Texas Tech football: Matt Wells discusses spring progress

Wells shares thoughts on recruiting philosophy

One of the final official events the Texas Tech football program was able to hold before just about the entire nation was shut down because of the coronavirus outbreak was a massive recruiting weekend that coincided with the last home basketball game.  That weekend, the first weekend of March, Wells and his program hosted over 30 recruits and though he is not able to discuss any players individually, he did talk about how his program is attacking the issue of upgrading the talent on the roster.

"“We take time every day,” Wells said.  “Whether it’s phone calls to these high school coaches, it’s evaluating tape, it’s face-timing these recruits, it’s just so important and it’s just constant touch.  You’ve noticed that with two big junior weekends and a lot of our first-round draft picks have been on campus…”"

There is no other way to recruit to Lubbock, in any sport, that to be a grinder on the recruiting trail.  That’s what has made coaches like Chris Beard or baseball head coach Tim Tadlock so successful and it’s a lifestyle that Wells seems to be embracing more readily than his predecessor.

What made the most recent junior day event so telling was that there was a large number of players that were coming back to Lubbock for at least their second visit, a sign that they are seriously interested in the Red Raiders.  When you consider that a number of those players were four-star talents and rated in the top 150 in Texas, it’s enough to believe that the 2021 recruiting class could be the best this program has landed in several years.

"“What’s interesting is to see the repeat trips to Lubbock,” Wells said.  “And that just takes a staff that’s passionate about recruiting and that understands that the two ways to get this program to where we all want it…is you gotta recruit and you gotta develop.  And that recruiting just can’t stop.  You got to go, and go, and go, and you gotta keep getting these kids on campus…”"

Though the suspension of the football program and all Texas Tech University activities (academic or otherwise) during the coronavirus outbreak has made recruiting tough, consider Tech fortunate to have been able to squeeze this huge recruiting weekend in just over a week prior to the beginning of our social isolation consciousness.  Thus, the recruits who were on campus for that event will have plenty of time to reflect on their experience in Lubbock without those memories being pushed aside by other recruiting trips and official visits.  One has to wonder if that may pay dividends down the road.

What is most important to know however is that this staff is throwing more energy, time, and money at recruiting than any staff we’ve seen in the history of the program.  That’s important because years of poor recruiting have left the roster thin and the ranks depleted of Big 12 talent.  Hopefully, the groundwork Wells and Co. are laying will lead to the type of uptick that it is going to take for Tech to get back to being relevant in the Big 12 and nationally.