As the Texas Tech football program has been busy hosting its high school football camps, a number of attendees have impressed enough to pick up offers from the Red Raiders.
The summer recruiting season is in full swing for the Texas Tech football program as the Red Raiders have been busy holding camps for high school prospects all week in Lubbock. And while many of the attendees have come just to hone their skills or try to get noticed by the coaching staff, a few have been so impressive that they have received scholarship offers from Matt Wells and his assistants.
One such player is defensive end Philip Blidi. Hailing from Portales, NM (just 112 miles from Lubbock), the 6-foot-3, 245-pounder is somewhat under the radar. Tech is his only current Power 5 offer to go along with offers from New Mexico, New Mexico State, SMU, Tulsa, Abilene Christian and Illinois State.
Rated the No. 37 strong-side defensive end in the nation and a 3-star prospect by 247Sports.com, Blidi is a player that many expect to blow up over the course of the new few months as he attends camps around the nation as he has done in attending events at Texas and Texas Tech in the past two weeks. Given his proximity to Lubbock, it would seem like Tech could have an inside track with this potential diamond in the rough and Wells has certainly tried to prioritize landing local talent.
After a great camp today and getting an opportunity to talk to Coach Wells, I am more then blessed to receive my first Big 12 offer from Texas Tech University! @simplyCoachO @806hssc @PHS_RamFootball pic.twitter.com/1q681m4gVP
— Philip Blidi (@62philip) June 14, 2019
Speaking of local talents, Ayden Visage, a 6-foot-2, 295-pound offensive guard from Lubbock Cooper High School also picked up an offer from the Red Raiders this week. Currently unranked by the major scouting services, Visage holds only the one offer from Tech but did take a visit to SMU last month.
Another offensive line prospect picking up an offer from the Red Raiders this week is Jack Tucker. The 6-foot-6, 265-pound tackle from Argyle, TX currently also has an offer from Boston College. Unrated by 247Sports.com, this 2021 prospect is only beginning his recruiting process and could be a name to keep an eye on for the next recruiting cycle.
After a great camp, I’m blessed and excited to have received an offer from Texas Tech University #WreckEm #GunsUp pic.twitter.com/EFu7T3Ie2O
— Jack Tucker (@JackTucker2021) June 14, 2019
As we discussed yesterday, one of the top 2021 QB’s in the nation, Behren Morton, also visited Texas Tech this week. The Eastland, TX product who once lived in Lubbock had been offered by the Kingsbury staff and had that offer reaffirmed by the new coaching staff this week.
There was a time when college football programs went barnstorming across their local recruiting areas to hold satellite camps and given the distance Lubbock is from the main population centers of Texas, the Red Raiders made great use of that practice. But now, camps must be on campus after a 2017 rule change which has had a larger impact on Tech than most other schools.
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Next weekend, the Red Raiders will have another huge weekend as a number of their top 2020 targets will be on campus for official visits. Tech desperately needs to start building some momentum with the current class given that they have only three current commits comprising the lowest-ranked class in the Big 12.
But the program was in a similar situation last summer as well. On June 10, 2018, Tech had only one player committed to the class of 2019 but by the end of the summer, the bulk of the class had verbally committed including over ten players who committed in the later portion of June and the first two weeks of July.
Hopefully a similar scenario will play out this year as the Red Raiders need to start winning some recruiting battles. Though most of the rest of the Texas Tech campus is largely quiet this time of year, Jones Stadium and the football facility have suddenly become hubs of activity in June and July thanks to new recruiting rules so expect to hear quite a bit on that front in the coming days and weeks.