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.
This will continue to be successful only if everyone helps out, so let’s all work together and keep the discussions limited to this board.
IS SHARPE IN THE CLEAR?
It’s been well documented since January that Fresno City Community College defensive lineman Brandon Sharpe had a hard academic road ahead of him. In fact, we were very doubtful and expressed our concerns as to whether or not Sharpe would ever show up on the Texas Tech campus. But, here’s why:
“I had eight classes worth 26 credits [last semester]”, said Sharpe. “I needed a C in each class on my transcript for it to be acceptable.”
We checked in with the 6-foot-4, 240-pound defensive end throughout the semester to see how he was hanging in there, but tried not to talk to him for more than five minutes at a time as his nose was always in the books.
“I didn’t spend too much time with my friends. It was really just going from class to class with not any time to get anything to eat. Then I’d go home and read the books that I had to read for the classes I was in to get the grades.”
Get the grades. That’s all Sharpe needed to do. There were even nights that time in the weight room had to take a step back for schooling. Needing atleast a C in each class, how did he do?
“I got two A’s and a B, and the rest were all C’s,” Sharpe said with relief. “I was comfortable in all the classes but I got too comfortable towards the end and got a couple of C’s I shouldn’t have but I was still passing. I was still nervous and for my political science class I was praying for that one and was on the edge. But I took my time on the test and looked over it several times and did well enough in there with a C.”
Even with a close call in polysci, Sharpe was able to pull off a 2.7 GPA on the semester. It’s not glamorous and it will definitely affect the 3.5 accumulative GPA that he had before the spring semester, but it’s enough to keep Sharpe’s football dreams alive and that’s what matters to him at this point.
“C’s might not be too good, but they’re passing.”
Sharpe said that in order to finish the semester on a positive note and make passing grades on all the finals, he had to delegate his time wisely and had a plan of how to study for each.
“Well, my main core classes were the one’s I spent more time in: Math, English, Speech, and Polysci. I spent more time studying for those tests. But in two of the classes, I had take home tests so that knocked out two to of them. In the math class we had a study guide and the problems on the test were similar to those. In English I had to write a six to eight page paper. It was real tough but I had to stay calm because if I didn’t, I would have panicked and just gave up.”
Even the thought of taking 26 hours in one semester makes most men tremble. Did Sharpe ever think about giving up his dream of playing Division-I football and dropping a few courses to lighten the load and just taking those courses later on down the road?
“Heck no! The way I see it, I was concerned about the football part and my father had paid for my school. It would have been a big disappointment on my behalf if I would’ve even thought about that. I wasn’t even thinking about going to another school.”
While Sharpe wasn’t taking it into account as an option the thought definitely came across to several Division-II and Division-III schools across the country.
“A couple of them called me and told me that if I didn’t pass my classes that I could consider them, but that wasn’t even on my mind.”
One of the first to know about the Georgia native’s passing grades was Texas Tech cornerback coach Brian Mitchell.
“I had texted him my grades and he said everybody was excited that I passed all of them.”
Sharpe is almost done with his journey but he’s not quite there yet, although this final summer semester can’t even compare to the course load the bulky lineman just put himself through.
“I have some easy classes, the classes that I needed were any six credits. I could’ve chosen any six credits. So I’m taking an African American culture class, CPR, and a weight lifting class. I’m taking the weight lifting class because the weight room at the football field is going to be closed until everyone gets back and by the time they get back, I’m going to be gone.”
When exactly can Tech fans expect to see Sharpe working out in the weight room in Lubbock?
“I have finals on June 21st and 22nd, and I leave on the 23rd to head to Georgia to go home and then I’ll be coming to Lubbock around July the 6th so I can get in with the workouts and running and hopefully I can catch up with everyone else since I’ve missed out on a lot of stuff. I need to come in and learn real quick and get it down good.”
With a lighter class schedule, Sharpe will be able to spend a lot of time attempting to get in good enough shape to compete for a spot in the fall when he enters the Hub City in July.
“My main concern would be the running and learning the plays, that’s what I’m worried about. I’m just ready to get through this summer so I can get there and get in shape. I got my bicycle back today so I can ride my back to school, an old ten speed. It’s a ten minute drive in the car so I don’t know how long it’s going to be on the bike.”
What’s going through Sharpe’s mind as he looks at the expectations he must meet for the NCAA Clearinghouse?
“I feel pretty good about, I’m just trying to get all A’s in these classes so I can bring my GPA up to at least a three point something or close to it.”
Does Sharpe feel like he’s learned a hard life lesson from the long semester that he just put himself through?
“Yeah man, I have to make sure I know everything I have to get done and get it done when I can. I don’t ever want to go through this again man, it’s a heartache and a lot of stress. It wasn’t too stressful, but I just had to lift weights whenever I could to relieve some stress but as long as I could stay active, I was cool.”
With the journey he’s gone through over the last several years to even be in the position to be able to transfer to Tech, Sharpe says that it should send a message to his teammates and the Red Raider fans.
“It shows how bad I want to be there. This is the hardest experience I’ve gone through in my whole life. I’m so excited to get there. I really don’t even know what to say. I hope that I can come in and be a good role model, besides I’m fixing to bring the country to the country.”
Look forward to the country arriving on July 6th.
LATEST ON KOEHLER
There’s been a lot of talk on the boards lately about Kaneohe, Hawaii defensive tackle Solomon Koehler after the 6-foot-2, 315-pound prospect received a four-star ranking earlier in the week.
We called one of Hawaii’s best looking recruits to find out how everything has been going lately.
“Good,” simply said by Koehler. “I’m just training and we’re getting ready for spring ball next week. We get out of school next week on Thursday.”
Koehler admitted that he was very surprised to see four stars next to his name but the attention before and since the ranking has picked up lately.
“The same schools except I’ve been getting interest from Florida, Clemson, USC, Auburn, and North Carolina.”
While Colorado, Arizona, and Washington have been the most aggressive, Texas Tech is keeping their name in the game as well.
“They’ve been sending constant letters to the school.”
Tech ’07 signee Sam Fehoko has been doing his part in the recruitment process as well.
“I just talked to him at the combine on May 19th,” said Koehler. “He said that Tech’s a good program and that there are a lot of good coaches on the coaching staff.”
The biggest issue that has been well documented regarding Kohler is not his performance on the field, but in the classroom.
How’s Koehler’s GPA looking right now?
“Ok, I’m working on it.”
In reality, it sounds like the highly recruited Hawaiian is going to have a very large uphill battle ahead of him when it comes to his academics. This is one of the reasons why so many schools, like the Red Raiders tentative about going after him right now. His academic status isn’t real pretty otherwise he might have five stars next to his name as opposed to four, he’s that good.
He’s a lot better than having only two offers (Colorado and Arizona) at this point, too.
FRENSHIP COMMITS GOING CAMPING
This weekend, Tech has their first mini-camp of two mini-camps for the summer. In attendance will be current Tech commits and Frenship Tigers quarterback Seth Doege and Ryan Haliburton, bringing several other teammates along as well.
“We have a lake house in Brownwood and Houston has a satellite camp there so it’s a great way to take those guys and stay for free and go to that camp,” explained Frenship offensive line coach Randy Doege.
Sunday will begin a long trail of camps that the Frenship group will embark on over the next month or so.
“I believe they’re going to North Texas and I believe UTEP ha satellite camp in Fort Worth.”
Because of the off-season 7-on-7 schedule, the group and amount of attendees from Frenship at each camp will vary and Coach Doege says that he is going to try to stay out of it as much as possible.
“I’m going to transport when Seth needs to be transported and if they need help with the paperwork then I’ll help them with stuff like that but I think they’re going to go by themselves. I think at some of the camps there’s five of them going and at other camps there’s 12 of them going, so I think it’s a good deal for them. But as far as me, I’m just an organizer; they’re going to get to all those places by themselves.”
Just in case any Tech fans are worried about two of their ’08 commits possibly looking elsewhere, Doege says not to fret as they are making a sacrifice to help better their team.
“Seth and Ryan are both committed to Tech but they have great loyalty to their other teammates and anything they can do to help those guys that’s what they’re going to do. There’s no doubt [Tech’s] where they’re going to go but they have some teammates that have the ability to play D-I football and they’re going to do what they have to do to help them. I think it’s a great way to bond and a great way to build team chemistry.
“I’d say that they just have a deep loyalty to their teammates and want anything to do to help them and are smart enough to know that they can get quality reps at these places together.”
HIGHLIGHTS OF LYNN’S VISIT
We wanted to detail Celina safety D’Anton Lynn’s visit by first giving more details on Lynn’s friend who came with him, wide receiver Lance Clark.
“He was trying to decide between Oklahoma State and Tech and had pretty much decided Tech,” explained Lynn. “I told him that I was going up and that he pretty much come up with me to meet the coaches if he wanted to be on the football team. He liked it a whole lot.”
Clark has a nice frame to him and is a slot receiver that will at Tech in the fall as a walk-on.
While Lynn was in Lubbock, he was able to spend time with defensive coordinator Lyle Setencich.
“He told me that all the coaching staff were older guys and had NFL experience and he was telling me about their audibles and keeping four corners and two safeties so it gives a lot of laying time to defensive backs on the team.”
Clark and Lynn also got to spend time with safeties coach Carlos Mainord as the three sat at Chili’s for an hour and a half.
Although Lynn enjoyed the time with the coaching staff, it was the time away from the elders that really separated Tech’s visit from the rest.
“The one thing that I liked the most was that I got to hang out with the players. At the other schools I just hung out with the coaches and I really enjoyed that. But today I got to hang out with the players and stuff away from the coaching staff. The apartments really surprised me. I didn’t think they’d be nearly that nice.”
We mentioned in the update that Lynn still had a busy summer ahead of him:
“My next trip is probably going to be in two weekends I’m going to Louisville and then sometime before that or after I’m going to UCLA. Towards the end of the summer I’m going to Penn State and I’m going to try to make Iowa in there somewhere.”
With a full schedule already laid out, Lynn would still like to come back this summer to spend more time in the Hub City and strengthen the friendships that he was able to establish in just a few hours.
“Yeah, I’ll probably come back. I talked to Adam (James) and some of the players I hung out with and they said any weekend I want to come down and stay with them, I can. So I’ll probably try doing that in a few weekends.”
Speaking of Lynn’s former teammate and current Red Raider, Adam James, was the Celina standout able to hang out with his high school friend?
“No, I didn’t get to see him. He actually got at his apartment at 5:20 and that’s the time we had just gotten to the airport.”
Let it be known that Lynn thoroughly enjoyed his visit and take it as a great sign that he is so eager to come back. It will be interesting to see if Lynn will continue to hold the Red Raiders so high throughout his visits the remaining part of the summer but it does seem as if Tech made the best impression they possibly could have with the Red Raider legacy.
REEVES LOOKING TO VISIT TECH
Skyline LB Spencer Reeves is one of the more important targets in Tech’s 2008 class. In addition to his combination of talent and instincts, Reeves has an active interest in attending Texas Tech.
“I would say they’re at least in my top three,” Reeves answered when asked where Tech stood in his eyes. “They’re a great school and I really like them. They’re right up there with K-State and Minnesota , but they’re just a little bit behind. They are ahead of everyone else though.”
Reeves also said that he wants to make a visit to Lubbock at some point.
“I’m thinking about taking a few visits this summer,” he explained. “I talked to my mom about it a little, and we’re thinking about visiting LSU and Texas Tech. Those are the two we really want to see this summer.”
If Tech were able to get Reeves into town on both unofficial and official visits before he made his decision, it would be a big step in the right direction for the Red Raiders. With ace recruiter Seth Littrell and Tech’s top notch recruiting support staff on the job, Tech’s chances don’t look too bad at this point.”
TOP SAFETY HAS TECH IN TOP FOUR
Defensive superstar Keanon Cooper is one of the most prominent prospects who is seriously considering Texas Tech in the 2008 recruiting cycle. The Skyline standout is undoubtedly one of the top defensive players in the state and is likely one of Tech’s top recruiting priorities.
The good news for Tech is that Cooper likes Tech almost as much as they like him.
“I really like Tech,” he said. “I would say right now they’re one of my top teams. I have them and two or three others that I really like, probably like Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Oklahoma or something. I don’t know for sure, but probably something like those four.”
Cooper added that one of the things he likes so much about Tech is the voracity with which they are pursuing him.
“I really like the fact that they value me as a player,” he commented. “I mean, they’re recruiting me really hard and I know they view me as a priority. That means a lot right there, because you know there are plenty of players who are ranked higher than me, but they still want me. That’s a good feeling and it really helps them.”
The athletic safety, who holds nearly twenty written offers, also admitted that his visit to Texas Tech for their spring game helped their stock in his eyes.
“That visit was really nice,” he explained. “I would say it helped them quite a bit. I might actually try to visit them again sometime this summer or something, but most likely I’m just going to stay here and workout and stuff. We’ll have to see if I know anyone heading that way that I can hitch a ride with.”
With schools such as Michigan, LSU, Oklahoma, West Virginia, and others vying for his services, Cooper will be anything but an easy get, but, as has been the theme often this spring, you have to like where Tech is sitting at this point.
To view previous installments of the Red Raider Confidential, visit the archives by clicking here[/URL].
Again, The Red Raider Confidential is a special feature for RedRaiderSports.com subscribers only. 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.
This will only be successful if everyone helps make it work, so let’s all work together and keep the discussions limited to this board.
Thank you all again for subscribing to RedRaiderSports.com!
This will continue to be successful only if everyone helps out, so let’s all work together and keep the discussions limited to this board.
IS SHARPE IN THE CLEAR?
It’s been well documented since January that Fresno City Community College defensive lineman Brandon Sharpe had a hard academic road ahead of him. In fact, we were very doubtful and expressed our concerns as to whether or not Sharpe would ever show up on the Texas Tech campus. But, here’s why:
“I had eight classes worth 26 credits [last semester]”, said Sharpe. “I needed a C in each class on my transcript for it to be acceptable.”
We checked in with the 6-foot-4, 240-pound defensive end throughout the semester to see how he was hanging in there, but tried not to talk to him for more than five minutes at a time as his nose was always in the books.
“I didn’t spend too much time with my friends. It was really just going from class to class with not any time to get anything to eat. Then I’d go home and read the books that I had to read for the classes I was in to get the grades.”
Get the grades. That’s all Sharpe needed to do. There were even nights that time in the weight room had to take a step back for schooling. Needing atleast a C in each class, how did he do?
“I got two A’s and a B, and the rest were all C’s,” Sharpe said with relief. “I was comfortable in all the classes but I got too comfortable towards the end and got a couple of C’s I shouldn’t have but I was still passing. I was still nervous and for my political science class I was praying for that one and was on the edge. But I took my time on the test and looked over it several times and did well enough in there with a C.”
Even with a close call in polysci, Sharpe was able to pull off a 2.7 GPA on the semester. It’s not glamorous and it will definitely affect the 3.5 accumulative GPA that he had before the spring semester, but it’s enough to keep Sharpe’s football dreams alive and that’s what matters to him at this point.
“C’s might not be too good, but they’re passing.”
Sharpe said that in order to finish the semester on a positive note and make passing grades on all the finals, he had to delegate his time wisely and had a plan of how to study for each.
“Well, my main core classes were the one’s I spent more time in: Math, English, Speech, and Polysci. I spent more time studying for those tests. But in two of the classes, I had take home tests so that knocked out two to of them. In the math class we had a study guide and the problems on the test were similar to those. In English I had to write a six to eight page paper. It was real tough but I had to stay calm because if I didn’t, I would have panicked and just gave up.”
Even the thought of taking 26 hours in one semester makes most men tremble. Did Sharpe ever think about giving up his dream of playing Division-I football and dropping a few courses to lighten the load and just taking those courses later on down the road?
“Heck no! The way I see it, I was concerned about the football part and my father had paid for my school. It would have been a big disappointment on my behalf if I would’ve even thought about that. I wasn’t even thinking about going to another school.”
While Sharpe wasn’t taking it into account as an option the thought definitely came across to several Division-II and Division-III schools across the country.
“A couple of them called me and told me that if I didn’t pass my classes that I could consider them, but that wasn’t even on my mind.”
One of the first to know about the Georgia native’s passing grades was Texas Tech cornerback coach Brian Mitchell.
“I had texted him my grades and he said everybody was excited that I passed all of them.”
Sharpe is almost done with his journey but he’s not quite there yet, although this final summer semester can’t even compare to the course load the bulky lineman just put himself through.
“I have some easy classes, the classes that I needed were any six credits. I could’ve chosen any six credits. So I’m taking an African American culture class, CPR, and a weight lifting class. I’m taking the weight lifting class because the weight room at the football field is going to be closed until everyone gets back and by the time they get back, I’m going to be gone.”
When exactly can Tech fans expect to see Sharpe working out in the weight room in Lubbock?
“I have finals on June 21st and 22nd, and I leave on the 23rd to head to Georgia to go home and then I’ll be coming to Lubbock around July the 6th so I can get in with the workouts and running and hopefully I can catch up with everyone else since I’ve missed out on a lot of stuff. I need to come in and learn real quick and get it down good.”
With a lighter class schedule, Sharpe will be able to spend a lot of time attempting to get in good enough shape to compete for a spot in the fall when he enters the Hub City in July.
“My main concern would be the running and learning the plays, that’s what I’m worried about. I’m just ready to get through this summer so I can get there and get in shape. I got my bicycle back today so I can ride my back to school, an old ten speed. It’s a ten minute drive in the car so I don’t know how long it’s going to be on the bike.”
What’s going through Sharpe’s mind as he looks at the expectations he must meet for the NCAA Clearinghouse?
“I feel pretty good about, I’m just trying to get all A’s in these classes so I can bring my GPA up to at least a three point something or close to it.”
Does Sharpe feel like he’s learned a hard life lesson from the long semester that he just put himself through?
“Yeah man, I have to make sure I know everything I have to get done and get it done when I can. I don’t ever want to go through this again man, it’s a heartache and a lot of stress. It wasn’t too stressful, but I just had to lift weights whenever I could to relieve some stress but as long as I could stay active, I was cool.”
With the journey he’s gone through over the last several years to even be in the position to be able to transfer to Tech, Sharpe says that it should send a message to his teammates and the Red Raider fans.
“It shows how bad I want to be there. This is the hardest experience I’ve gone through in my whole life. I’m so excited to get there. I really don’t even know what to say. I hope that I can come in and be a good role model, besides I’m fixing to bring the country to the country.”
Look forward to the country arriving on July 6th.
LATEST ON KOEHLER
There’s been a lot of talk on the boards lately about Kaneohe, Hawaii defensive tackle Solomon Koehler after the 6-foot-2, 315-pound prospect received a four-star ranking earlier in the week.
We called one of Hawaii’s best looking recruits to find out how everything has been going lately.
“Good,” simply said by Koehler. “I’m just training and we’re getting ready for spring ball next week. We get out of school next week on Thursday.”
Koehler admitted that he was very surprised to see four stars next to his name but the attention before and since the ranking has picked up lately.
“The same schools except I’ve been getting interest from Florida, Clemson, USC, Auburn, and North Carolina.”
While Colorado, Arizona, and Washington have been the most aggressive, Texas Tech is keeping their name in the game as well.
“They’ve been sending constant letters to the school.”
Tech ’07 signee Sam Fehoko has been doing his part in the recruitment process as well.
“I just talked to him at the combine on May 19th,” said Koehler. “He said that Tech’s a good program and that there are a lot of good coaches on the coaching staff.”
The biggest issue that has been well documented regarding Kohler is not his performance on the field, but in the classroom.
How’s Koehler’s GPA looking right now?
“Ok, I’m working on it.”
In reality, it sounds like the highly recruited Hawaiian is going to have a very large uphill battle ahead of him when it comes to his academics. This is one of the reasons why so many schools, like the Red Raiders tentative about going after him right now. His academic status isn’t real pretty otherwise he might have five stars next to his name as opposed to four, he’s that good.
He’s a lot better than having only two offers (Colorado and Arizona) at this point, too.
FRENSHIP COMMITS GOING CAMPING
This weekend, Tech has their first mini-camp of two mini-camps for the summer. In attendance will be current Tech commits and Frenship Tigers quarterback Seth Doege and Ryan Haliburton, bringing several other teammates along as well.
“We have a lake house in Brownwood and Houston has a satellite camp there so it’s a great way to take those guys and stay for free and go to that camp,” explained Frenship offensive line coach Randy Doege.
Sunday will begin a long trail of camps that the Frenship group will embark on over the next month or so.
“I believe they’re going to North Texas and I believe UTEP ha satellite camp in Fort Worth.”
Because of the off-season 7-on-7 schedule, the group and amount of attendees from Frenship at each camp will vary and Coach Doege says that he is going to try to stay out of it as much as possible.
“I’m going to transport when Seth needs to be transported and if they need help with the paperwork then I’ll help them with stuff like that but I think they’re going to go by themselves. I think at some of the camps there’s five of them going and at other camps there’s 12 of them going, so I think it’s a good deal for them. But as far as me, I’m just an organizer; they’re going to get to all those places by themselves.”
Just in case any Tech fans are worried about two of their ’08 commits possibly looking elsewhere, Doege says not to fret as they are making a sacrifice to help better their team.
“Seth and Ryan are both committed to Tech but they have great loyalty to their other teammates and anything they can do to help those guys that’s what they’re going to do. There’s no doubt [Tech’s] where they’re going to go but they have some teammates that have the ability to play D-I football and they’re going to do what they have to do to help them. I think it’s a great way to bond and a great way to build team chemistry.
“I’d say that they just have a deep loyalty to their teammates and want anything to do to help them and are smart enough to know that they can get quality reps at these places together.”
HIGHLIGHTS OF LYNN’S VISIT
We wanted to detail Celina safety D’Anton Lynn’s visit by first giving more details on Lynn’s friend who came with him, wide receiver Lance Clark.
“He was trying to decide between Oklahoma State and Tech and had pretty much decided Tech,” explained Lynn. “I told him that I was going up and that he pretty much come up with me to meet the coaches if he wanted to be on the football team. He liked it a whole lot.”
Clark has a nice frame to him and is a slot receiver that will at Tech in the fall as a walk-on.
While Lynn was in Lubbock, he was able to spend time with defensive coordinator Lyle Setencich.
“He told me that all the coaching staff were older guys and had NFL experience and he was telling me about their audibles and keeping four corners and two safeties so it gives a lot of laying time to defensive backs on the team.”
Clark and Lynn also got to spend time with safeties coach Carlos Mainord as the three sat at Chili’s for an hour and a half.
Although Lynn enjoyed the time with the coaching staff, it was the time away from the elders that really separated Tech’s visit from the rest.
“The one thing that I liked the most was that I got to hang out with the players. At the other schools I just hung out with the coaches and I really enjoyed that. But today I got to hang out with the players and stuff away from the coaching staff. The apartments really surprised me. I didn’t think they’d be nearly that nice.”
We mentioned in the update that Lynn still had a busy summer ahead of him:
“My next trip is probably going to be in two weekends I’m going to Louisville and then sometime before that or after I’m going to UCLA. Towards the end of the summer I’m going to Penn State and I’m going to try to make Iowa in there somewhere.”
With a full schedule already laid out, Lynn would still like to come back this summer to spend more time in the Hub City and strengthen the friendships that he was able to establish in just a few hours.
“Yeah, I’ll probably come back. I talked to Adam (James) and some of the players I hung out with and they said any weekend I want to come down and stay with them, I can. So I’ll probably try doing that in a few weekends.”
Speaking of Lynn’s former teammate and current Red Raider, Adam James, was the Celina standout able to hang out with his high school friend?
“No, I didn’t get to see him. He actually got at his apartment at 5:20 and that’s the time we had just gotten to the airport.”
Let it be known that Lynn thoroughly enjoyed his visit and take it as a great sign that he is so eager to come back. It will be interesting to see if Lynn will continue to hold the Red Raiders so high throughout his visits the remaining part of the summer but it does seem as if Tech made the best impression they possibly could have with the Red Raider legacy.
REEVES LOOKING TO VISIT TECH
Skyline LB Spencer Reeves is one of the more important targets in Tech’s 2008 class. In addition to his combination of talent and instincts, Reeves has an active interest in attending Texas Tech.
“I would say they’re at least in my top three,” Reeves answered when asked where Tech stood in his eyes. “They’re a great school and I really like them. They’re right up there with K-State and Minnesota , but they’re just a little bit behind. They are ahead of everyone else though.”
Reeves also said that he wants to make a visit to Lubbock at some point.
“I’m thinking about taking a few visits this summer,” he explained. “I talked to my mom about it a little, and we’re thinking about visiting LSU and Texas Tech. Those are the two we really want to see this summer.”
If Tech were able to get Reeves into town on both unofficial and official visits before he made his decision, it would be a big step in the right direction for the Red Raiders. With ace recruiter Seth Littrell and Tech’s top notch recruiting support staff on the job, Tech’s chances don’t look too bad at this point.”
TOP SAFETY HAS TECH IN TOP FOUR
Defensive superstar Keanon Cooper is one of the most prominent prospects who is seriously considering Texas Tech in the 2008 recruiting cycle. The Skyline standout is undoubtedly one of the top defensive players in the state and is likely one of Tech’s top recruiting priorities.
The good news for Tech is that Cooper likes Tech almost as much as they like him.
“I really like Tech,” he said. “I would say right now they’re one of my top teams. I have them and two or three others that I really like, probably like Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Oklahoma or something. I don’t know for sure, but probably something like those four.”
Cooper added that one of the things he likes so much about Tech is the voracity with which they are pursuing him.
“I really like the fact that they value me as a player,” he commented. “I mean, they’re recruiting me really hard and I know they view me as a priority. That means a lot right there, because you know there are plenty of players who are ranked higher than me, but they still want me. That’s a good feeling and it really helps them.”
The athletic safety, who holds nearly twenty written offers, also admitted that his visit to Texas Tech for their spring game helped their stock in his eyes.
“That visit was really nice,” he explained. “I would say it helped them quite a bit. I might actually try to visit them again sometime this summer or something, but most likely I’m just going to stay here and workout and stuff. We’ll have to see if I know anyone heading that way that I can hitch a ride with.”
With schools such as Michigan, LSU, Oklahoma, West Virginia, and others vying for his services, Cooper will be anything but an easy get, but, as has been the theme often this spring, you have to like where Tech is sitting at this point.
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