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Texas Tech basketball: Red Raiders land their highest ranked high school signee ever

By Matthew Conner

LUBBOCK, TEXAS - FEBRUARY 16: Mascot Raider Red of the Texas Tech Red Raiders runs across the court during a timeout during the first half of the college basketball game against the Baylor Bears at United Supermarkets Arena on February 16, 2022 in Lubbock, Texas. (Photo by John E. Moore III/Getty Images)
LUBBOCK, TEXAS - FEBRUARY 16: Mascot Raider Red of the Texas Tech Red Raiders runs across the court during a timeout during the first half of the college basketball game against the Baylor Bears at United Supermarkets Arena on February 16, 2022 in Lubbock, Texas. (Photo by John E. Moore III/Getty Images) /
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Remember when there was a concern about whether or not Mark Adams could recruit top high school talent?  That notion has long since been put to bed but if there was any lingering doubt about whether or not the Texas Tech basketball program would be able to continue to lure top players to Lubbock during the Adams era, it was once and for all answered on Thursday.

That’s because the Red Raiders announced the signing of Elijah Fisher, the highest-ranked player to ever sign with the program.  A native of Canada and the top high school player in his country, the 6-foot-6 guard was rated the No. 24 player in the class of 2023 by 247Sports, which also has him rated a 5-star prospect according to its composite rankings.  But the operative word in that statement is the word “was”.

That’s because Fisher is no longer a member of the class of 2023 as he has decided to graduate early and enroll at Tech for the 2022-23 season.  That will be quite the addition to a high school class that was already ranked No. 26 nationally despite having only three players prior to Fisher’s signing.

Fisher also held offers from the likes of Kentucky, Florida, Florida State, Kansas, Oklahoma State, Ole Miss, Oregon, West Virginia, and a host of other programs.  But now, he’s officially a Red Raider.

This means that next year’s team is set to have at least eight new players and there is still room for one more addition, which would likely be a fifth transfer.  But that appears to be right in Adam’s comfort zone. Remember that this past season, his first as a head coach at a major-conference program, Adams led a team featuring seven transfers to the Sweet 16.

But one difference between last season’s 27-10 team and the upcoming Red Raiders will be age.  After not signing one high school player in the class of 2021, Tech now has four prep players set to join the ranks this offseason.  What’s more, one of the four transfers joining the Red Raiders, Jaylon Tyson, is going to be a redshirt freshman after playing only a handful of games at Texas in 2021-22.

In other words, Tech might need its youngsters to play key roles on the court this upcoming season.  Additionally, the Red Raiders will be looking for new leaders to emerge after multi-year starters Kevin McCullar Jr. and Terrence Shannon Jr. both decided to transfer elsewhere themselves.

Therefore, don’t be surprised to see both Fisher and Tyson play meaningful minutes right out of the gates.  And with Fisher’s pedigree, he will carry with him some rather lofty expectations.

Prior to landing Fisher, Tech’s highest-ever ranked high school signee was Jahmi’us Ramsey, who was the No. 32 player in the class of 2019.  Now, Fisher takes his place as the most acclaimed prospect to ever sign with Tech and it gives Red Raider fans just one more reason to be excited about the future of Texas Tech basketball.

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