Texas Tech football: What Red Raider fans should be thankful for

The 2020 recruiting class looks like it will be a significant step up from recent classes

One of the problems this program faces is that there simply aren’t enough Big 12-caliber players to field a true two-deep.  The main reason is the poor caliber of recruiting classes that comprise the backbone of the current roster.

The 2017 class was representative.  Ranked No. 49 overall and No. 6 in the Big 12, it provided players such as Jack Anderson, Dawson Deaton, Riko Jeffers, Nelson Mbanasor, Dakota Allen (fresh off his one year at East Mississippi Community College), Tony Jones and Dominic Panazzolo. But it had flaws, specifically the lack of a true QB as Xavier White moved to inside receiver upon his arrival and running back.

In 2018, most recruits knew that Kliff Kingsbury was on the hot seat and it showed in his inability to recruit.  That year, Tech’s class was No. 72 in the nation and last in the Big 12 as well as being the worst of any Power 5 school.  Of that class, only nine of the 22 signees have given Tech anything of significance in the last two seasons.

The 2019 class was nearly as bad.  Deemed a transition class for Matt Wells given that he had been on the job just a couple of weeks before the early signing period and less than two full months before the traditional signing day, this haul was never expected to be one for the ages.

Ranked just 62nd nationally and 8th in the Big 12, the 19-player class was a hodgepodge of Kilff Kingsbury holdovers, Matt Wells recruits, JUCO gambles, and grad transfer stopgaps.  Thus far, six of the high school or JUCO signees from that group have been contributors for the Red Raiders.

Thankfully, it appears that Wells is on track to bring in the best recruiting class this program has landed since 2015. That was the last time the Red Raiders signed a class that was ranked in the 30s or higher nationally.

Currently, Tech sits at No. 40 nationally, a ranking that will likely rise as the class nears full capacity at around 22-25 players.  What’s more, the class is rated No. 4 in the Big 12 behind Texas, OU, and Iowa State.

After he left, Kingsbury admitted that he didn’t care for the recruiting process.  That and the two years he spent on the hot seat proved to be huge reasons for the failures of Texas Tech football.

Matt Wells appears fully committed to being a grinder on the recruiting trail and that may be starting to pay some dividends in the current recruiting cycle.  It looks like the days of being one of the worst programs in the nation in terms of recruiting may be behind us and that’s something we can all be thankful for.