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Texas Tech football: 4-star offensive lineman picks Red Raiders

By Matthew Conner

Oct 22, 2022; Lubbock, Texas, USA; Texas Tech Red Raiders head coach Joey McGuire sings the school song after the Red Raiders defeated the West Virginia Mountaineers at Jones AT&T Stadium and Cody Campbell Field. Mandatory Credit: Michael C. Johnson-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 22, 2022; Lubbock, Texas, USA; Texas Tech Red Raiders head coach Joey McGuire sings the school song after the Red Raiders defeated the West Virginia Mountaineers at Jones AT&T Stadium and Cody Campbell Field. Mandatory Credit: Michael C. Johnson-USA TODAY Sports /
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After what was a huge recruiting weekend for the Texas Tech football program one that saw the coaching staff send out several social media indications that they had picked up commitments in the last few days, on Monday, the first of those new Red Raiders made his decision public.  Prosper, Texas offensive lineman Ellis Davis Tweeted out the news that he intends to join Joey McGuire’s program for the 2024 season making him the 10th high school player to give a pledge to Tech in the current recruiting cycle.

This is a huge win for McGuire and Co., both literally and figuratively.  At a towering 6-foot-7 and 275 pounds, Davis has the prototypical frame to be a bookend tackle at the Big 12 level.

Figuratively, landing Davis is huge in the sense that he’s a 4-star prospect, the No. 42 player in Texas, and the No. 20 offensive tackle in the nation (according to 274Sports.com).  In addition to Tech, he boasts offers from the likes of Stanford, Auburn, BYU, Colorado, Florida State, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Oregon, Penn State, TCU, Tennessee, A&M, and Utah among others.

Right now, he slots in as the second-highest-rated high school recruit in the 2024 Red Raider class behind Sachse, Texas defensive end Cheta Ofili who committed back in April.  With Davis now in the fold, Tech currently boasts the 22nd-best recruiting class in the nation and the best in the Big 12 thanks in large part to also having the largest class in the Big 12 at this time.

https://twitter.com/EllisDav1s/status/1668344813014634496?s=20

Adding excellent offensive line prospects to the roster is a must in any recruiting cycle but especially now given that this offseason will see three 2023 projected starters, Cole Spencer, Rusty Staats, and Dennis Wilburn all set to exhaust their eligibility this fall.  What’s more, in 2024, starting tackles Caleb Rogers and Monroe Mills will be seniors though because of the free COVID season of 2020, each could return for one more run in 2025.

Still, it is imperative that Tech begin developing a pipeline of offensive linemen so that the transfer portal is not going to be where McGuire and offensive line coach Stephen Hamby have to turn on a yearly basis to fill needs.  We saw this offseason that Tech felt the need to pull Staats out of that pool to fill the starting center position but the coaching staff missed on other potential difference-making offensive line transfers leaving that position group rather thin in terms of depth this year and also placing a huge question mark over the line for next year given that both starting guards and the starting center will be moving on after the upcoming campaign.

It is clear that the line is a priority in this class given that Davis is already the fourth recruit in that position group to commit to the Red Raiders.  The others are 3-star prospects Jacob Poton from Dripping Springs, Kasen Long from Shallowater, and Holton Hendrix from Lubbock.

None of those players have the pedigree that Davis has though as he quickly becomes one of the bell cows of this class.  Now, we wait to find out what else McGuire and his coaching staff were able to pull off this past weekend.

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