Texas Tech football: Red Raiders have another monster recruiting weekend

Joey Mcguire is quickly changing the narrative about what can be done on the recruiting trail in Lubbock.  One week after picking up four verbal commitments for the class of 2024, he and his coaching staff held another massive recruiting weekend over the past three days and it appears that they once again came away with a monster haul that could secure the future of the program and set the Red Raiders up to be one of the true power brokers in the revamped Big 12 when the conference begins its new era without Oklahoma and Texas next year.

Now, we must keep in mind that the dissemination of recruiting news has changed.  Now, because of social media, we typically receive immediate confirmation of a commitment from McGuire in the form of a Tweet that is simply a GIF of former professional wrestler Rick Flair.  However, now, we often have to wait days, or even weeks to find out which prospect has become the latest member of the recruiting haul as high school players delay their announcements for a variety of reasons including waiting for professional graphics or videos to be created for use when they make their decisions public on social media.

Thus, we still don’t know all of the players who have committed to the Texas Tech football program.  However, we have indications that a potentially program-changing trove of talent is heading to the Hub City.

It is hard to keep track of the exact number of commits that McGuire and Co. cryptically tweeted about this weekend.  However, there appear to be at least six players that gave their pledge to Tech during the past few days.  Fortunately, we do know three specific players who have recently announced their intention to become Red Raiders.

We begin with J’koby Williams, a dynamic running back from Beckville, TX a tiny town of fewer than 1,000 people in far east Texas near Carthage.  A 3-star running back with offers from Baylor, TCU, Michigan, Texas, and Houston (among others), the 5-foot-9, 180-pounder is the No. 89 player in Texas according to 247Sports.com.

https://twitter.com/WilliamsJkoby/status/1670450757231947777?s=20

Next, Tech landed an even more highly-regarded offensive weapon in wide receiver Tyson Turner from Bryan, Texas.  The 6-foot-1, 190-pounder, is a 4-star prospect according to the 247Sports composite rankings.  Listed as the No. 53 player in Texas for the class of 2024, he holds an unusually modest list of offers but does boast one from Utah along with programs such as Boston College, Louisiana Tech, North Texas, and UTSA.

Later in the day, Tech landed a player who might be a bit of a project but whose size gives us reason to think that he has tremendous upside. Unranked as of yet by both 247Sports and Rivals, 6-foot-6, 240-pound Charles Anderson Jr. from Pearland, Texas has a frame that may remind some of recent Texas Tech defensive end Tyree Wilson, who was just taken as the No. 7 overall pick in this spring’s NFL Draft.

Anderson’s offer list includes the likes of Nebraska, Oklahoma State, Kansas, Kansas State, Houston, and Northwestern.  Certainly, his stock and his recruiting ranking are going to rise in the wake of his commitment to the Red Raiders.

https://twitter.com/ChAnderson35/status/1670614819299262466?s=20

Currently, Tech’s 2024 class sits atop the Big 12 rankings (in which 247Sports still includes Texas and OU)  and is No. 19 nationally.  With four 4-star prospects in the fold, the Red Raiders are tied for the most 4-star recruits in the class to this point with no 5-star player yet to commit to a Big 12 school.  However, one 5-star recruit was in Lubbock this weekend for an official visit.

With offers from the likes of Alabama, Texas, Georgia, and Ohio State (just to name a few), Lake Belton wide receiver Micah Hudson is the No. 8 player in the nation according to 247Sports.  Players of that caliber have rarely given the Red Raiders a second thought but it is now clear to most industry insiders that the race for his services is down to the Red Raiders and the Longhorns.  What’s more, there are indications that he might be ready to shock the recruiting world.

Though 247Sports has no Crystal Ball predictions for Hudson, all four of the recruiting insiders who have placed a Futurecast prediction for Rivals.com have Hudson landing with the Red Raiders.  That includes Texas Longhorns insider Geoffrey Ketchum, (a boisterous holdout for the Horns) who changed his prediction from UT to Tech this weekend.

Regardless of what Hudson ultimately decides, Tech is making waves on the recruiting trail like I’ve never seen in the two-plus decades that I’ve been following the program and people around the sport are taking notice, including the best football player in the world.

Quoting a Tweet from Texas Tech offensive coordinator Zach Kittley, a Tweet that featured a GIF of the Kansas City Chiefs quarterback himself, Patrick Mahomes wrote “They are going crazy today. #WreckEM” indicating that the face of the NFL also realizes what’s happening on the recruiting trail with his former program.

https://twitter.com/PatrickMahomes/status/1670585234235043841?s=20

As the new workweek dawns, Texas Tech football fans are going to be eagerly awaiting more announcements from the players who decided over the past two weekends to call West Texas home.  It’s an exciting time to be a Red Raider as McGuire is accomplishing feats on the recruiting trail that we’ve been told for decades were impossible.  But McGuire is completely changing the game in Lubbock and everyone in scarlet and black is waiting to find out what other program-changing prospects he’s brought into the family.