Big 12 football: Tech’s Colby Whitlock likes changes

Texas Tech defensive tackle Colby Whitlock, the pride of Noble, Oklahoma, USA, was a Mike Leach fan, but he’s a Tommy Tuberville fan, too.

“It’s a great change,” Whitlock said of Tech’s coaching change. “With everything that went down, it was unfortunate the way it did, but Tech made the best hire possible.”

Whitlock chatted Monday during Big 12 media days in Irving, Texas. He was very complimentary of Tuberville.

“It’s a lot more structured now,” Whitlock said. “You walk into the fieldhouse now, you know what’s going on from the start of the day until the end of the day.”

Tuberville has switched Tech’s base defense from 4-3 to 3-4. “It’s a lot more aggressive mindset on the defensive size of the ball,” Whitlock said. “You can definitely tell that defense is important to Coach Tuberville.”

That wasn’t always the case under Leach, though Tech’s defense improved in recent years.