what a week, from here it is most definitely possible.
it's Friday, let's Flare...
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WEEKLY LINKS
McGuire Notebook - Texas Christian
2024 Texas Tech commits and targets tracker: Week Ten
DeRuyter, Kittley address position swaps, look towards Horned Frogs
Red Raiders get set for TCU, final push for bowl eligibility
Hocutt announces Adidas deal
Texas Tech learns conference opponents for 2024-2027
Tech welcomes Horned Frogs to West Texas with saddle at stake
Numbers of Note: TCU
Staff Predictions: Will Red Raiders reclaim saddle on Thursday?
Red Raiders hold off TCU, 35-28, reclaim elusive saddle trophy
McGuire proud of his team after 35-28 win over TCU
Taylor-Demerson, Brooks post career nights en route to Tech victory
Morton, Hutchings lead Tech in right direction, look ahead past TCU
FIlm Review: TCU
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TTU RECRUITING THIS WEEK
the coaches landed a new 2025 commitment yesterday, there were several new offers made this week, we spotlight a few 2024 commitments and more...
new 2025 commitment
Wichita Falls City View 2025 athlete Isaiah Anderson announced his commitment to the Red Raiders yesterday afternoon. The 6-foot, 160-pound junior standout received the offer from Texas Tech in mid-September, his lone offer, and jumped on the opportunity less than two months later.
Anderson is listed as an athlete and will play wide receiver for the Red Raiders. He joins Stephenville wide receiver Tristian Gentry, giving the Texas Tech coaches commitment No. 2 for the 2025 class.
there are not really any stats available on Anderson's junior season at City View this season. there were posts from RRS members stating that Anderson, who moved from Hirschi to City View this year, was in the process of moving back to Hirschi.
he plays varsity basketball and was part of Hirschi's deep playoff run last season.
we are working to speak with young Isaiah and will gather more information.
these highlights are labeled 'pre-district' and feature this stat for Anderson - 27 receptions for 598 yards and eight (8) touchdowns
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new offers
the Texas Tech coaches offered Hutchinson C.C. (Kansas) offensive tackle Jayven Richardson this week. the 6-foot-7, 305-pound junior college prospect now lists 23 total offers from programs across the country, including offers from Arkansas, Auburn, Houston, Illinois, Kansas, Maryland, Ole Miss, Missouri, Purdue and now your Red Raiders. In the latest Rivals JUCO rankings for the 2024 class, Richardson is listed as the No. 11 overall JUCO prospect in the nation.
the Texas Tech coaches offered Hutchinson C.C. (Kansas) defensive tackle Danny Saili this week. the 6-foot-2, 355-pound junior college prospect now lists 10 total offers from Arizona, Georgia Southern, Maryland, Massachusetts, McNeese State, Stephen F. Austin, Texas State, Towson, Troy and now your Red Raiders. In the latest Rivals JUCO rankings for the 2024 class, Saili is listed as the No. 27 overall JUCO prospect in the nation.
the Texas Tech coaches offered Trinity Valley C.C. (Texas) safety Isaiah Crosby this week. the 5-foot-10, 175-pound junior college prospect now lists 23 total offers from programs across the country, including offers from Charlotte, Connecticut, Louisiana Tech, SMU, Texas State, UTSA, Washington State, West Virginia and now your Red Raiders.
the Texas Tech coaches were the first to offer La Cueva (New Mexico) offensive tackle Mark Handy last night. the 6-foot-5, 280-pound junior prospect now holds his first offer from the Red Raiders. the standout junior has also received gameday invites from conference rivals Baylor and Oklahoma State.
the Texas Tech coaches offered Kennedy (Iowa) offensive tackle Nicolai Brooks last night. the 6-foot-8, 385-pound prospect and Iowa verbal commitment now holds nearly 30 total offers from programs around the country, including offers from Iowa, Alabama, Florida State, Georgia, LSU, Michigan, Texas and now your Red Raiders. Brooks committed to the in-state Hawkeyes in early September, less than two (2) months ago. Iowa announced this week that OC Brian Ferentz will 'not be returning' next season, aka fired for most common folks. I'm guessing that has something to do with the timing of this offer, plus the coaches did sign a player from Cedar Rapids, Iowa in the 2023 class - DB Miles Thompson - who was shouting out Brooks last night on Instagram after the offer with a picture from his unofficial visit to Lubbock.
all of that being said, the nation's No. 135 overall prospect and No. 12 overall offensive tackle prospect is still committed to Iowa and had a final five (5) that included Iowa, Tennessee, Florida State, Georgia and Alabama.
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a few 2024 commitment things...
Sachse outside linebacker and longtime Texas Tech commitment Cheta Ofili was the program's co-defensive MVP of the week after putting up some big stats in another win for the Mustangs - two (2) tackles for loss, one (1) pass breakup, one (1) fumble recovery returned for a touchdown, eight (8) tackles and two (2) quarterback pressures. the 6-foot-4, 220-pound four-star prospect has continued to improve thorughout his senior season and is easily one of the best early evaluations for this Texas Tech coaching staff.
per MaxPreps, through eight (8) games played Ofili has 49 total tackles, 10 tackles for loss, five (5) sacks and 25 quarterback hurries.
Beckville running back and longtime Texas Tech commitment J'Koby Williams was named the Ford Built Tough player of the week this week for his performance against Harleton in a win, putting up 17 carries for 188 yards and five (5) touchdowns rushing.
per MaxPreps, through nine (9) games played Williams has 79 carries for 1,219 yards and 21 touchdowns rushing.
longtime Texas Tech commitments Peyton Morgan and Will Hammond faced off last night and Morgan's Weiss Wolves got the best of the Hutto Hippos, winning 52-29.
Morgan picked off Hammond last night, earning his ninth interception on the season. Morgan and the Weiss defense held Hammond to 218 yards and two (2) touchdowns passing along with 153 yards and two (2) touchdowns rushing on the night. In a season where Hammond and Hutto have put up video game numbers on offense, Morgan and Weiss were able to force five (5) turnovers from the Hutto offense.
the playoff picture is now set for both teams...
Hutto will play at Duncanville next weekend and Weiss will host Cedar Hill next weekend.
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Big 12 announces future scheduling matrix
the Big 12 conference will continue playing nine (9) conference games moving forward next season when the conference completes a makeover that has Colorado, Arizona, Utah and Arizona State joining the Big 12 next year.
for next season, the Red Raiders will host Arizona State, Colorado, Baylor, Cincinnati and West Virginia at home and will face road tests against Arizona, TCU, Oklahoma State and Iowa State.
I will not pretend to be upset or knowledgable about the other options for scheduling here, but the idea of 'pods' or how conferences will schedule with 16 teams has been something college football fans have waited on for a while now.
on the surface, some of these home games are okay...just nothing too exciting, plus the best road game or trip seems to be Arizona.
so maybe a little underwhelming, but all-in-all it doesn't seem like a monumental change IMHO.
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some links from last night's win...
congrats to Tahj Brooks on becoming the program's first 1,000 yard rusher since the 2015 season.
Brooks put up 31 carries for 146 yards and one (1) touchdown last night. the formula this season has been simple, when Brooks touches the ball 20+ times and rushes for 100+ yards, the Red Raiders have played winning football.
true to form, he praised the offensive line for the accomplishment, but he runs so hard and has taken full advantage of being 'the guy' this season after waiting a few years behind SaRodorick Thompson his first few years on campus.
for whatever reason, I did not see this live on the broadcast, but a few of the recruits in attendance shared this picture of drones creating the Raider Red image in the sky.
so sick, so cool...not to mention how far the frame of this new South endzone is coming along, and it should look nothing short of amazing when all is said and done with the project.
speaking of cool, not only did the Tech students get Mike Jones, it appears that Slim Thug also made an appearance...great job to TTU and whoever makes these things happen, this was a good one and clearly the reason why the Red Raiders won the game last night.
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2023 season in focus - the final stretch
the Red Raiders win last night gives them an overall record of 4-5 and 3-3 in conference play this season with three (3) games remaining...
at No. 22 Kansas
home vs. UCF
at No. 7 Texas
the team will need to steal one on the road against a ranked team and beat new Big 12 conference opponent UCF at home to become bowl eligible
with a healthy Behren Morton and a 'half' bye week after the Thursday night game, you have to like the Red Raiders chances against a Kansas team on the road playing a backup QB
one game at a time is the approach and McGuire's team finished very strong last season, they all want to win and becoming bowl eligible is something that will motivate the team moving forward
everything is in front of them and they control the outcome...not to mention the motivation for the final game in Austin will be there for anyone with a pulse
I'm thinking a 6-6 finish with a win at home against UCF, plus a win against either KU or UT is very much doable for this Red Raider team...thoughts???
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RIP Bob Knight
sports lost a legend this week when Bob Knight passed away at the age of 83 years old. the legendary college basketball coach is famous for his time at Indiana and we all know and love him from his time at Texas Tech
he did things his way and never waivered, wrong or right at times
my freshman year at Texas Tech was Bob Knight's first season in Lubbock and the line to get into United Spirt Arena went all the way back to Chitwood/Weymouth
you could easily argue that Tech's climb to becoming a highly competitive program in basketball was put into motion by Knight's time in Lubbock. his teams played hard and he never minced words or saved opinions when it came to his team or life in general, it was quite the time
"I deeply hope we beat their ass today" will forever be one of my favorite Bob Knight quotes
listen to Corso's laugh, so good
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the CFB weekend - what to watch
with the Red Raiders getting their game out of the way early this week, let's look at what to watch this weekend around college football this week...
Saturday
11am - No. 23 Kansas State at No. 7 Texas on Fox
11am - Texas A&M at No. 10 Ole Miss on ESPN
2:30pm - No. 12 Missouri at No. 2 Georgia on CBS
2:30pm - No. 4 Florida State at Pitt on ESPN
2:30pm - No. 9 Oklahoma at No. 22 Oklahoma State on ABC
6pm - No. 21 Kansas at Iowa State on ESPN
6:30pm - No. 5 Washington at No. 20 USC on ABC
6:45pm - No. 14 LSU at No. 8 Alabama on CBS
9pm - No. 16 Oregon State at Colorado on ESPN
9:30pm - No. 19 UCLA at Arizona on FS1
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Recruiting - Around the Big 12
we look around the new-look conference this week after more new commitments were made, the rankings are updated and the Red Raiders retain the top class in the conference...
*listed in current Big 12 rankings order, new programs now officially added to the Rivals rankings list - plus a new 'look' or design from the Rivals team on these lists/pages
*per request, I have added the 'new' Big 12 programs that will join the conference next season - Arizona, Utah, Colorado and Arizona State - and removed Oklahoma and Texas
Texas Tech - 20 total commitments, No. 23 class in the nation
the Red Raiders did not add a new commitment this week...
UCF - 18 total commitments, No. 27 class in the nation
the Golden Knights did not add a new commitment this week...
TCU - 18 total commitments, No. 38 class in the nation
the Horned Frogs did not add a new commitment this week...
West Virginia - 20 total commitments, No. 41 class in the nation
the Mountaineers did not add a new commitment this week...
Arizona - 22 total commitments, No. 43 class in the nation
the Wildcats did not add a new commitment this week...
Cincinnati - 23 total commitments, No. 44 class in the nation
the Bearcats did not add a new commitments this week...
Kansas - 16 total commitments, No. 50 class in the nation
the Jayhawks did not add a new commitment this week...
Iowa State - 18 total commitments, No. 52 class in the nation
the Cyclones did not add a new commitment this week...
Oklahoma State - 15 total commitments, No. 54 class in the nation
the Cowboys did not add a new commitment this week...
Baylor - 14 total commitments, No. 59 class in the nation
the Bears did not add a new commitment this week...
Colorado - 10 total commitments, No. 62 class in the nation
the Buffs added a new commitment this week...
OL Issiah Walker
BYU - 15 total commitments, No. 65 class in the nation
the Cougars added a new commitment this week...
ATH R.J. Whitten
Utah - 10 total commitments, No. 71 class in the nation
the Utes did not add a new commitment this week...
Kansas State - 11 total commitments, No. 82 class in the nation
the Wildcats added two (2) new commitments this week...
OL Navarro Schunke
WR J. Spradley-Demps
Houston - eight (8) total commitments, No. 98 class in the nation
the Cougars did not add a new commitment this week...
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have a great weekend everyone!
