Texas Tech basketball: Red Raiders offer two-sport 2022 athlete

Anthony Black, a two-sport athlete with Big 12 offers in both football and basketball, has picked up an offer from Chris Beard and the Texas Tech basketball program.

The world of Texas Tech basketball recruiting continues to grow more fascinating with each new target.  Already trying to woo Jonathan Kuminga away from possibly heading to the NBA G League, the Texas Tech basketball team is now trying to convince a two-sport athlete to play basketball rather than football.

Anthony Black, a 6-foot-6, 180-pound shooting guard and wide receiver from Coppell, Texas has reported an offer from Chris Beard.  That comes on top of offers from other Power 5 programs for football.

For what it’s worth, Rivals lists Black as a 3-star basketball prospect.  He’s also reportedly holding offers from Texas, TCU, North Texas, and Old Dominion for basketball.

Meanwhile, at 247Sports, he’s listed as a football target.  On that site, Black is the No. 40 WR in the nation and the No. 36 overall player in the state.  He has offers on the gridiron from Baylor, Arkansas, Kansas, Cincinnati, Iowa State, Georgia Tech, Hawaii among others.

It’s also worth noting that Black’s father Terry played basketball for Baylor and is in the BU sports Hall of Fame.  Thus, many believe that the Bears are the team to beat.

This is a new twist in the world of recruiting for Chris Beard, who is accustomed to trying to beat out other basketball programs for talent.  But in the world of college athletics, two-sport stars are not unusual.   And Texas Tech has had its share come through the doors.

For instance, Michael Crabtree was an all-state QB and basketball player for Dallas Carter when he signed with Tech in 2006.  There was even some thought that he was going to try to play basketball for Bob Knight until he broke out as the nation’s best WR.  Additionally, current Texas Tech wide receiver T.J. Vasher was a 4-star talent in both sports for Wichita Falls Ryder.

Don’t forget that former Texas Tech DT Colby Whitlock was also an all-state wrestler in Noble, Oklahoma.  And of course, Pat Mahomes was a three-sport star at Whitehouse, Texas, and was even taken in the MLB draft out of high school.  On the basketball side of the Red Raider ledger, current sophomore Terrence Shannon Jr. was also a football player back in his hometown of Chicago where he was an all-city wide receiver.

It will be fascinating to see whether or not Black decides to play basketball and should that happen, perhaps that will be at Texas Tech. Certainly, this will be one of the more unique recruiting battles of the Chris Beard era.