Kliff Kingsbury Talks Expectations for Texas Tech’s April 2 Scrimmage in Midland

Texas Tech Football will have its first open practice Saturday, April 2 -- a scrimmage held at Grande Communications Stadium at 1 p.m. in Midland, Texas.

This will be a "controlled" and "scripted" scrimmage, according to Texas Tech Head Coach Kliff Kingsbury. The team will go through simulated situations under a live clock to get ready for the Red and Black game on April 16 at Jones AT&T Stadium.

Derrick Willies, the guy who can jump really high, Dylan Cantrell, the guy who does backflips, and Reginald Davis are all fighting to be the guy that Patrick Mahomes goes to in the clutch.

We've seen what Cantrell can do in limited action and Davis in extended action, so that leaves Willies here as the unknown threat to win the job. All three look to be factors this Saturday as well as next fall.

The most intriguing position Saturday will be the defensive line. Kingsbury seems to have a lot riding on Onjre Pipkins and Kolin Hill. Those two are complete unknowns right now. Big time transfers that could potentially be monumental in turning this program around defensively or just being another set of place holders while the Texas Tech coaching staff searches for answers.

Breiden Fehoko, Gary Moore and Zach Barnes all return from last year to headline this group, joined by Houston Miller and his 2016 freshmen reinforcements.

As far as Kingsbury is concerned, this defensive line is "more explosive" than previous groups and the defense rests on the shoulders of the front four -- "as that goes, the defense goes" reiterated Kingsbury.

When asked what he wanted to see specifically this weekend, Kingsbury had a few things he wants to watch for.

"Clean play that's the key," he said. "You want to see how guys react when the lights come on. Offensively take care of the ball, defensively create some turnovers and make sure it's a clean scrimmage. Don't want a bunch of flags, false starts, offsides, things of that nature."

While 2015 was much improved on penalties and turnovers from years past, there is still plenty of room for improvement.

Other than that, Kingsbury and his staff are just trying to figure out what kind of configuration is best for his team and who the best 11 are to be on the field at a time.

Besides Mahomes and the QB position, the depth chart is wide open.

I'm sure getting more of the depth chart filled in will only aid to the "comfortability" of this spring football season.