Dequan Watts, a 2019 three-star athlete from Georgia has received an offer from the Texas Tech football program but is it too late in the game for the Red Raiders to land a potential defensive back from out of state?
With the end of winter dead period on Friday, the final stretch of the 2019 recruiting cycle is about to pick up. And with as many as eleven spots remaining to be filled, the Texas Tech football coaching staff is likely to be as active as any ahead of February’s signing day.
Thursday, three-star athlete Dequan Watts from Atlanta, Georgia reported via Twitter that he had received an offer from Texas Tech. The 6-foot-1, 185-pound prospect is rated the No. 91 player in Georgia and is projected by most to be a defensive back at the collegiate level.
According to The News and Observer out of Raleigh, North Carolina, Watts was a standout pass defender this year recording 49 tackles, six interceptions and nine pass breakups while also returning a kickoff for a touchdown. Thus, it seems like he would certainly be a great addition to a Texas Tech recruiting class in desperate need of defensive backs.
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After having four nice defensive back prospects in the class prior to the dismissal of Kliff Kingsbury, Tech now has only three-star defensive back Alex Hogan from Houston in the mix. The 5-foot-11 Hogan also decomitted from the Red Raiders in the days after Kingsbury’s firing but recommitted to Matt Wells and has already signed his letter of intent.
But one must wonder if it is too late in the process for Wells and his staff to build a strong enough connection with Watts to bring him to Texas Tech. After all, he has some other big-time schools still vying for his services.
On December 20th, he released a top-three of South Carolina, UCF and Ole Miss, all of which are much closer to Atlanta than Lubbock. But in the days since, he has picked up an offer from Oregon as well as Texas Tech so there are at least two schools that believe they can pry this prospect out of SEC country.
https://twitter.com/Dequanteouswat1/status/1075781377725992961
247Sports.com indicates that he is set to visit Ole Miss on January 26th and Oregon on February 1st meaning there is little time left from him to make other visits. Originally, Watts was committed to Central Florida but he reopened his recruitment on November 18th.
In addition to the programs already mentioned, he currently holds offers from such schools as Boston College, Georgia Tech, Indiana, Pitt, Rutgers, Temple, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest and West Virginia.
It would be great for Texas Tech to add a corner of this size but that appears unlikely given the Red Raiders’ late arrival to the party. But if Wells and company can somehow pull off such a long-shot, it would be a huge indication to Red Raider fans of how well their new coaching staff can sell the Texas Tech football program.