Texas Tech football: The top recruiting battle to watch ahead of signing day

With the 2020 National Signing Day fast approaching, the Texas Tech football team is in the mix for a big-time tight end.

Does it seem to anyone else that the current Texas Tech football coaching staff is rather infatuated with the tight end position? Perhaps it is because true tight ends weren’t on the roster when Matt Wells and Co. arrived or because offensive coordinator David Yost truly values that position in his offense but for whatever reason, it has felt like the coaches have spent a lot of equity over the last year on a position group that will only have one player on the field at a time.

It’s worth bringing that fact up given that the Red Raiders are going all-in for a big-time tight end in the 2020 class despite already having signed a very promising player at that position in the current recruiting cycle. McKinney, Texas product Brandon Frazier appears to be this program’s biggest target ahead of National Signing Day, which will arrive one week from Wednesday.

The 6-foot-7, 247-pounder certainly possesses the size to be a powerful blocker in the Big 12 right away. That’s something Yost places a high priority on in his offense, unlike previous Red Raider offensive coordinators who have simply asked the tight ends on their roster to be receivers. That’s, of course, assuming that they even had players at that position to work with in the first place.

After Jace Amaro left for the NFL following the 2013 season, the tight end position essentially disappeared from Texas Tech football. If an extra blocker was needed Kliff Kingsbury would ask a position he referred to as an “H-back” to do that job but he rarely used those players in any other role.

But last season, Yost had either senior Donta Thompson (a converted wide receiver) or JUCO TE transfer Travis Koontz on the field for essentially every offensive snap. With Thompson now out of eligibility, Yost certainly appears to be looking for another player to pair with Koontz and it seems like he feels Frazier could be an immediate contributor as a true freshman.

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"“Enormous tight end prospect with college-ready size,” writes Gabe Brooks of 247Sports.com. “Tall and long with space to add considerably more bulk if desired. Owns large catch radius and provides huge target for QB. Consistent hands catcher. Red-zone potential is through the roof.“Good production against strong competition. Experience moving around formation from H-back to slot to outside receiver. Better than expected run-after-catch ability. Encouraging top-end speed on the field with long-striding gait. Physical block-finisher in the run game. Athleticism lacks context from combine testing and/or track perspectives.“Flashes drive-blocking and block-finishing ability but can improve initial punch power when engaging. Occasionally rounds off routes and can more consistently get off the line. An offensive tackle prospect in some eyes who, despite no experience there, would possess a very high ceiling at OT. Power 5-caliber tight end prospect with terrific physical tools whose physical development will ultimately determine long-term positional fit.”"

In 2019, he registered 39 catches for 877 yards and 7 touchdowns. He’s rated by 247Sports as the No. 24 TE in the nation and No. 80 overall player in Texas. He’s got offers from Baylor, Auburn, Oklahoma State, Iowa State, Nebraska, Minnesota, TCU, SMU, Vanderbilt and others.

From May until November of last year, he was a verbal commit to Arkansas. But when the Hogs fired head coach Chad Morris before the end of the season, he started to explore his options.

Now, it is believed that Tech, Arkansas, and Auburn are his top three schools. He was in Fayetteville for an official visit this past weekend. That comes after he took a visit to Lubbock in December and went to Auburn a week ago.

He also hosted the Texas Tech coaches for an in-home visit last week. Thus it is safe to assume that he remains a huge priority despite the fact that Tech already has three scholarship tight ends on the roster.

In addition to Koontz, Tech signed 3-star Magnolia, TX tight end Simon Gonzalez last year and 3-star Wellington, Texas TE John Holcomb in December. But Gonzalez is only 235-pounds while Holcomb will arrive on campus at a rather dainty 215-pounds or so.

Thus, it appears Wells and Yost believe that the best way to make an immediate upgrade to the TE position next year is to bring Frazier on board to split time with Koontz. After he caught just 10 passes for 152 yards this fall, it’s fair to say that Koontz doesn’t necessarily have the starting job locked down, especially if he were to have competition from a guy the caliber of Frazier.

It would seem like early playing time is what Tech is pitching to Frazier but that also looks to be Arkansas’ main selling point. Meanwhile, Auburn has the prestige of being a top-15 program and playing in some of the most high-profile games in the nation each year.

If Tech misses out on this prized recruit, don’t expect Wells and his staff to just stand pat. Rather, it would be likely that they might sift through the grad transfer ranks to try to bring some immediate depth to a position that they clearly believe is crucial to what they want to accomplish on offense.

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