Fun night kick coming up this weekend in a meaningful football game. Bring it on, man. Send up all the pyro in the night air in the 806 that you want to. I'm here for it. If you want to move some of those flames over the sideline where I hopefully will be standing, you can do that too. Maybe be a little chill in the air. I could use a little heat at that time. Bring it on, can't wait. - Heck yeah. Appreciate you guys for being out there. Appreciate those Matador mob insiders for chopping it up with us. As always, that's your direct line to Chris and I for anything and everything on your mind. Check out the show notes for the link there to get into a 14 day free trial. Try it on, see how it fits ya. That's the Matador mob insiders. And thanks to everybody for always being out there. Shout out to the every dayers and those mixing it up in the YouTube comments. Get subscribed on YouTube or anywhere you get podcasts. If you haven't so far, so you never miss an episode. For Chris, I'm Casey and we hope to see you back for the next round on Lockdown Texas Tech. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) - A Prime members, you can listen to this Lockdown podcast ad free on Amazon Music. Download the Amazon Music app today. (upbeat music)
