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Texas Tech football: Red Raiders land two large commitments on Saturday

By Matthew Conner

LUBBOCK, TEXAS - NOVEMBER 09: New head football coach Joey McGuire of the Texas Tech Red Raiders addresses the crowd during halftime the college basketball game against the North Florida Ospreys at United Supermarkets Arena on November 09, 2021 in Lubbock, Texas. (Photo by John E. Moore III/Getty Images)
LUBBOCK, TEXAS - NOVEMBER 09: New head football coach Joey McGuire of the Texas Tech Red Raiders addresses the crowd during halftime the college basketball game against the North Florida Ospreys at United Supermarkets Arena on November 09, 2021 in Lubbock, Texas. (Photo by John E. Moore III/Getty Images) /
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The annual spring game is a time for the Texas Tech football program to showcase itself.  And one of the most important aspects of the event is always the recruiting angle as yearly, a host of recruits make their way to Lubbock to check out everything the program and the university have to offer.

Of course, with the charismatic Joey McGuire now entrenched as head coach, Tech football is swimming in some of the deepest recruiting waters in program history as Tech currently has the No. 1 class in the nation.  And on Saturday, as Tech was holding its spring game, McGuire landed two more verbal commitments from massive prospects in the class of 2023.  And by “massive”, we mean that in a literal sense.

The first player to give his pledge to Tech on Saturday was Manor, Texas product Jayden Cofield.  Checking in at a whopping 6-foot-3, 325 pounds, this defensive tackle will add some serious beef to the interior of the Red Raider defensive line.

Rated a 3-star prospect by the 247Sports composite rankings, he’s listed as the No. 96 player in Texas and the No. 72 defensive lineman in his class.  In addition to Tech, he holds offers from the likes of Arizona State, Houston, Kansas, SMU, TCU, Washington State, and others.

https://twitter.com/jaydencofield0/status/1517912540076023809?s=20&t=rEoGjPKkJJJhkmz4b_o0Wg

Solidifying the future of the defensive tackle position is important for McGuire and Co.  That’s because both Jaylon Hutchings and Tony Bradford Jr. enter 2022 as seniors (though both can play in 2023 given that 2020 did not count against a player’s eligibility).  Therefore, it is imperative that Tech gets some more size along the defensive interior coming into the pipeline so that they can develop and be ready to make an impact when Hutchings and Bradford are out of eligibility.

Already in the class of 2023, Tech has secured verbals from Tre’Darius Brown, a 6-foot-4, 310-pound defensive tackle from Louisiana.  His addition, along with that of Cofield gives Tech two possible replacements for Hutchings, which is important given that in the class of 2022, the Red Raiders did not sign a single defensive tackle.  Furthermore, currently on the roster, there are no clear-cut choices to replace Hutchings when he eventually departs.

Meanwhile, Tech has done a fantastic job of revamping its offensive line depth this offseason and another piece to that puzzle could be Dylan Shaw, who also committed to the Red Raiders on Saturday.  A 6-foot-4, 300-pound offensive lineman from Corpus Christi, Texas, Shaw appears to be a bit of a sleeper as a prospect. Unrated by 247Sports, he holds offers from only Tech, UT-San Antonio, and Sam Houston.  Still, a player of his size is worth taking a flyer on.

https://twitter.com/thedylanshaw/status/1517990804563927041?s=20&t=rEoGjPKkJJJhkmz4b_o0Wg

This offseason, McGuire has made the offensive line his top priority.  Not only has he added three o-linemen to the class of 2023, but he’s also brought in five transfers up front via the portal.  That tells us all we need to know about where this current coaching staff thought the position group was when they took over following last season’s bowl game.

From the moment he arrived, McGuire has tried to add size to the Tech roster.  And addressing the line of scrimmage has been his main focus.

In the class of 2022, he added 13 players who will go to battle along the line of scrimmage, and in the class of 2023, he’s already added seven more.  It’s clear to see where McGuire believes the games are won and lost and that’s in the trenches.  So though he’s added two large pieces to that group in the form of Cofield and a Shaw, we can expect more beef to join the ranks as the new man in charge continues to put his fingerprints on Texas Tech football.

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