(12-03-2020 11:06 PM)Side Show Joe Wrote: Again, congratulations LA Tech. You were certainly the better team once again. We have serious issues at North Texas. Darden (#1) is a great receiver for us. He leads the FBS in touchdowns (15), despite only playing in 8 games this season. He is the lone bright spot in our season.
I have a favor to ask, and I got three +3's for the first LT fan that can get me the right answers....
I'd like to know how many player you had out due to COVID testing?
How many back-ups were starting tonight for LA Tech?
How many starters have opted out at LT this season and who they are?
And, does Holtz consider this to be a rebuilding year at LA Tech?
Rebuilding Year:
This is definitely a rebuilding year for LA Tech. After the 2019 season Tech lost 9 of 11 offensive starters (including 4 of 5 starting offensive linemen), and 6 starters on defense, including 4 DB's, 2 of which were drafted into the NFL (Robertson & Sneed). And of course, love him or hate him, we also lost our 3-yr starting QB J'Mar Smith too.
That was a lot of team leadership to lose in one year.
Just today, Tech's athletic office released a press release announcing that big time recruit and Grayshirt QB Caleb Holstein (6'5, 210) is now eligible and officially on the roster. I think that was announced because we're now officially in our 2nd Quarter of school, so he's eligible. You may recall this is the kid who flipped his commit from Harvard to LA Tech last year. He is one of the most decorated skill players LA Tech has ever recruited, and he is the future. Holstein was the MVP of his State Championship game in 2019, and passed for over 9,100 yards in his high school career. He and a freshman QB from Texas named J.D. Head are both the future for this program, and will likely battle it out for the starting job in the future.
Here's today's press release on Caleb Holstein:
https://latechsports.com/news/2020/12/3/...stein.aspx
Lastly, on special teams our kicker is brand new and so is our punter, though I still don't have a lot of confidence in him.
NFL Wannabees:
Here's the three I know of:
WR
Adrian Hardy, Starting RT and LSU Transfer
Donavaughn Campbell (6'5, 360) and All CUSA RB
Justin Henderson are the 3 LA Tech players that have "opted out early" for the NFL draft. All three were starters for us. Of the three, losing Hardy probably hurt the most. He's really good, and caught 75 passes for 1,145 yds as a sophomore in 2018.
Backups:
I don't know how many "backups" we played tonight, but we played a ton of freshmen tonight, and we have all season. I laugh when I read about some of the other schools bragging about how "young" they are when we're already playing a ton of freshman. Our best player on defense is
#52 Tyler Grubbs, and he's a true freshman. He's been outstanding all season and already has
72 tackles in 8 games.