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Lewis Weighs In On Visit
we first reported on Monday, Spring (Texas) Klein Oak defensive lineman
Jon Lewis seemed to be very impressed with his visit to Texas Tech last
weekend. He told Level that he was surprised at how "elite" the program was, and
echoed similar sentiments in our conversation on Thursday.
"It was beautiful," he said. "I wasn't even expecting that. I've heard a whole
bunch of great things about Tech, but I was not expecting what I saw at all.
Everything was great. It's a really big school. The whole campus was just huge.
Everyone's nice and everything. I just really liked it."
The 6-foot-2, 265-pound prospect made the trip up with his family as, while he
was checking out the football program, his brother was going through New Student
Orientation.
"My older brother, Chris, he's going to be coming up there this fall. I was
there. He was doing everything (for orientation) and I went over with Coach
(Tommy) Mainord and he showed me around the campus. We saw the weight room, the
football field and the academic buildings. Basically, he just showed me around,
showing me what everything was like."
Lewis had nothing but good things to say about Mainord.
"He's a really great guy. Coach Mainord and me are actually pretty cool. He's so
focused, you know? He's just focused on being No. 1, and that's the one thing I
like. Always being focused. He's just a focused dude. He's a really great, great
guy."
Don't look for a decision out of Lewis anytime soon. He still plans to take
official visits to Alabama, Cal, Texas Tech and maybe Oklahoma State and Oregon.
- Dickens
Robertson Embracing Athlete Role
Longview (Texas) athlete
LaDarrin Robertson is really excited about his commitment to Texas Tech.
"I am pumped," he said. "I want to show I belong at a big time program and to
show everyone what all I can contribute to a college football team and what
better place to do that then Texas Tech?"
Although most of his contact with the Red Raiders is through defensive line
coach Sam McElroy, Robertson also keeps up with and likes all of the rest of the
program's staff.
"When I met them up at camp they were very welcoming and pretty nice guys, they
have kept me in the loop with what all that is going to happen with me, the team
and other recruits," he said. "I got along and bonded well with all of them."
While it isn't known yet where Robertson will line up when he hits campus, the
6-foot-3, 215-pound prospect is embracing the fact that he has options.
"I am coming in as an athlete, and it just depends on how big I get," Robertson
said. "If I get any bigger, they are going to move me to defense and play an
outside linebacker or, more than likely, a strong safety. If I stay around the
same weight they are going to put me at outside receiver. I will probably move
to defense because they like that I can hit and that I know where the ball is at
all times.
"It really doesn't matter too much. It is Tech, and they do have a passing team
so playing a wide receiver would be fun but wherever they put me I will go 100
percent."
Recruiting hasn't slowed down as much as Robertson thought it would after
committing.
"Yeah, it is still going about the same," he said. "Now it is just more of teams
trying to convince me not to go to Tech."
Robertson Chose Texas Tech over offers from Baylor, Illinois and Louisiana Tech.
- Hair
Flint Is One To Watch
Oxford (Ala.) 2012 offensive lineman
Michael Flint has already piled up an impressive offer list. Alabama,
Arkansas, Auburn, Florida, Florida State, LSU, Texas Tech and UCLA have already
pulled the trigger on the 6-foot-4, 303-pound standout, and more offers are sure
to be on the way.
the process is still early, Flint has his eye on the Red Raiders.
"Texas Tech, once Tommy Tuberville went to Texas Tech after Auburn, I always
liked Tuberville as a coach, and some things kind of went down at Auburn, the
last few years, but I'm sure he is going to take it back up at Texas Tech,"
Flint said. And he's been in the SEC, so he knows what hard-nosed football is,
and that's what I'm about."
Flint lists Tech in his top five, but has an interesting top two of Alabama and
Oregon.
"Auburn, Oregon, and Alabama is always an option," Flint said "I love Alabama; I
was raised an Alabama fan my whole life. But I hadn't really heard from them
lately and I haven't had a chance to see them. Auburn is where I have been most
of the time because that's where my brother is, so I go down there a lot. Oregon
is supposed to offer me in September, or at least that's what they are saying
and they are in my top two. It's Auburn, Oregon and then Alabama, and Texas Tech
is in there, too, I just haven't gotten a chance to get out there. Notre Dame is
in the top five, too."
Flint said his knowledge of the Red Raiders is limited because he has not been
able to visit the program yet, but noted that he definitely has a feel for the
school and its atmosphere.
"I really don't know much about them," Flint said. "But I know they produced
good offensive linemen there, and it's a southern state and I like the south. It
is hot, but I like their football team. I have watched them over the years and
they are usually ranked, and I just remember that one year when they had that
huge offensive line, and I loved it. I was watching Texas Tech every Saturday."
- Fleming
Hocutt Dedicated To Promoting Breast Cancer
Awareness
The last we talked with Killeen (Texas) Ellison linebacker, and Texas Tech
commit,
Devon Hocutt, he was switching positions from linebacker to running back.
Since then, Hocutt has been participating in combines, moving up on national
ranking lists, and working on transforming his body.
"Basically, I've been to three different combines," Hocutt said. "And I went
from the first one in Austin and I won overall MVP in that one, the next one and
on to the Ultimate 100, and then after that to the top 15 in the nation."
The busy summer has been beneficial for the 5-foot-11 standout. He said he has
lost some weight and is planning to lose more before the start of his season.
"It's fine with me. I've lost weight," Hocutt said. "I was at 260 and right now
I'm sitting at 250, and by the next Monday I should be down to 245, and by the
season opener I want to be down to 235."
With the extra attention Hocutt has gained form his performances at the
different combines, he said that has triggered more and more interest from other
programs. He maintains that he's all about the Red Raiders, but that has not
stop the other schools from trying.
"There are a lot," Hocutt said of the number of new schools contacting him. "I'm
starting to get letters from Miami, Texas A&M, Nebraska, plenty of schools, but
as I said, I'm committed to Texas Tech. There is no way of changing that, at
all.
"I do not talk to any other coaches; I get their letters, but I have not talked
to any coach besides Coach Mainord."
Hocutt's Rivals picture stand out because of his pink attire, but Hocutt said it
was a conscious decision and he is dedicating his senior football season to a
good cause.
"Basically, my season is all dedicated to breast cancer awareness," Hocutt said.
"In my Rivals picture, I have on a pink hoodie and pink earrings, and I had on
pink cleats, also. And that's what my whole season is dedicated to."
Hocutt said he has been involved with this and many other organizations for a
while, but decided that this season would be the perfect season to dedicate to
breast cancer.
"I have always done the breast cancer awareness walk, Relay for Life, and I
always do Special Olympics, too," Hocutt said. "But I have had one person in my
family die from breast cancer, and I have seen how many people have passed away
from breast cancer, and it's just a good thing to dedicate my senior season to."
- Fleming
?
Morales Ready For Senior Season
(Texas) Sam Houston offensive lineman and Texas Tech commit
Tony Morales is getting very close to the last fall camp of his high school
career and the four-star prospect is more ready then ever to get started.
"Yeah we start up fall practice on August 9th, but everything has been going
good we have all been working out everyday Monday through Thursday," Morales
said. "I'm faster and stronger then I have ever been, so we are ready."
The 6-foot-4, 300-pound guard looked back at last year when he was getting ready
for camp and was a bit out of shape, but Morales has done a lot more work during
the summer to be ready for his senior season.
"I think I have hit the weight room a lot harder this summer and we have been
running a lot," Morales said. "When we got ready for camp last year I was out of
shape, but this year I have worked a lot harder with the weights because my max
on bench is up to 385 now so I am ready."
Texas Tech fans were happy to hear the news about DeAndre Washington committing
to the Red Raiders earlier this week and Morales got a chance to talk to
Washington and is very excited about bringing him in to this already stellar
recruiting class.
"We have a really good class coming in and he is a very good pick up for us,"
Morales said. "But he is very athletic I looked at some of his highlights on
Rivals and he is very quick and I think he can play multiple positions with the
athleticism that he has."
Morales also talked with offensive line coach Matt Moore recently about many of
the things he has done this summer and what Texas Tech is doing with their
lineman to get ready for their season.
"Yeah I talked to Coach Moore yesterday," Morales said. "We were just catching
up because my phone has been messing up and I haven't talked to him in a while.
"But we were just talking about how my summer has been going and he told me that
their offensive linemen have all started to lose a lot of weight, so they will
be faster and stronger then ever and they are ready to go."
Morales had been planning to take his official visit for the Texas Tech-Texas
game with a lot of the other 2011 commits, but they have decided to wait a
little bit to take their visit in January. Morales may have to take his trip
alone because he already has big plans for January.
"We were all going to go visit for the Texas game but now they all want to go
sometime in January," Morales said. "But I won't be able to go during January
because I got invited to play in the US All-American Game and that is in
January, so I will probably try to go visit sometime towards the end of the
season."
Morales is rated as the No. 7 offensive guard in the country for the 2011 class
and chose Texas Tech over other offers from Kansas State, Louisiana Tech,
Missouri, Oklahoma and SMU.
- Lane
?
Quick Hits
* We spoke earlier this week with Yuma (Ariz.) Western C.C defensive back
Justin Rogers, and the former Nebraska signee seemed very, very interested
in Texas Tech. This didn't make it into the final story, but saw a few folks ask
why Rogers decided to leave the Husker program. Here's what he had to say:
"I went up there my freshman year. The football aspect was good, but besides
that it really wasn't a good fit for me. I might have been homesick, I guess.
Being an Alabama guy in Nebraska just made it worse."
* A rumor flared up on Thursday that Denton (Texas) Guyer cornerback
Josh Stewart was going to be switching his commitment from Texas A&M to
Texas Tech within the next day or so. That turned out to be just a rumor, but it
does look like the Red Raiders are pursuing him.
* San Antonio (Texas) Antonian power forward
Johnathan Holmes seems to have things narrowed down to Texas and Texas A&M.
* It appears that Dan Law renovations are finally officially on the radar screen
and maybe we'll now see some movement as far as fund raising is concerned. There
will be a dinner later in August to officially get the campaign up and running.
It is an invitation-only affair to selected donors who will have a chance to
tour the current facility and hear Dan Spencer's vision of what the stadium
needs done. This will be the first step in a campaign to start raising funds to
renovate the stadium.
* We talked briefly with Rockdale (Texas) offensive lineman
Le'Raven Clark this week and the standout prospect said that despite a visit
to Baylor last month, he is "still solid to Texas Tech, no changes really."
* We also spoke with Chatham (Va.) Hargrave Military linebacker
Terrell Hartsfield and he confirmed that he's still "Texas Tech all the
way." We'll have more from him next week.
To view previous installments of the Red Raider Confidential, you can
visit the archives by
clicking here.
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This post was edited on 8/7 2:10 PM by A. Dickens
