Texas Tech football: 5 West Texas recruits Red Raiders need to land

For years, the Texas Tech football program has depended on West Texas talent to form the backbone of the roster and these five local recruits are targets the Red Raiders need to land to continue that tradition.

There was a time when the Texas Tech football program spent 75% or more of its time recruiting only West Texas.  Until the mid-to-late 70s, local talent was the lifeblood of the football program but in the modern era, the amount of West Texas talent brought into the program has diminished.

That’s not to say that the Red Raiders have completely turned away from the players that grow up in the university’s geographic footprint.  In the last 20 years, we have seen a number of West Texas players like Snyder’s Sonny Cumbie, Hereford’s Cody Hodges, Abilene’s Taylor Potts, and  Wolfforth’s Seth Doege put up huge numbers as QBs at Tech.

Additionally, some of the better local skill position players like WRs Lyle Leong of Abilene, Bradley Marquez of Midland, Ed Britton of El Paso, and Eric Morris of Shallowater have been important cogs in the “Air Raid” offense.  Along the way, others like DB Jamar Wall from Plainview, RB Baron Batch from Midland, and other home-grown players, including Lubbock products such as LB Mike Smith, IR Austin Zouzalik, S Ryan Aycock, and others have chosen to play their college football close to home.

However, there have also been some very good players leave Texas Tech’s back yard to play for rival schools.  For instance, Tech missed out on Amarillo defensive tackle James Castleman in 2011 and wide receiver James Washington from Stamford in 2014, both of whom went to Oklahoma State and had excellent careers before being NFL draft picks.

Of course, the Longhorns have had plenty of luck raiding West Texas as well.  Pulling RB Cedric Benson out of Midland and WR Roy Williams out of Odessa as well as TE David Thomas out of Wolfforth, and QB Colt McCoy out of Tuscola, Texas has picked off some of the region’s best players in the last two decades.

In the upcoming classes, there are some intriguing prospects in Tech’s back yard and new head coach Matt Wells wants to establish dominance in the region when it comes to the recruiting trail.  Tech has taken a great step in that direction by already securing a commitment from Lubbock Cooper Safety/Outside Linebacker Kobie McKinzie, who many believe will wind up being the best player to come out of Lubbock in decades.

However, there remains a significant amount of talent within a few hours of Lubbock and Tech needs to make certain those players stay home because if they go elsewhere, they will likely end up at another Big 12 school.  So let’s take a look at five local talents that the Red Raiders need to land to ensure that West Texas belongs to Texas Tech.