Texas Tech Football: 2016 class has out-of-state flavor

Every year the state of Texas produces more Football Bowl Championship (FBS) signees than any other state (an average of 357 per year from 2008-14). However, there are 12 FBS teams in Texas competing for those recruits not to mention the fact that the vast majority of out-of-state schools in the FBS try to raid the state’s high school football talent. So despite being one of the top programs in Texas, the Texas Tech Red Raiders traveled outside the state to find an unusually high number of recruits in 2016.

Recruiting in-state talent will always be the foundation of the Texas Tech football program but Kliff Kingsbury and his staff are canvasing the nation to find the best players possible. Of this year’s 24-member signing class eight played high school football outside of Texas.

Last season, only two of the Red Raiders twenty signees were not from Texas (defensive tackle Breiden Fehoko from Hawaii and wide receiver Tony Brown from California). In 2014, nine of Texas Tech’s twenty-three signees were not from Texas but the seven junior college players in that class skewed that number. (We will address JUCO players in a moment.)

Often, luring high school players from foreign ports to the high plains of West Texas can be difficult to say the least. Even people that live in Texas think of the Texas panhandle as if it were another planet where signs of life are still yet to be verified by scientists.

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So how did Kingsbury convince so many quality players to leave their home states for Lubbock? The tactics are many and varied.

First off, Texas Tech looked for quality players that were passed over by the top football program in their state. Often, these players came from states with only one FCS program such as Louisiana.

For years, Texas Tech has tried to create a presence in the Bayou State but it has found that pulling players out of the swamp is as easy as pulling a gator out of a mud hole. Yet, in 2016 Texas Tech signed three players from its neighbor to the east.

Linebacker Jonathan Picone and defensive backs Kevin Moore and Douglas Coleman all were talented enough to play at the FCS level but were largely ignored by their in-state blue-blood program LSU as well as other schools in the SEC. Texas Tech identified these players and showed them the attention they wanted from a power-5 program making them want to become Red Raiders.

To further the Louisiana connection, Texas Tech has hired Jabbar Juluke, a former New Orleans high school football coach, to be its running backs coach. Juluke coached at Louisiana Tech prior to joining Kingsbury’s staff and has strong relationships in the talent-rich state. In fact, he was primarily responsible for the signing of Coleman who did not receive an offer from Texas Tech until Juluke was hired.

Another 3-star player passed over by his state’s premier program is defensive end Noah Jones from Moore, Oklahoma. Though he lives just minutes from OU’s campus, the No. 1 rated defensive end in the state was not a priority for Bob Stoops and company. But Texas Tech made him a priority and now he is in line to be part of the Red Raiders’ 2016 defensive line rotation.

Nick McCann is an exciting 3-star defensive tackle prospect from Arkansas that chose Texas Tech as well. After receiving little interest from the Arkansas Razorbacks and other SEC programs, McCann found a home in Lubbock.

Keep in mind that just because these players were not recruited heavily by the schools in their home state does not mean they are untalented. Many schools, especially SEC schools and the nation’s elite program spend their time chasing only four and five-star recruits in what turns out to be as much of am early February peeing contest as anything.

Of course, everyone in Lubbock knows how Oklahoma passed on the state’s high school player of the decade because he was too slow and too small to play in the Big 12. Four years later, Wes Welker left Texas Tech as a college football legend proving that a single school’s foresight can make all the difference.

The second way Texas Tech found out-of-state talent was in junior college programs. Kingsbury dipped into the JUCO ranks in 2016 but for only three players rather than seven. Of those three, only two, receivers Derrick Willies (California) and DeQuan Bowman (New Jersey) grew up outside of Texas.