Friday can only mean one thing for the discriminating Red Raider fan: time for another edition of the Red Raider Confidential. As always, we begin this session with the ground rules. Everything that is reported in the Red Raider Confidential must stay well… confidential. That's the way this deal works. The Red Raider Confidential is posted in the premium forum to ensure that this information stays exclusively within the Raider Nation.
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Weird twist in Hollins story
On Thursday, we revealed part of a conversation that we had with current Texas Tech commitment Jonathan Hollins. Here’s more of that talk.
“I’ve been doing good,” said Hollins. “I’m working out, practicing, taking classes, and trying to get better in the classroom and on the field. In the spring I did pretty good. I went home and took classes. All of them are transferable so my GPA should be pretty good.”
Summer workouts are in full force at College of the Canyons.
“We practice about four days a week and I’m just out there getting it. We go till about 7 to 11 in the morning. I’m out there working and going with the skill guys. I’ve picked up a few pounds, I’m 280 now. So I’m trying to keep it up and keep everything in tact. I picked it up but it’s not a bad weight, it’s lean weight. If you saw me, you’d probably think I’m 265. So it’s not really bad.”
Not being able to qualify the first time and make it to Division-I football, Hollins says he’s learned from the past.
“It took the whole experience from JUCO to learn form my mistakes and I don’t’ want to make the same mistake twice. At the same time, I want to make sure all my classes are transferable so I can get everything done.”
We previously mentioned the amount of interest that Hollins has been showing LSU and vice versa. After meeting with Les Miles a few months ago, Hollins isn’t sure how close he is to a scholarship and still needs to get some things done to help his case with the Tigers.
“I’ve been so busy that I haven’t sent them my transcripts because I’m focused on handling my business. That would be the reason I haven’t talked to many schools.”
So will Hollins be seeking out other schools as well?
“No, what I learned from high school recruiting is that I’m going to let them contact me once I handle my business in the classroom and field and see what happens. If they really want me, then they’ll find me.
What about the Red Raiders? They’re the ones that Hollins is currently committed to.
“I have read a lot of great things about the team and I think they have a shot to be a BCS team and it’s going good. They have a powerful offense and I think a lot of people are looking past their defense but they’re coming up.”
While Hollins does say that he will be visiting Tech in the fall on an official visit, he will not comment any further on the possibility of other visits.
“I might not. I don’t know yet. I’m going to stay on it. I’m on a mission and my mission is to be the best d-end in junior college football. That’s my focus. I’m on a mission. That’s my mission.”
That was the conclusion of our conversation with Hollins when he texted us only minutes later.
“Hey, this is Jonathan again,” said the text. “I’m about to transfer to Snow College. I’m going to sign with them in a few days. Let’s talk about this on the next story when I actually get there. I want to get everything finalized first. Thanks.”
This indeed is a puzzling and interesting twist. We’ve been in close contact with College of Canyons head coach Garret Tujague. As of Wednesday afternoon, he showed no sign of doubt that Hollins would not be on his roster this fall.
Tech fans can only hope that this is the last time Hollins changes his mind but it definitely brings doubt to this entire situation. We called Snow College head coach Steve Coburn to see if he could add light to this situation and to find out if this helped or hurt Tech’s situation.
“Jonathan called us and said he wanted to transfer a while ago and then decided he was going to stay there,” explained Coburn. “He called us again about two weeks ago and said he changed his mind and wants to come out. We haven’t signed a letter of intent, we’re going off Jonathan telling us what he wants us to do.
“We’d be very excited about it, but until it happens, I’m not going to count on it because I know how teenage boys are. But we’re very excited to have Jonathan in our program which would be solidifying our defensive line. We feel like it’d look great with Jonathan at the defensive end spot.
Not only is Coburn familiar with Hollins’ current position, but he also has Tech connections.
“I have talked to Brian Mitchell. I knew him well when he was here at BYU. I called Brian originally when Jonathan contacted me and he gave him rave reviews. Jonathan was considering other schools and Brian said he’d love to have him here with us and develop our program.
“I know Tech still wants him back. Brian had told me that the defensive coordinator is still excited about him and still want him back. We’ve always tried to get someone to Tech. We got one to TA&M but not Tech. It’d be great to have Tech on our board as well. A letter of intent has not been signed yet though.”
Tujague had relationships with Mitchell and also LSU. Coburn seems to be in that same boat as well.
“We’ve been in contact with coach Crowton (offensive coordinator) at LSU who was at BYU as well. They are very interested in him.”
Tujague always made it clear that he would try his best to have his athletes honor their commitments to their schools. So what’s Coburn’s stance?
“Our policy is that if he’s signed with a university that he’s not put out on a recruiting list, then we use the term ‘protected’ for that university until a general consensus is decided and confirmed that they don’t want to fulfill those terms. We have several players who have signed up to other places but if he goes through us then his name will not go out to anyone else besides Tech until Tech or Jonathan tells me otherwise.
“He has to talk to the coach and then the coach has to talk to me before that player is put on any recruiting list. So yes, we will protect him. He won’t be released to LSU unless we hear otherwise from Tech. We do it that way so that people will continue to want to put their players here with us. He’s protected.”
It’s evident that Hollins can contact LSU if he wants and it seems like that’s more of a possibility than not. The choice of junior college probably doesn’t effect Tech too much at this point. The most revealing fact about the move, if it indeed happens, shows that Hollins can change his mind at the last minute.
We won’t feel comfortable about Hollins commitment until he inks with Tech next February. Be aware that LSU will not be the only BCS team that will be going after him either. He’s got enough talent to be on the best defensive ends in the country and once he starts developing the numbers, others will come.
With all that being said, Tech is continuing to evaluate other defensive line talent around the country.
Sims on board and recruiting more
We had mentioned earlier in the week that we had once believed that Tech commit De’Anthony Sims went to a mini-camp at Oklahoma State. Yet the Houston native told us that he wasn’t able to go because of a school conflict … although does that mean he didn’t want to go? Was Sims only thinking about visiting Stillwater because his teammates were going?
“Well, yeah. You could say that,” said Sims. “I’m still sticking with my decision. The OSU coaches came to visit me once at school during the school year and we talked a little bit at that time.”
The three-star tackle says that he does not speak to the Cowboys coaching staff any more and hasn’t since the visit he speaks of last spring. So does that mean that Sims is only talking to Tech?
“I call the coach at Oregon every now and then but I’m still good with my decision.”
Sims adds that his head coach has not mentioned any other schools calling or recruiting the senior standout.
“He just said do what I feel and he supports my decision.”
Still need a little more proof that Sims isn’t second guessing himself? Well, ok.
He voluntarily brought up Tech recruiting and how things have been shaping up for the Red Raiders over the last few months.
“It’s looking good. I met Daniel Cobb when I went up there. When I was talking to Coach Littrell last week, they were telling me about a quarterback from Friendswood that just committed, too. He was just telling me about him. That sounds good.”
Not only is Sims watching the Tech recruiting season unfold but when we asked him about his future senior season, he brought up another factor that makes us believe that Sims is a Red Raider to stay.
“I just can’t wait till the season starts with Charles Sims at running back. Tech wanted him to come up there with me but he says he’s going to stick with U of H.”
Sims attends school with the running back Sims (no relation), who the Red Raiders have been looking at heavily as of lately. So even though Charles says that he’s not going to change his mind, De’Anthony adds that it doesn’t stop him from still brining it up.
“Yeah, we joke around about it and stuff. It’d be nice to have him up there. I really don’t know if I can talk him into it. I think he wants to stay close to home, I just don’t really know. But don’t worry, I’ll still try to work on him a little bit. He doesn’t say much about it, I just joke around with him. I don’t know if he’d change his mind but I’m going to keep trying still signing day.”
As a defensive player, Sims has had much time watching his star offensive player from the sideline.
“He’s a good running back. He knows how to make stuff happen. He’s explosive. One minute it looks like he’s about to get tackled and then the next thing you know he’s broken up the field for a 40 yard play.”
Sims’ persistence on his fellow teammate, along with the excitement in his voice when speaking about Tech, tells us that he should be added to the signee list in seven months.
Q&A: ’09 Safety Commit Ryan Clark
Earlier this week we reported that junior college defensive lineman Jonathan Hollins had spoken to LSU head coach Les Miles and would possibly change his commitment if offered by LSU. We caught up with the other junior college commit in the class, Navarro J.C. safety Ryan Clark to see if any other schools are recruiting him and if he is looking around.
RRS: Are there any school still recruiting you?
RC: “Some of the other schools recruiting me are Kansas State, Oklahoma State, Wisconsin, Tulsa, TCU and UH.”
RRS: Have any of them offered you?
RC: “The coach from Kansas State told me he was going to offer me. One of my teammates, Anthony Morgan, he committed to Oklahoma State three or four days ago. Oklahoma State’s defensive back coach asked him if I could go up there and visit and then they would offer me a scholarship, but I told him I’m not going to be taking visits. It’s like, why try to recruit me now after I committed to Tech? They told me they had a new recruiting coach or whatever so I kind of got lost in the mix and that I was one of the top players on their board that they want to recruit. Pretty much all of those other schools say the same thing. Some of them have actually gone to my high school coach to see if I would change my mind, but I’m not. I’m a Texas Tech Red Raider.”
RRS: What do you say to the coaches from the other schools when they call you?
RC: “Those other schools will call me, but it’s nothing more than a phone call. They know I’m committed to Tech and I tell them I’m 110% committed to Tech, so I guess they’re calling me just to see where I’m at. I know all of these other coaches are going to keep calling me, but I have to watch what I say to them because they might tell the Tech coaches or something and get me in trouble. So I really don’t have too much to say to them when they call me, but I’ll listen to what they have to say. There are a lot of schools trying to get at me, but I’m a Red Raider.”
RRS: Why did you choose Tech ?
RC: “Coach Mitchell had come down to watch some of my practices. I wasn’t really all that interested in Tech since they hadn’t recruited me out of high school. So he went into the office and looked at my transcript and then talked to my coach, Coach Cook and said they were going to offer me a scholarship. I think lot of coaches say the exact same thing so I didn’t really think much of it. But Coach Mitchell called me a little later and asked me when school was going to be over, so I told him ‘next week’ and then he told me ‘I’m going to be there tomorrow.’ He came real early in the morning and we sat down and talked and he told me he wanted to offer me a full scholarship. He told me they’re graduating six safeties, so I figured I’ll be able to come in and start right away if I do what I’m supposed to do. The coaches from Wisconsin were recruiting me to play cornerback, but they didn’t offer me right away so it wasn’t good with them. I wanted to play in Texas. So after the meeting I told Coach Mitchell I would get back with him. I called my mother after that and talked to her about it and she said she would support my decision if I wanted to go to Tech. So I walked outside and I prayed about it for a little while, then I told Coach Mitchell I wanted to be a Red Raider.”
RRS: What do you think about the hype surrounding Tech heading into this season?
RC: “I saw the Dave Campbell’s Texas Football magazine, it had Crabtree and Graham Harrell on the front. I saw that magazine, I’ll go on the internet and watch Crabtree highlights and what not. I know they have a good offense, but they need to get their defense up. I know when I go there, I know we’ll have the offense, but I want to get the defense up to the same level as the offense.“
RRS: How do you see yourself fitting in at Tech?
RC: “I think I can come in and play and be an impact player. I’m a real hyper person I’m going to bring a lot of energy to the defense. I love to win. I love to play football. I understand school is important and that I need my education, but my life revolves around football. But football wants to make me try harder in school. I’m coming off of my injury, so sometimes I’ll just be chilling in my room and I’ll work on my breaks there on the carpet in my room. I really like my coaches here at Navarro, all of them. They try to better me as a player, a student, and a man.”
RRS: Is there anything you want to tell Red Raider fans?
RC: “I’m working hard and I’m ready to come to Lubbock. I dream about it. They don’t have anything to worry about, I’m going to be a Texas Tech Red Raider.”
Dent no longer an option for Tech
We spoke to defensive lineman Richard Dent this week and it appears that he and Tech will be going their separate ways in the recruiting process. While Dent wasn’t a huge priority for the Red Raiders, it does appear at this point that he will be leaving the Lone Star State.
“I just kinda want to get out of the state,” said Dent. “I have been here my whole life, and I just want to see what’s out there. So that’s why I’m not really considering Texas Tech anymore.”
Again, this shouldn’t be considered a huge loss or anything, but we just thought we’d pass along that he isn’t someone that will be in the mix going forward.
Pros and Cons with Joel Gray
We asked Joel Gray, Tech’s top offensive line target, what he liked and disliked about Texas Tech and Stanford, his two final schools. Though he was able to spout off the positives very quickly, it did take him quite a while to find something he didn’t like about either of the schools.
Stanford:
Pros- “I guess it would just be that it’s a great education and it’s in California, which is kinda cool.”
Cons- “It’s just so far away from home.”
Texas Tech:
Pros- “The biggest positive for them is obviously just the football and the college town atmosphere and the players. Those are all huge for Tech.”
Cons- “I guess, that would be, ummm, (pause) I don’t know. I really don’t know. I guess maybe if they don’t do well next year, that would be a negative, because they should be really, really good this year. But, yeah, that’s a pretty tough question right there.”
We can’t emphasize enough just how important Gray is to this class. If Tech lands him, they have two incredibly high quality cornerstones on the line for this class in Gray and Kyle Clark, and that would go a long way toward making this class a resounding success.
Oh, and how about one more tidbit on Gray?
For those of you worried about Oklahoma potentially swooping in and snatching up Joel Gray, if we were you, we wouldn’t be worried at all. It is our opinion around here that Gray is very happy with Stanford and Texas Tech, and we believe he’ll attend one of those two institutions, regardless of who offers in between now and February.
Don’t Count on Harris
While Jack Harris hasn’t officially eliminated the Red Raiders from contention, he has indicated that he would like to make his decision before the season starts, and since he hasn’t visited Texas Tech, we asked him what that would mean for the Red Raiders.
“Well, I probably won’t get to visit them,” he said. “I just doubt I’ll get to visit there after all.”
Harris also explained to us that Oregon and Colorado are standing out in his eyes right now, and even went as far as to say that it is “pretty much” just Oregon and Colorado in the hunt at this point.
We’ll still keep tabs on the situation, because Harris is a guy that Matt Moore appears to like quite a bit, and we’d be surprised if he lets him go without a fight, but for now, it doesn’t look like he’ll be a realistic option in this class.
Fisher Impressed by Wylie
When Aaron Fisher made the trip down to Lubbock a few weeks ago, he was impressed by virtually everything he saw. But what really caught his eye was the weight lifting regimen of the football team.
The three-star prospect got a close up look at what it’s like to be in the program while on his visit by watching Bennie Wylie put the team through a workout, a sight that he won’t soon forget.
“I got to watch them lift weights as a team and everything,” said Fisher. “That was just really intense. I mean, we work out at a high intensity at our high school, but that’s something else that they were doing. They just work out real fast, with stations and that stuff and it was fun to watch. Plus, those facilities are amazing.”
And just what were his thoughts on Wylie personally?
“Oh man, that guy’s a beast,” he laughed. “He looked like he was more jacked than the players themselves. That’s the kind of guy I could really work hard for right there.”
Suspension update
- Sources within the football program indicate that of the two suspended players for the 2008 season in safety sophomore safety Steven Harris and junior running back Kobey Lewis that only Lewis is welcomed back.
There was some talk that Harris wasn't going to be eligible for this season even before the suspensions occurred but with Lewis, if he does some things and sticks around you, could see him back on the roster next Spring. He is definitely out for the ’08-’09 season though.
Stay tuned.
Crockett Comes to Town
After committing to Texas Tech this spring, Clovis (NM) wing Jaye Crockett made the trip to Lubbock a few weeks ago to meet his future teammates and join them on the floor for a few pick-up games.
“We came up and played with the guys a little while ago,” he said. “It went good. It was me and Jaden Isler (will be playing at LCU next season) and we just came up to see what it was like and everything. It just showed me how much I need to step up my game to play at that level. It’s just a completely different game.”
Crockett says he feels like he held his own, but says there is plenty of room for improvement.
“We just played a couple of 5-on-5 little pick-up games and stuff like that,” he said. “I’m pretty sure it was all the guys from the Tech team, and then me and Jaden, so it was pretty fun. I guess I did OK for my first time playing with those guys, but I did see how much better I need to get.”
And just what stood out the most to the senior-to-be?
“I would say just the speed of the game in general and how strong the players are,” he said. “Every player out there was fast and strong, and that’s just a little different from high school ball.”
And having seen just what the college game looks like in person, Crockett has switched up his training regime a little bit. With the help of his high school coach and some of his old teammates, he feels like he’s taking a step in the right direction.
“I had been just lifting with football, which had been good, but I’m moving over to working out with our trainer later this month,” he explained. “I feel like I’m getting a lot stronger, so this should only help. I’ve also been doing this 40-minute workout that Coach Isler showed me that is basically just a crazy bunch of shooting, conditioning, dribbling, and free throws all on a forty minute timer. It’s pretty intense, for sure. Jaden (Isler) and I have been doing it, and it just helps so much having him around to push me. Him and Bryce (Hill) and Layne (Strebeck) have just pushed me so much, and I feel like just them competing with me everyday really will eventually make this transition a lot easier. It helps when you’re trying to get a lot better to have older guys like that who really push you.”
Also, because of his commitment to Tech, he won’t be taking any visits this summer either, and has declined all camp invitations he’s received.
Hoops update
- The Red Raider basketball team started off with a commitment from Clovis, New Mexico small forward Jaye Crockett and they could follow that up with one from point guard Justin Jordan of Fort Wayne, Indiana.
We are set to speak with Jordan soon but all signs point to things looking good for Texas Tech on that front. We are also told to expect a large recruiting class this year with as many as five signees and as few as four.
Two options that Tech are heavily in the mix with are South Plains College shooting guard David Tairu (6-foot-3, 177-pounds) and Gulf Coast Community College small forward Brad Reese (6-foot-6, 200-pounds).
*Note: Reese is listed incorrectly in the database as a ’08 prospect.
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