There's been a perception from some that this class was an obvious failure.... so I have been comparing classes with on3's industry rankings with this class being mostly done outside of 2 players or so (and before flipmas) .

I calculated some things based on on3's industry rating to account for all sites that hopefully better balances how classes are evaluated throughout media

Heres some things i calculated
Tx percentage
Blue chip percentage (greater than 88 on on3 industry equates to 4 star or borderline)
TX top 100 or equivalent for out of state ( someone said somewhere if you get 10 top 100 texas players you got yourself a class)

Here is the last 4 classes (i counted 22 since joey and them played a part)

2025 as of (7/2)


2024


2023


2022



The 2025 class imo seems to be the headed towards how the 2023 class finished up. If they get some flips/bumps they might be able to beat it.

Heres how the class ranks in these metrics compared to our other classes

Tx Percentage rank: last
Blue chip rank: 3rd for now
TX top 100 rank: 2nd
Nat rank: 3rd
Pos rank: last for now
average rank: last for now
median rank: 3rd

The "for nows" i expect to change with rating updates. The midwest lineman should be getting bumped as well as a few of our other players. I think our blue chip rank for this class will get to second with an olineman and lb getting bumped to a 4 star (burns is considered blue chip in my formula).

So how much worse is this class? not worse than 22, about the same as 23 and is out of reach of the 24 class.
We should be pumped for this class like we were for 2023 while also acknowledging that we lost some head to heads partly because of how epic 2024/2023 classes were. The fact we lost that many head to heads and still could beat the 2023 class is a testament to this staffs process..... but i do hate "losing" to rival schools in season or offseason

I think a reasonable goal (not expectation) for this staff is
above 40% blue chip
above 50% top texas 100 or equivalent
as long as we continue to be top 2-3 in recruiting in the big 12 and strive for these goals we should be cooking!

Im planning on updating this again before signing day to see how much the ratings improve.

Honestly didn't want to dig through the entire portal thread so I wanted to summarize the movement so far here for Texas Tech.

OUTGOING

Travis Sanders - FR ---> Baylor
Landon Stripling - FR ---> Florida
Gage Harrelson - SO ---> Florida State
Taber Fast - SO ---> TBD
Jack Washburn - JR ---> TBD
Gavin Kash - JR ---> TBD
Owen Washburn - JR ---> TBD
Garret Boehm - FR ---> TBD

INCOMING

Solen Munson - FR - Catcher Good pickup for catching depth from ASU (Shows him on the 2024 roster?)
Zach Crotchfelt - SO - LHP 55K's in 49 Innings at Auburn
Peyton Schulze - JR - 1B/DH Played in 151 games as a 3 year starter at Cal. 117 career RBI and likely you're everyday 1B to replace Kash
Lukas Pirko - FR - RHP Immediately a factor in the weekend rotation. 5-3 with a 3.84 ERA at Cal Baptist as a true freshman
Logan Hughes - FR - OF Plug in replacement for Washburn/Harrelson. OPS of .913 at Stetson
Jack Cebert - JR - RHP Strike thrower, innings eater. I like this as a Sunday guy with the upside of Saturday's if he can keep the ball down. 57 walks in 190IP is a breath of fresh air.

I really like the additions so far. I don't see a one year rental outside of Schulze coming in to play 1B with Kash leaving. Hughes is a corner OF with power and years to play, but with several years to play. Pirko/Crotchfelt/Cebert are certainly good adds but have some high BAA. Hopefully a little development across the board will give you a little breathing room as the young guns continue to marinate.

Schulze and Hughes are immediate starters and give you a great core. Wishlist for me is another LHP, either starter or reliever that has some experience and one more big bat OF type.

JUCO ADDITIONS

Antonelli Savattere - SO - IF/OF - Most likely your leadoff hitter immediately. 8K's the entire season. Holt/Hester clone.
JT Drake - SO - RHP - 15 Saves in 25 Apps at Pima CC as a freshman. 10-4 in 98 IP as a SO. Big add.
Jonny Lowe - SO - RHP - 36K's in 31 Innings at Cisco. Another young arm to work with.



C - Maxcey/Munson/Rivers*
1B - Schulze/Rivers
2B/SS - Burns/Pompey/Burns/Lopez
3B - McGee
OF - Bravo/Hughes/Burns
Util - Savattere

SP - Petty/Hutyra/Pirko/Cebert/Cebert/Heuer/Drake/TBD
RP - Parrish/Coe/Rogers/Kaase/Rhodes/Trombello/Lowe

I think you will see quite a bit of churn in the bullpen, but the youth of the staff as a whole is going to be interesting to watch.

I'm sure I'm missing someone. So feel free to add and I will update the OP.

George Garcia is transferring from LCU to Tech. He runs the 400M.

So my pup has had diabetes, was diagnosed with congestive heart failure a couple of months ago, and her kidneys are starting to fail which has led to her not eating. She hasn't had a regular meal in at least 3 days, isn't taking her meds, and isn't even eating treats. She's still wagging her tail, going on walks, and being happy enough but the vet has said that as her kidney issue progresses she will be uncomfortable and potentially in pain. Plus, her not eating is especially bad given that she has to get insulin.

Lilly was my Dad's dog, and when he passed away in 2019 she came to live with me. She's a miniature poodle and is the first dog I've had that isn't a lab, and though poodles are not a breed that would usually be a preference for me, Lilly is one of the sweetest creatures on this earth. She was abused as a puppy and Dad got her as a rescue; she's always been nervous because of the abuse but over the years has gotten to really trust and enjoy being around people. I feel like she and I have been to war together dealing with the loss of my Dad and her various health issues (including having to give her two shots a day the past few years -- neither she nor I were really happy about that but we made it work). Dad absolutely adored this dog so I felt like I need to give her the best life I could.

I'm taking her to the vet at 5:15. She's been on a walk today and it's been a good day, which has only made me second guess whether I should do this. Then I think about her not eating and I realize that every day she doesn't eat is one step closer to her starting to have severe, uncomfortable issues. Dogs can easily pick up when you're upset so I've been pretty careful not to act sad around her, but this is a gut wrenching day. It feels really surreal in a bad way to be sitting here playing with her knowing that in a few hours she'll be gone.

This is the third pet I've had to do this with and it never gets easier. They truly are family and there will be a serious void here in a few hours.

UPDATE JULY 2:

Thanks again for the response -- really helped a very difficult situation to read other experiences. And thanks @MJT01 -- I took your comment about the only cure being a new puppy to heart.

Here is my new pup Bart, a Pyredoodle (Standard Poodle / Great Pyrenees mix). He's 3 months old and already weighs 30 lbs. Gonna be a big boy! (That third picture is Bart playing tug of war with a full grown 80 lb. lab, and Bart won a couple of rounds). I still miss Lilly like crazy, but Bart is keeping us focused on other things!

Here is the latest Ask Level episode with myself and @C. Level - enjoy.

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In Wolfforth the Chez Sami location there will be closing soon, and in downtown Lubbock Burklee Hill Winery & Restaurant is on their final weekend.............

On a positive note, the former Tom & Bingo's location has a new tenant, an ice cream place that also operates a food truck............"The Rolling Cones".........

True icon of Texas

That China will soon have a military base in Cuba, to go along with it's existing and expanding electronic eavesdropping capabilities.


The study from the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-based think tank, follows reporting last year by The Wall Street Journal that China and Cuba were negotiating closer defense and intelligence ties, including establishing a new joint military training facility on the island and an eavesdropping facility.

At the time, the Journal reported that Cuba and China were already jointly operating eavesdropping stations on the island, according to U.S. officials, who didn’t disclose their locations. It couldn’t be determined which, if any, of those are included in the sites covered by the CSIS report.

Amazing what lengths JFK done to keep Communist Russia out of Cuba. Meanwhile, Biden does nothing to keep Communist China out of Cuba. It's like he is allowing China to do anything it wants, whenever they want. It's as if Biden is compromised somehow by China,,,

So far, we've got three in the portal. I'll update as we go here.

Feel free to discuss potential interests or targets here.

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Cancer….again…. 😞

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What a great day in Florida for vacation with the family.

30 years ago today, I hoodwinked my wife into marrying me, after 4 years of dating.

She is as big of a Red Raider as you can be, and she had our 3rd baby exactly 9 months after Harrell to Crabtree.

Today started off with a wonderful surprise as Coach McGuire FaceTimed my wife to say Happy Anniversary and she damn near dropped her coffee when she saw who it was.

After some pleasantries and small talk, Joey quickly went into “salesman mode”, and talked about the Facility upgrades, and recruiting after she said something to the effect of “Coach, we need some O Line commits”. He assured her all will be fine and we have some big boys that will jump onboard soon, so relax all you naysayers.

Anyways, congrats to Jenni, for putting up with my ass for 30 years and here’s to many more years and Red Raider victories together.

The following are known Tech athletes that are in the Olympics this year and the countries they will represent.
Ludvig Aberg---golf---Sweden
Shannon Tan---golf---Singapore
Janine Beckie---soccer---Canada
Monae Nichols---T&F---USA
Alaysha Johnson---T&F---USA
Andrew Hudson---T&F---Jamaica

So, Clay Mcguire and Cochran had that video interview during the spring. I thought Clays interview was the more telling part. He talks highly of Caleb Rogers versatility and i think he feels good with Buchanan at RT. Can't remember if He mentions Scurry, but he seems to be a lock at LG. But then he mentions Sheridan Wilson, i love the fact that we have a home-grown guy that's going to likely start. Not sure where D carter will end up. Thats the big elephant in the room, I think.

But then there's Left tackle.

Lots of people were after Mo. Rodrigues, and Sterlen Porcher has a lot of experience. but i pulled the PFF grades game by game for Porcher and his efficiencies were high, but he wasn't even the highest graded blocker on Middle Tenn. State last year... not sure if i can share those or not...

Back to Mcguire's interview. another guy he mentioned was Dalton Merriman, 6'9" dude back form injury. The other guy Clay mentioned in a sort of pleasantly surprised manner and is projected to start is Sherry, food for thought.

Lastly, South Carolina transfer Jaxon Hughes brought in late spring... The coaching staff is serious about having no holes on the line, and i think your starting two deep should be Hughes and Merriman.. can you shed any light or say anything on this subject @B. Golan ?

Sorry for the Novel.

Home: Colorado, Iowa State, Baylor, UCF, West Virginia

Away: BYU, Utah, Cincinnati, Kansas, Kansas State

Home and Away: Arizona, Arizona State, Houston, Oklahoma State, TCU

I realize that I'm top-ticking this phenomenon but I just bought a sweet Jarrett Culver dunk on NBA Top Shot. Anyone else mess around with this or NFTs in general?

Let me go ahead and answer some Q&As:

Q: did you just pay money for a gif on the internet?

A: yes

Q: why?

A: idk blockchain it's unique who knows.

The TNT Supercenters seem to have the best deals, but wondering where everyone stocks up. I usually just go to one of the stands on 179, but always am underwhelmed with what we pay for (for the big stuff). Some pictures for your thoughts...

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SEC Network showing OU vs Texas from last year.

Spoke with Kaleb Burns’ trainer about him. Tech’s offered at least 4 of his linebackers in 2026, too.

After the Aggie " goal post" game that saw aggie on Aggie violence, there was a letter penned by someone that was a take off of Travis letter from the Alamo.

Anyone remember or have that letter?

SIAP in the other thread, but had anyone seen a link for the new Tech Adidas sneaker other than at Red Raider Outfitter. I'd rather give the purchase to someone else, like Cardinals, etc.

Started own thread in case anyone else wondering the same.

Tech Adidas shoe at RRO

Would folks be interested in a group that meets monthly for business leads and references?

Sales guys, business owners, BD, etc. folks alike. People that want to network and discuss what they do. Let me know if there’s interest.