With spring football practice over with and summer approaching, recruiting for head coach Kliff Kingsbury and his staff is in full swing. Before the Red Raiders report for fall practice before the 2014 season, the energetic Tech staff is all over the country recruiting the teams needs and this class seems to be blooming into one of the best we’ve seen in years.
Current Commits:
QB- Jarrett Stidham: The dual-threat quarterback out of Stephenville High School is one one the highest rated recruits the Red Raiders have had a verbal commitment on in quite some time. Stidham is ranked as the No. 1 dual-threat quarterback in the nation by Rivals.com and recently won the Dallas Elite 11 regional camp.
RB- Corey Dauphine: Hailing from Port Arthur, Texas, Dauphine is a running back with good size (6-foot-1, 180 pounds) and great speed. He recently ran the 200-meter race in a blazing 20.76 seconds, the fastest time a high school track participant has ran this year. His recruiting is heating up as Baylor recently offered and many other schools are beginning to notice his talent.
OL- Trace Ellison: This 6-foot-6, 285-pounder from Frisco Centennial High School is one of the more lightly recruited pledges for Tech in 2014. That’s not to say Ellison doesn’t have the skills to become a contributor to offensive line coach’s Lee Hays squad. Ellison has offers from Illinois and Arkansas State. Ellison has the frame to be a Big 12 level offensive lineman and is projected as a n offensive tackle at the next level.
OL- Lio Lafaele: Just as former Red Raiders Will Smith, Sadale Foster and Bruce Jones, Lio Lafaele comes from Riverside (California) Community College. Lafaele is 6-foot-4, 305-pounds and is expected to be able to come in and contribute in 2015 as a JUCO transfer. If he can contribute like Smith, Foster and Jones, coach Kingsbury would be more than pleased.
ATH- Jonathan Giles– The most recent of Red Raider commits, Giles pulled the trigger on May 10th and pledged to Kingsbury and Co. Giles is a versatile athlete from Missouri City (Texas) Elkins High School. He plays quarterback for Elkins, but has the frame and speed of a wide receiver, where he will likely play in college.
LB- D’Vonta Hinton– At just 5-foot-9, 204-pounds, Hinton has some work to do before he gets to Tech. With that said, he has the athleticism and tackling skills to develop into a solid linebacker for the Red Raiders in a few years. Hinton has offers from Louisiana Tech, Texas State, Maryland and UTSA. If Hinton grows and has a good senior season this fall, expect his offer list to continue to grow.
DT- Breiden Fehoko- The brother of Sam and V.J. Fehoko is one of the highest recruited defensive players the Red Raiders have ever had. The 6-foot-3, 290-pounder out of Honolulu (Hawaii) Farrington High School has a unique combination of size, power and technique that make him one of the highest rated defensive tackles in the 2015 recruiting class. Although V.J., who transferred from Utah this past offseason, will be gone by the time Breiden gets to Lubbock, its no doubt the Fehoko pipeline has been kind to Tech over the years.
With five offensive verbal commits and two defensive pledges, the Red Raiders have plenty of room to add on both sides of the ball in this early recruiting class. Although this recruiting cycle is still in its early stages, the summer offseason means Tech coaches are on the road recruiting all over the nation.
Targets:
With so many spot left open, the Red Raiders have quite a few targets they are going after. Here are a few to keep an eye on that could commit over the next few months:
1. LB- Mike Mitchell– The Ohio State Buckeye transfer from Plano (Texas) Prestonwood was a Rivals.com four star out of high school and is an incredible athlete. He attended Texas Tech’s spring game and is rumored to be deciding on his new home on June 1st.
2. OT- Madison Akamnonu– Hailing from Arlington (Texas) Bowie High School, Akamnonu’s recruitment has really heated up since spring. He has offers from Texas, Baylor, Missouri, Kansas State, Ole Miss and many more. He has great size at 6-foot-5, 269-pounds and quickness for his large frame. With so many big time offers, Akamnonu has lots to choose from before his senior season starts.
3. DE- James Lockhart– This highly recruited defensive end out of Ennis (Texas) High School has blown up over the past few months. Lockhart has recently added offers from Texas A&M, Missouri, Kansas State and Miami to go along with his nearly 20 other offers. He was teammates with 2014 Red Raider commit Jah’Shawn Johnson last year so he has a connection to Tech, but Lockhart is being heavily recruited by so many programs that it’s hard to tell where he will land.
4. WR- Kirk Merritt– This 5-foot-11, 206-pound wide receiver from Destrehan (Louisiana) High School has great speed and ball catching abilities. He has recently received offers from Alabama, Arkansas, Oregon and Clemson, but the school to beat is obviously the in state power, Louisiana State University Tigers. With the Red Raiders history of developing and recruiting high level wide receivers, Tech may have a chance here, but the Bayou Bengals should be the team to beat for Merritt’s services.
5. OL- Conner Dyer– One of the highest recruited offensive linemen in the country, Conner Dyer has exploded onto the recruiting scene recently with his 6-foot-4, 276-pound frame and run/pass blocking abilities. Dyer has received offers from Tennessee, Ole Miss, Arkansas, LSU and many others. The Red Raiders have been on Dyer for quite some time now and seem to be in his top choices going forward.
6. WR- Jaelan Austin– Although he has stacked up quite the offer list including Ole Miss, Iowa, Minnesota, TCU and Kansas State, Austin seems to have the Red Raiders at the top of his list. The 6-foot-3, 190-pound wide receiver out of Grand Prarie (Texas) South Grand Prarie High School has great size and hands for the next level of play.
Others to watch for:
WR- Kemah Siverand (Houston, Texas: Cypress Ridge), CB- Holton Hill (Houston, Texas: Lamar), OC- Fred Ulu-Perry (Honolulu, Hawaii: St. Louis), DT-Kingsley KeKe (Richmond, Texas: George Ranch) and DT-Vaimoe Sekona (Encino, California: Crespi)