As the Texas Tech basketball program heads into the fall semester, here are some recruits to keep an eye on.
Texas Tech basketball will hopefully be back in our lives in early November. That means that the team will begin fall camp in a little over a month’s time.
So in between now and then, we can expect Chris Beard and his staff to be rather active on the recruiting trail, not that there’s ever a time when that isn’t the case. And the 2021 class is going to be an intriguing one for the Red Raiders.
That’s because it will have some serious expectations being as it will follow on the heels of the 2020 class, which was rated No. 10 nationally and No. 1 in the Big 12. But there’s reason to believe that there’s no way the 2021 class will rank as high.
That’s not because the class is expected to be lacking in talent. Rather, it’s because the class will likely be smaller than the 2020 class and the size of a class is often what puts classes over the top when it comes to how they are ranked by the recruiting services.
Remember that the 2020 class was rather large with five players in it. Thus, Tech may not take as many in 2021, especially given that there will be only one senior on this year’s roster.
Of course, there’s always the possibility that a player like Mac McClung, Terrance Shannon Jr., or Nimari Burnett could head to the NBA after next season but even if a pair of those players do forego their remaining eligibility, there simply may not be as many spots to fill next offseason.
On the other hand, though, Chris Beard always seems to churn the bottom of the roster to make sure he has room for the newcomers he wants to add. We saw that this offseason with the transfers of Andrei Savrasov and Russell Tchewa to make way for impact additions.
One player already in the mix for Beard’s program is Jaylon Tyson. The 6-foot-6 forward from Plano, Texas is the No. 5 player in Texas and No. 65 player in the nation according to 247Sports.com.
According to Eric Bossi of Rivals.com, Tyson is a perfect fit for Chris Beard’s program.
"“Chris Beard and Texas Tech have been on a roll, and they’ve proven capable of developing players at all positions,” writes Bossi. “They’ve been particularly strong at getting the most out of wings. Zhaire Smith and Jarret Culver started the trend, and guys like Kevin McCullar and Terrence Shannon are continuing it. Tyson is next in line. He’s got very good positional size, a great frame to build on and he is already developing into a very dangerous jump shooter. The Red Raiders’ evaluation of him as a potential high-level player was way ahead of anybody else.”"
Averaging 23.6 points, 5.6 rebounds, 1.9 assists, and 2.1 steals per game, during his junior season, he saw his recruitment explode over the last 12 months and he could continue to skyrocket up the recruit rankings as a senior. So while we know Tech is off to a solid start in the class of 2021 with Tyson already in the fold, let’s look at other prospects to watch because the fall is when high school basketball recruiting really picks up momentum.