Kingsbury's motivation: Britney Spears

Britney Spears has some advice this year for Kliff Kingsbury — "Make room for the Heisman."

True story: Kingsbury, Texas Tech's starting quarterback, has a Britney Spears T-Shirt, photo and concert ticket.

He sat in the front row of her short-lived concert in Lubbock June 14.

Then he took home her autograph on a photo through a friend.

It says, "Kliff, make room for the Heisman next year. Love, Britney."

Forget all this stuff about his quarterback records and personal statistics.

Kingsbury has found a far more personal incentive for himself this season.

And it doesn't necessarily have anything to do with the Heisman Trophy.

"The autograph is on my wall," Kingsbury said. "That's my motivation."

Kingsbury occasionally wears his concert T-shirt under his practice gear. He got it when he sat nearly 10 feet away from the 20-year-old pop music superstar at United Spirit Arena.

He never got to meet her, though. The whole story happened through Spears' bus driver, an avid football fan. After Spears' crew arrived in town, he called the Tech football offices to meet the local football star.

"He said he does that at every school they play at where they have big-time players," said Dennis Simmons, the Tech assistant who answered the phone when the bus driver called.

The rest is all a bit of a dream for Kingsbury.

"I got to check out her tour bus and everything," Kingsbury said.

As for the concert, well, it only lasted two songs before equipment failure cut the show short.

All that mattered in the end was the memory. Sitting that close to Spears was something few can describe.

"It was 10 minutes of glory," Kingsbury said.

Tech resumes practice today at

9 a.m.