live look at me waiting on Ben to get back from vacation...
it's Friday, let's Flare...
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WEEKLY LINKS
Booming Red Raiders boat-race Iowa in series opener, 17-5
Red Raiders clinch series over Iowa behind Lopez's triple, four-run 8th
Texas Tech drops finale with Iowa behind nightmare ninth inning
Observations from the weekend series against Iowa
Vosky Howard planning visit to TTU
DE Smith bonding with the TTU coaches
Denton OT picks up first offer from Texas Tech
A broad look around the Big 12 baseball landscape
Petty's strong outing, offensive outburst in sixth pushes Tech past UTA
Recruiting Notebook: Under Armour Dallas
Red Raiders power past UT-Arlington to sweep mid-week set
Report Cards: Grading the 2023 Texas Tech basketball team
Rivals 100 DE recaps TTU Junior Day visit
Texas Tech set for weekend duel with No. 11 Oklahoma State
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TTU RECRUITING THIS WEEK
there were several new offers made this week, the 2024 class lost a commitment, we recap a busy Under Armour Camp in Dallas from last weekend and Rivals releases the updated Rivals 250 for the 2025 class
new offers
Texas Tech offered Dallas Skyline 2025 linebacker Elijah Bo Barnes this week. The 6-foot-3, 210-pound standout sophomore currently lists 11 early offers from the Red Raiders, Arizona State, Baylor, Michigan State, Missouri, Oklahoma State, Purdue and others. He was named the District 6A Defensive Newcomer of the Year.
Texas Tech offered Pflugerville Weiss 2025 wide receiver Adrian Wilson this week. The 6-foot-3, 176-pound standout sophomore currently lists seven (7) early offers from the Red Raiders, Arizona, Baylor, Houston, SMU, Texas State and UTSA. His ranking was updated this week and Wilson is listed as a 5.8 four-star prospect, the No. 158 prospect on the Rivals 250, the No. 30 overall wide receiver prospect and the No. 25 overall prospect on the Rivals Texas Top 50 for the 2025 class.
Texas Tech offered McKinney 2025 safety Riley Pettijohn this week. The 6-foot-3, 200-pound standout sophomore currently lists nine (9) offers from the Red Raiders, Baylor, Michigan, Nebraska, North Texas, Northern Arizona, SMU, Texas State and UTSA.
Texas Tech offered Texas High 2026 running back Tradarian Ball this week. The 5-foot-10, 185-pound standout freshman currently lists six (6) early offers from the Red Raiders, California, Louisiana Tech, Oregon, TCU and UTSA. As a freshman, he received District 8-5A DII First Team All-Distriction honors.
Texas Tech offered Katy offensive tackle Coen Echols this week. The 6-foot-3, 290-pound standout junior currently lists 11 offers from the Red Raiders, Colorado State, Lamar, Louisiana Tech, Louisiana-Monroe, Memphis, Montanta State, North Texas, Sam Houston State, Texas Southern and Utah State. He is a First Team All-District selection and a well-informed poster had some great commentary on some of his recent combine testing numbers at the UA Camp in Dallas on the board this week.
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2024 loses a longtime commitment
At 10pm on Monday night, longtime Texas Tech verbal commitment Lorenzo Johnson Jr. announced his plans to decommit from the Red Raiders after being committed since February of last year.
The three-star athlete plays both sides of the ball for Madisonville and had mentioned the Tech coaches were talking to him about playing defense at the college level.
In fact, I had just talked with him after the UA Camp in Dallas this past Sunday, only a day before the decommit announcement. He was very shy, soft spoken but still had great things to say about Texas Tech and his relationship with the coaches.
Without asking, Johnson Jr. did offer up a relationship with the Houston and UNLV coaching staffs with potential visits. From there, I introduced him to Will Hammond and the two of them talked for a few minutes.
If I had to guess today, then I would say Johnson Jr. commits to Houston sometime soon or waits to see if any other schools offer. Overall, losing a commitment is rarely ever a 'good' thing, but at this point in the recruiting cycle the coaches should have plenty of options to replace Johnson Jr. in the 2024 class.
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Rivals 250 DE lists TTU in Top 10
Katy Paetow defensive end Loghan Thomas currently holds 23 offers from programs around the country and narrowed his options down to a Top 10 list this week, including the Red Raiders.
The four-star prospect was recently on campus for the program's Junior Day and we are working to get his feedback, but being included in the updated list of options is always a good thing and it appears the Red Raiders are in the running for the 6-foot-4, 210-pound standout.
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WR commit Ivan Carreon - whoa
look at the hops on Carreon, the 6-foot-6 wide receiver commitment for the Red Raiders is the district's basketball player of the year and is making a case for the 'freaks' list in this 2024 class pretty quickly.
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more speed from R250 LB signee Justin Horne
another week, another freakishly fast time from linebacker signee Justin Horne...this week a 7.85 in the 60m hurdles
if that time in the 60m seems familiar, it is because Horne's fellow 2023 LB signee Miguel Dingle Jr. ran that time to finish 4th place in the Big 12 Men's 60m Hurdles only a few weeks ago as an early enrollee freshman
just incredible the type of speed being added at the linebacker position this off-season
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Under Armour Camp Dallas - recap
I wrote a lengthy notebook recapping the UA Camp in Dallas this week, so definitely take a few minutes and check out the full recap.
a few high-level takeaways...
Will Hammond is a dude, I have seen plenty of quarterbacks over the years and his overall makeup with height, arm strength being at the top of list are clear reasons why so many programs have offered the four-star prospect.
Holton Hendrix possesses a ton of upside, I did not get his birthday/age when we talked, but I would bet he is younger for his grade level and his foundation/lower half + his footwork, technique at the position are evident. The local product could develop into a very good player for the Red Raiders in the years to come.
Cheta Ofili and Chima Chineke were tremendous early evaluations at the DE/EDGE position for the Texas Tech coaches. We just covered Loghan Thomas' Top 10 and Tech being included, and we could say the same for several very talented defensive lineman in this 2024 class. But guys like Ofili and Chineke do not have the four-stars or the offer list of guys like Thomas. That being said, these two can both play and they both possess great atheticism and frames.
I had the chance to meet and speak with Selman Bridges, and flat out asked if Texas Tech has a shot at landing his commitment. Without hesitation, the four-star prospect said 'yes' and spoke very highly about his four (4!) visits to the Texas Tech campus and his relationship with Coach Brian Nance.
Vosky Howard was a prospect that I did not know much about going into the camp, but the four-star athlete had a ton of good things to say about the TTU coaches and it sounds like he is planning a visit to the South Plains. He mentioned Duke and Vanderbilt as other schools in the mix, and those are programs the Red Raiders can win head to head battles against for East Texas talent.
A handful of prospects who were at Junior Day competed at the camp, and each of these prospects will be back in Lubbock for official visits in early June.
Tobias Steppes, Kelly Daniels, Jewlyen Thomas-Roberts, Edward Smith, Kristopher Wokomah and Travis Jackson will all be back on campus in a few months - these are the names to watch for potential commitments IMHO.
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Rivals 2025 Rivals 250 - the TTU targets
the Rivals national team updated the 2025 Rivals 250 rankings this week, so let's look at the Texas Tech offers for these standout underclassmen...
WR Dakorien Moore - No. 10
DT D.J. Sanders - No. 25
RB Alvin Henderson - No. 37 (Alabama)
WR Andrew Marsh - No. 38
OL Lamond Rogers - No. 44
TE Davon Mitchell - No. 48 (California)
OL Mason Short - No. 63 (Georgia)
WR Jacorey Watson - No. 69
RB Tory Blaylock - No. 70
RB Deondrae Riden - No. 71
WR Gracen Harris - No. 81
OL Logan Schram - No. 83
ATH Jonah Williams - No. 88
ATH Lance Jackson - No. 94
OL Michael Fasusi - No. 106
WR Deion Deblanc - No. 107
WR Taz Williams Jr. - No. 111
DE Kamauryn Morgan - No. 126
WR Jaden Perez - No. 137
DT Zion Williams - No. 149
DE Michael Riles - No. 150
WR Adrian Wilson - No. 158
TE Nate Roberts - No. 160 (Oklahoma)
LB Kelvion Riggins - No. 162
ATH Lamason Waller - No. 165 (California)
WR Daylon Singleton - No. 171
DE Landon Rink - No. 173
RB Cornelius Warren III - No. 174
ATH Jaden Nickens - No. 176 (Oklahoma)
OL Ty Haywood - No. 178
LB C.J. Nickson - No. 184 (Oklahoma)
DE Max Granville - No. 189
WR Kaliq Lockett - No. 198
DB Cobey Sellers - No. 211
TE Jack Vandorselaer - No. 232
ATH Michael Terry - No. 243
RB Rickey Stewart Jr. - No. 244
the first number that stands out here is the total - 37 players offered and targeted by Texas Tech from the Rivals 250, over a year and a half until they sign
for comparison, in the 2020 class - throughout the entire cycle - the Red Raiders' program offered 28 players in the final Rivals 250
in the 2017 class - throughout the entire cycle - the Red Raiders' program offered 33 players in the final Rivals 250
the point is that in order to win and in order to win at a high level, you need these players...like it or not, stars and rankings really do matter
Coach McGuire and James Blanchard know this, and they go after whatever player they see fit for the program...not only do they offer, but these kids are flooded with calls/texts/messages from Blanchard and his team
offers are easy, any program can do that...but relationships, real relationships matter
at least 6-7 of these prospects listed have already visited Texas Tech for an unofficial visit, and there are a handful more with plans to eventually visit TTU
regardless of how good this Texas Tech coaching staff is, even they cannot wiggle their nose and start recruiting at a Top 5 level - so they need to have this many offers, this many at-bats for top tier talent like this...because you never know, not every kid wants to play at Bama/Georgia/Ohio State/Clemson/etc
in a little of a year at Texas Tech, Coach McGuire and James Blanchard have completely changed the expectations and standards for recruiting football players to Lubbock, Texas...this is the new norm and what is even more impressive is that these offers were made when none of these players had a single star or any ranking
time will tell, but I expect the Red Raiders to start landing more and more of these caliber prospects the longer McGuire & Co. are running things on the South Plains
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Big 12 x NFL - Pro Day
this is a cool idea, something the new commissioner certainly had a hand in given his work history.
all in all, this is going to provide more eyeballs to both the conference and the athletes looking to impress NFL teams in attendance to watch the Pro Day activities
Pro Days have always been held on each player's respective campus, but combining the conferences best prospects into one event will only help lift everyone involved while putting some much needed shine on the conference in an ever-changing conference landscape
so any fresh, new or unique ideas like this are very welcomed by me in the 'new' Big 12 era
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a few TTU FB program links...
the coaches did not have a youth camp last summer, so mark your calendars for your little ones - always a great time, will be taking my 9 year old back this summer
no real commentary here other than...this looks pretty cool, pretty damn fun
one thing, in my opinion, that makes Joey McGuire and his staff successful is how they balance the work with the fun...from dodgeball to 5am workouts
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Recruiting - Around the Big 12
no new commitments around the conference, including the new conference members Houston, Cincinnati, BYU and UCF
Oklahoma, TCU and Cincinnati remain the only three (3) teams in the Big 12 without a commitment in the 2024 recruiting class
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have a great weekend everyone!
