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Texas Tech Football: Scouting Report On 2018 DE Commit John Graves

By Matthew Conner

Oct 15, 2016; Lubbock, TX, USA; The Texas Tech Red Raiders enter the field behind the masked rider before the game with the West Virginia Mountaineers at Jones AT&T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Michael C. Johnson-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 15, 2016; Lubbock, TX, USA; The Texas Tech Red Raiders enter the field behind the masked rider before the game with the West Virginia Mountaineers at Jones AT&T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Michael C. Johnson-USA TODAY Sports /
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Texas Tech football continues to add pieces to the 2018 recruiting class including defensive end John Graves who verbally committed to the Red Raiders this week.   Let’s take a look at what type of player the Red Raiders are getting.

Three-star defensive end John Graves is the seventh member of the 2018 recruiting class after his commitment on Wednesday.  The Lancaster, Texas product picked the Red Raiders over Memphis, New Mexico State and Texas-San Antonio.  In addition, he has received interest from Minnesota, North Texas and SMU.

Twitter has become an en vogue platform through which high school players make public their college decisions.  However, Graves took thinks a step further making a creative video that chronicled his life and revealed his commitment to the Red Raiders.

The 6-foot-1, 282-pound defensive lineman lines up across the defensive line but most recruiting sites are listing him as a defensive end.  He could evolve into a player that can play defensive end or defensive tackle depending on the game situation.

The most recent video of Graves in action is a short clip of his work in spring practice at Lancaster.

Graves has recently moved to Texas for his senior year after playing his first three years in Missouri.  The video below is his junior year highlight reel which shows him playing equally at tackle and end.

The trait that stands out most is Graves’ raw power.  He easily holds his ground using what looks to be his very strong lower body to maintain leverage.  He has the look of an effective run-stopper, especially if he plays at defensive tackle.

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As a pass-rusher, Graves uses his hands very well (the swat-and-swim move is his go-to).  However, he does not appear to be explosive off the ball and he will not ever be mistaken for a gazelle when pursuing the play.

It will be interesting to see how defensive coordinator David Gibbs deploys graves.  He appears to be a bit of a “tweener”, not quite big enough to be a true defensive tackle and a bit too big and a step too slow to be a prototypical pass-rushing defensive end.

The most likely scenario is that he adds some weight over the next year to become a defensive tackle.  If that is the case, he could remind Texas Tech fans of former defensive tackle Kerry Hyder, which would make him a very welcome addition to the roster.

Next: What Big 12 Coaching Moves Mean For Texas Tech

With summer camps and official visits heating up, Texas Tech football recruiting is picking up steam.  Keep checking in with “Wreck ‘Em Red” as Kingsbury continues to build the 2018 recruiting class.

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