Let's Read Too Much Into Media Day Together

We’re all starved for football, so I only think it’s appropriate to take the little tease that is snippets from media day and draw passionate conclusions from them.

Leftwich Isn’t Worried about Replacing Tahj

In 2024 Texas State had five players with over 50 rushing attempts, Texas Tech had… one.

Player	Attempts	Yards Per Attempt
Tajh Brooks	287	5.3
Behren Morton	38	4.2
Cameron Dickey	27	5.7
J’Kolby Williams	25	4.1
Will Hammond	11	3.9

Player	Attempts	Yards Per Attempt
Ismail Mahdi	206	5.4
Lincoln Pare	74	5.6
Jordan McCloud (QB)	57	6.2
Torrance Burgess Jr.	55	6.2
Deion Hankins	54	4.5

I am not fully “running backs don’t matter,” especially in college football and with modern defenses more focused on keeping everything in front of them. However, I do think they are the most replaceable position on the field. Tahj was incredible and made a bad offensive line look respectable, but his lack of top end speed was a significant issue for Kittley. The current running back room won’t have the down in and down out consistency of Tahj, but I’ll give up a few negative runs for a few more 20+ yard big plays.

I also think it’s worth noting that spreading out the carries will make the offense less predictable. Last season, if Tahj wasn’t on the field, everyone pretty much knew the Red Raiders were throwing the ball.

“Stats are for Losers” – Sheil Wood

While I disagree, and bet he does too, I’m good with my defensive coordinator saying this. It’s funny that a guy who says this leads a unit that put up unbelievable stats last year, relative to team success.

Right on cue, Brian Fremeau’s analytics site is down for some preseason maintenance, but trust me, the UH defense averaged top 30 in every important metric last season. Below are some other stats that I like less, but still tell a good story.

Stat	Houston	Texas Tech
Opponents Points Per Play	.358 (49th)	.473 (109th)
Opponent Red Zone Scoring Percentage	82.86% (62nd)	86.54 (90th)
Sacks	28	12
Hurries	84	69
NFL Passer Rating Against	89.8	102.2
Explosive Drives: drives that average more than ~7.5 yards per play. This controls for big plays and how they relate to scoring.	0.08 (16th)	0.35 (68th)
Negative Drives: a little bit of a catchall for the defense doing bad things to the offense. Turnovers, 3 and outs, drives that average less than 3.333 yards per play are all contained here.	-0.73 (18th)	-0.59 (46th)

Coy Eakin to Slot, Micah Hudson to Outside

I’m pretty interested in this one. Just based on typical skill set, I would naturally flip this, but I’m no D1 OC. When I was perusing Texas State’s PFF page I noticed that Joey Hobert played over 95% of his snaps in the slot, led the team with 68 catches for 671 yards and 8 touchdowns. And I’ll be damned, I watched these highlights and absolute saw Coy excelling in this role.

For Micah, this is, obviously based on projection and unknowns, but what else is the offseason for? Texas State’s leading outside receiver last season was Jaden Williams (49 catches – 652 yards – 6 touchdowns) a 5-11, 185 quick twitch athlete that may not have breakaway speed, only averaged 5.1 YAC, but is an absolute route technician, just knows how to get open. That is uh kind of the Micah (6-0 200lbs) scouting reports. I’m not just saying this to prove my point, but this highlight tape reminds me so much of Micah’s high school film. So, Mack, I’m sorry for doubting you.

Keeping it Simple Defensively

I think that defensive simplicity is, typically, a luxury or a privilege reserved for those with above average talent. You don’t have to take risks in coverage or upfront because you can trust your guys to win their 1-on-1 battles.

I hate to do this to you, but recall some of the worst defensive performances last season, everyone of them was from DeRuyter feeling the need to take incredible risks because he did not trust his guys to win their individual battles.

I’ve watched enough Sheil Wood defenses to know that this is not just coach speak. He keeps it simple and his defenses do not beat themselves. It looks like he tries to play base, limit explosive plays, and force offenses to drive the ball. He’s going to bet the OC makes a mistake before he does, and I’ll take that bet.

What makes this style of defense exciting, this year in particular, teams shouldn’t be able to block us in base. That is a nightmare for an OC, their whole gameplan is out of whack, and that’s before you get to the back 7.

This is going to be fun.