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Lang Visiting Raiders In July?
(Fla.) Boone offensive tackle
Max Lang remains in contact with Texas Tech.
"I talked to Coach [Chad] Scott a couple of weeks ago," Lang said. "He just
talked to me about the depth chart and how much they needed players and really
needed us and I think it's a big deal that they recruit out of the state for
lineman because Texas doesn't do that.
"But Texas Tech does it and it's an honor because you need big guys when you
think about offensive lineman and usually you stick with the big guys you have
in Texas."
Lang noted that he has established a good relationship with Coach Scott.
"We talk about that and we talk about life sometimes just so I can get
comfortable with him and I am," Lang said. "He is a real cool guy and they all
are, but he constantly keeps us updated through email what they do and he is
just a really good guy."
The 6-foot-4, 276-pounder speaks highly of the Red Raiders and has already
started discussing possible dates to take his official visit.
"Yeah we have talked about me coming to visit, I think they might be on vacation
or something I really don't know, but July 11th or any date after that we are
going to try and do something," Lang said. "But I am making it a priority to
visit them because it's a big deal for me to visit them."
Lang knows he is going to be visiting the South Plains, but there is a local
school he knows for sure will also be getting a visit.
"I am going to go to South Florida, too, and those two are the ones I want to
definitely officially visit and check out everything from them," Lang said.
Lang was once thought to be making a decision sometime before his senior season
began, but with talks with his parents those plans have suddenly changed.
"My parents are saying that you don't want to regret not going somewhere and
seeing everything that you had the opportunity to go see before making your
decision," Lang said. "So I don't want to sit back and think that I didn't get
the chance to go see somewhere and I should have gone there or something stupid
like that.
"So I think I can get a better idea about it when I take all of my five visits
then I can think about what I liked and what I didn't like and go from there. I
don't have a set date on when I want to make a decision, but it should be when I
get through with all five of my official visits."
Though Lang has a while until his decision will be made, he might have a list
already put together on who will get his five official visits, two schools are a
for sure lock.
"Right now I don't really have an official top five yet," Lang said. "But these
are my main ones right now but not in any order; USF, Texas Tech, Louisville
possibly, UCF maybe again, FSU possibly, and I think Miami I might go down there
and see because I haven't been down there."
So who are the two schools Lang for sure wants to visit?
"I can tell you right now Texas Tech and South Florida will be in my top five
for sure," Lang said. "I am really comfortable with Coach Scott and all of the
other coaches at Texas Tech just like I am comfortable with everyone at South
Florida.
"It's just going to come down to do I want to stay close to home or not, but
that's pretty much what it's coming down to and those two will be in my top
five."
Lang holds offers from Arizona State, Duke, Florida International, Florida
State, Kansas Louisville, Memphis, Miami (Fla.), Middle Tennessee State, Ole
Miss, Rutgers, South Carolina, South Florida, Syracuse, Texas Tech, and USF.
Gaines Hopes To Visit
The days after spring football gave Irving (Texas) athlete
J.J. Gaines some downtime from recruiting. He hasn't really been focused on
the process, but now that summer has started he has been getting ready to travel
to as many campuses as he can attend.
"Basically, I have just been trying to head out to camps this summer," Gaines
said. "I just attended the Rice camp and I'm going to attend the Baylor camp and
the A&M camp coming up, and that is all I know so far. I'm just researching all
the colleges I have offers from to see where I fit in."
5-foot-11, 175-pound athlete said he is looking hard at a few schools. Those
consist of Baylor, Louisiana Tech, Texas Tech and Tulsa. He said he still speaks
to Red Raider defensive back coach ravaris Robinson and hopes to make an
appearance in Lubbock sometime this summer.
"Couple of weeks ago I spoke to Coach Robinson," Gaines said. "We were talking
about camp and camping down there. I wasn't able to make it because I had to
take my pre-SAT class. We were talking about when I could go down there."
Gaines is not only researching various schools, but also his potential future
coaches as well.
"[Robinson] seems like he knows what he is talking about," Gaines said. "I know
he tried out for the Falcons. So, he doesn’t only know how to coach, but I guess
he also knows how to play."
Gaines said if he were to attend Tech, he wants to change the way people look at
defense in Lubbock.
"I like that they are know for their offense, and I'm playing defense," Gaines
said. "I want to help the defense out and make them known what they aren’t known
for."
Gotcher Is Wide Open
Garland (Texas) Lakeview Centennial guard
Toddrick Gotcher is having a busy summer with his AAU team, but the 6-foot-3
shooting guard said he will start focusing more on recruiting once the summer is
closer to an end.
"Right now, I don't have any favorites. I'm wide open," Gotcher said. "I'm going
to wait until after July and see if any other schools come in and make an offer.
After July, I'm going to try to narrow my list down and work on that stuff."
Lately, Gotcher has picked up a couple new offers from Houston and San Jose
State. He is also planning some unofficial visits and looking to take more.
"Lately, I have been picking up a few offers from schools around here and a few
schools in California, and I went on an unofficial yesterday to Baylor, and my
parents got shown around," Gotcher said. "The visit went well. I played against
the guys in the open gym, and I'm familiar with all the coaches so we get along
well. Me and two other guys from my AAU team played against the Baylor team, and
they are pretty good."
Aside from the trip to Baylor, Gotcher said he might take another soon.
"Maybe Wednesday or Thursday, me and my point guard, Chris Jones, were talking
about going on an unofficial to North Texas," Gotcher said, "even though I have
already been there, but they want me back there to check in with the athletic
director and chancellors."
As for Gotcher's relationship with Texas Tech, he said they are still in the
picture and he really likes the coaching staff in place at Tech. He said that in
his college choice, he wants to make sure the coaching staff is going to stay
intact.
"First, I'm looking for how big and great their education is," Gotcher said,
"and then I'm looking at the coaches, seeing if they would leave early or go pro
or whatever, so I make sure the coaches are going to stay there. And the main
part is, I want to play right away when I get to college; I don't want to
redshirt."
Everyone Even With Brown
Irving (Texas) Irving McArthur cornerback
Jalen Brown was recently in Lubbock to take part in one of the Red Raiders
summer camps. Although the trip to the South Plains has been his only camp trip
so far, he plans on stopping by two more.
"No, I have only been to the Texas Tech camp," Brown said. "But I am planning on
going to LSU and then try and go to OU's camp."
The 6-foot, 173-pounder was offered by the Red Raiders shortly after he left the
South Plains and other programs have begun jumping on board as well.
got that offer from Tech after their camp and then I just got an offer from
Arizona," Brown said. "Those have been my most recent offers."
Since participating at Texas Tech's camp Brown has been in frequently contact
with cornerbacks coach Travaris Robinson.
"Yeah, I called Coach Robinson a few days ago," Brown said. "He was just telling
me different things about if I went to Texas Tech and trying to teach me some
things about what they are doing with their defense.
"But ultimately I am just trying to get to know him better as a coach and as a
person overall."
With already quite a few offers in hand and soon to be more coming, Brown is not
quite ready to name a leader yet.
"Not as of right now there isn't anyone really standing out to me," Brown said.
Though no one is standing out for the Irving prospect, there is a timetable on
when he would like to make a decision.
"Yeah I want to try and have my decision made up by the time my season starts,"
Brown said.
More Tuberville Quotes From Thursday
Texas Tech head coach Tommy Tuberville spoke to the media yesterday regarding
the various facility upgrades underway; below are the quotes that we did not use
in yesterday's story.
Tuberville's opening statement:
TT: "We've got a lot of things going here, not just in the
football stadium but also here in the football complex. We've had some private
donors do some great things for us the last five months. It's all private money.
We're redoing our entire weight room. The locker room, we're doing first class
for our players, we're doing a lot of renovations to our practice fields.
"The stadium is just unbelievable. When I got here I saw the construction, but I
never imagined how much it was going to enhance our stadium. Not just the west
side, but the east side is now going to be just as good and I think it's going
to pay a lot of dividends to people who want to sit in luxury, have a nice meal,
enjoy the game from a different perspective.
"It's really going to help in a lot of ways. Number one in recruiting, that's
the lifeblood of your program so as a head coach here I am really excited about
what the administration and Gerald Myers have really done to help enhance what
we already had going to another level."
On the changes made to the weight room:
TT: "I thought our weight room was adequate as it was but it
wasn't the type of weight room that I believe in that builds strength and speed.
This weight room will be done Friday and our players are excited about that. As
I said, we're totally redoing the dressing room as we speak our players are
dressing in the stadium. They'll move back probably around the 4th of July."
On the NFL helmet wall and focusing on history:
TT: "The thing that players want to see when they come to your
campus is to feel the tradition. And there's nothing better than seeing pictures
of players and coaches from the past and what they've done, how they've done it.
Then they'll walk into another room ? it used to be the players' lounge ? and
now it's kind of the hall of fame room where players can walk into the room and
see the players that played here and went on to the next level in the NFL."
On the practice fields:
TT: "At first we were going to put artificial turf on both
(practice) fields. And I felt with the time restraints and getting everything in
the right frame, we wanted to have at least one turf. We're doing the defensive
field as we call it, the offensive field will be grass. For plans in the future,
after going through one spring practice here, with the wind, and the cold, and
the rain, and the snow, and the ice, we'll eventually need some place to
practice indoors. Now, whether we put it on the second practice field, that's
yet to be determined but I think that'd be a great location.
"It's a surface that's a little bit softer than what we have on the game field.
And if you're on it every day, you need a softer surface so that if a guy falls
down you don't have him near as sore. But the surface on the game field is great
and I think this is going to be great. It's going to look very similar."
Quick Hits
* Spring (Texas) Klein Oak defensive lineman
Jon Lewis is expected to visit Texas Tech in July.
* Dallas (Texas) Skyline defensive end
Marquel Bryant lists an offer from the Red Raiders.
To view previous installments of the Red Raider Confidential, you can
visit the archives by
clicking here.
Remember, if you're looking for Texas Tech gear or Under Armour apparel, be sure
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This post was edited on 6/25 12:03 AM by A. Dickens
