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Big Visit Week On Tap
we began reporting earlier this week, it looks as if Texas Tech will be hosting
three big targets on unofficial visits over the next seven days.
Orlando (Fla.) Boone OL
Max Lang - It is pretty unusual for an out-of-state prospect, especially one
that lives so far away, to visit a program twice in a three or four week span,
but that is exactly what Lang is doing. He was obviously impressed enough on his
first trip to want his father to get a look at what the Red Raiders have to
offer. Still, despite the near back-to-back visits to West Texas, it's hard to
imagine Lang committing during his trip.
Spring (Texas) Klein Oak DL
Jon Lewis - This visit has been in the works for some time, and was
originally thought to be scheduled for earlier in July. As we reported in the
spring, Lewis' older brother will be a freshman at Texas Tech this fall, and so
this upcoming trip has been timed to coincide with Red Raider Orientation, thus
allowing the Lewis family to kill two birds with one stone.
Missouri City (Texas) F.B. Marshall ATH
DeAndre Washington - Much like with Lewis, this trip has also been on the
docket for a while, having been pushed back twice. Ever since Washington first
began telling people that he wanted his mom to see Texas Tech up close, our take
has been the same -- we think he's leaning toward the Red Raiders, wants his mom
to be onboard with his decision and is hoping that a visit to the Hub City will
do the trick. It wouldn't shock us if he pulled the trigger during his trip, but
he's been telling people that he's going to take a few days to decide and that
looks like the most likely outcome at this point.
- Dickens
2012 OL Enjoyed Visit
Edna (Texas) offensive lineman
Mac Long is only in the preliminary stages of what should be a promising
recruitment and Texas Tech is one of two programs with an early offer out to the
2012 prospect. Long and his family made an impromptu stop in Lubbock recently on
the way back from a family function in New Mexico.
"I was with my dad, mom, brother and sister. We've been planning it for probably
less than a month," Long said. "I went up there to a family reunion in New
Mexico and we just swung back through Lubbock on our way home. It was really
nice. All of the facilities and everything else was nice. The coaches were nice,
the whole nine yards."
Long came away impressed with the renovations taking place on campus, including
some of those spurred on by the arrival of head coach Tommy Tuberville.
"They showed me everything," he said. "The stadium, weight room, and the locker
room. All of the facilities are top of the line. Coach Tuberville has done a
really good job of renovating some things and it looks good."
The Red Raiders' running backs coach, Chad Scott, has been Long's primary
recruiter and the two have developed a relationship that is built upon
regularly.
"He's a really good guy. I've been calling him almost every week since June,"
Long said. "He's a really genuine guy. What he say is exactly how it is."
The team's offensive line coach, Matt Moore, has also spent some time in
conversation with the 6-foot-4, 277-pounder, impressing the soon-to-be junior
early on.
"He's a really good guy," Long said. "He'll answer any question you can ask and
seems like a nice guy who'd treat you right. He seems like he'd know how to
coach some football."
Long said that, at this point, he is does not have a specific favorite.
"I like the main three: Texas, Texas A&M, and Texas Tech," he said.
Long has been making the rounds this summer attending a junior day at Houston,
as well as camps at Baylor, SMU, Texas, Texas A&M and TCU. He intends on taking
his time with a decision, wanting to leave time for all options to present
themselves.
"Probably the spring of my junior year, going into the summer maybe," he said.
"I don't want to wait too long because then spots will start being filled, but I
don't want to be too early. I want to have my options the best that they can
possibly be."
As a resident of Edna, population slightly under 6,000, Long is big on a
small-town environment. He also places importance on the authority figures in
place to help his progression through college.
"I come from a really small town and I like a smaller town environment," he
said. "The coaches and academic advisors are important too. How they come across
when they talk to you is important because they're going to be the ones helping
you."
As for the factors that will eventually go into Lang's decision?
"It's about the feel," he said. "A neat thing about Texas A&M and Texas Tech,
everything revolves around Aggie and Raider football. Texas has a good
environment there where everybody is pumped up about it. I'm just looking for a
total package."
Long currently holds offers from Houston and Texas Tech, while being shown
interest by Arizona, Arizona State, LSU, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas and
Texas A&M.
- Cowan, Dickens
Brewer Back From Orlando
Fresh off a trip to Orlando, (Fla.) for the ESPN Gridiron Kings event, Texas
Tech quarterback commit
Michael Brewer is back to preparing for his senior football season at Austin
(Texas) Lake Travis. His summer has been spent focused on two things: football
and completing course work so he can graduate early. Indeed, even a recent stop
at Disneyworld was mandated by his Gridiron Kings schedule.
been real busy. I've been doing a lot with 7-on-7 and summer workouts," he said.
"I just took a trip to Orlando to participate in the Gridiron Kings, and that
was a real fun deal, I was glad I got invited. I got to meet a lot of cool
people."
The Gridiron Kings camp allowed Brewer to experience, to a degree, what
competition at the next level will be like.
"Everyone talks about differences in the game between high school and college,"
Brewer said, "and I think it helped me realize that. So it helped getting me
ready and getting to know what I need to get better to play at that level.
"I met tons of different people from all over, and every single time you go up,
you are going against guys that are committed to Florida, Alabama, USC or Ohio
State. You are playing against the best, so it's a real cool deal. I mean I
don't know who doesn't want to play against the best, and it was just a real
good experience."
As for Brewer's performance during the 7-on-7 session, he said he thought he did
well considering the lack of time to develop chemistry with his skill players.
"I thought I did pretty good considering that we only had one practice that was
like 45 minutes with our team," Brewer said. "That's tough on the quarterbacks
and receivers when you don't have that rhythm with each other, you haven't
worked with each other before. Given the circumstances I felt that I played
pretty well, put the ball in places where it needed to be."
While there, Brewer said he spoke with Tampa (Fla.) Jefferson linebacker
Ramik Wilson, one of the Red Raiders' top defensive targets, about the
program and its coaches.
"There was one guy there that said he was considering Tech," Brewer said of
Wilson, "and I went and talked to him about Tech for a couple of hours, and it
sounds like he really likes them. I told him about how great of a place Texas
Tech was and just about the coaches."
- Fleming
Raiders Extend Three New 2012 Offers
Texas Tech has offered a three-headed, 2012 monster from Oxford (Ala.) --
linebacker
Kwon Alexander, defensive back
Trae Elston and offensive lineman
Michael Flint. Two of those prospects, Alexander and Elston, were in Texas
this week.
"We went to visit with The University of Texas," Alexander said. "We might visit
Tech, but we don't know yet."
Alexander said they all have the same recruiting coach, but he has only recently
spoken with any of the Tech coaches.
"I only have talked to them once," Alexander said, "but I'm supposed to be
calling a coach tonight."
The 6-foot-2, 212-pound linebacker, said he is interested in Tech and thinks
that they have a solid program.
"They are a good school," Alexander said of Tech. "I haven't been there to
visit, yet, but hopefully I get a chance to visit them."
Alexander holds offers from a plethora of powerhouses, and he said he has been
visiting different schools to see how they could use him.
"Recruiting is going good," Alexander said. "I've been visiting different
schools, trying to see what they need at the different schools."
His offer list includes, but is not limited to, Alabama, Auburn, Florida,
Florida State, LSU and Clemson.
- Fleming
Quick Hits
* San Antonio (Texas) Antonian power forward
Jonathan Holmes told RRS on Thursday that Texas Tech is currently in his top
six. In an interview with another Rivals.com team-site this week, the 6-foot-8,
220-pound prospect listed Texas A&M as his leader.
* This isn't directly related to Texas Tech, but since many of you are
interested -- Ahmad Dixon has met the NCAA's academic requirements and now is
officially a member of the Baylor football program.
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This post was edited on 7/30 9:32 AM by A. Dickens
