Monday, the Texas Tech football team picked up a verbal commitment from 3-star offensive tackle Landon Peterson from Odessa.
For the first time as Texas Tech football head coach, Matt Wells has picked up a verbal commitment from a player that was not previously committed to the Red Raiders before he arrived. Monday, Landon Peterson, a 3-star offensive tackle from Odessa Permian gave his commitment to Texas Tech.
The 6-foot-6, 265-pound prospect is rated by 247Sports.com as the No. 106 overall player in Texas and the No. 65 offensive tackle in the nation. In addition to Texas Tech, he holds offers from Baylor, Colorado, Colorado State, Illinois, Nevada, North Texas, SMU, Tulsa, Virginia, and Washington State.
After originally pledging to Baylor in June, Peterson decommitted in October. Now he has become the second offensive line prospect in this class to verbally commit to the Red Raiders joining Trevor Roberson from Wellington, Texas.
STAYING HOME... pic.twitter.com/ADUqBR2C3S
— Landon Peterson (@petersonlandon5) December 10, 2018
Tech graduated five offensive lineman this season including starting center Paul Stawarz and right guard Jacob Hines who started a pair of games at guard this season before a knee injury in the Oklahoma game cost him the remainder of his season.
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The Red Raider offensive line struggled as the season progressed in 2018. Tech ran for just 31 yards against Iowa State and 30 yards against Kansas State, both losses. The Red Raiders averaged just 3.64 yards per carry, 114th in the country. Tech also allowed 25 sacks, good for 58th in the country.
In four of the past five recruiting classes, Tech has signed a full offensive line class of at least five players including six in 2015. But numerous recruiting misses along the line have left Tech in need of an influx of talent making this year’s o-line haul critically important.
Rebuilding the line is a job that falls to new offensive line coach Steve Farmer who was announced as a member of Matt Wells’ staff last week. He was with Wells at Utah State for the past three seasons and his line helped the Aggies rush for 5.6 yards per carry in 2018.
Peterson’s commitment brings the Texas Tech class to 15 members after Monday’s recommitment of 3-star defensive back Alex Hogan. Prior to the firing of Kliff Kingsbury, the class stood at 19 players but six decomittments in the days after the coaching change dropped that number to 13.
Certainly, there is still a need for more talent along the offensive line. The Red Raiders are far from finished adding pieces to the offensive front and elsewhere on the roster and “Wreck ’em Red” will be here to keep you up to date on the latest recruiting news ahead of the December 19-21 early signing window.