In 2015, Texas Tech was shut out of the state of Louisiana as they attempted to recruit a handful of players that didn’t commit Texas Tech, but that hasn’t deterred Kliff Kingsbury and Kevin Curtis continue to recruit the heck out of the state.

In 2015, Texas Tech sent cornerbacks coach Kevin Curtis to recruit Louisiana. This makes perfect sense given the fact that he coached at Louisiana Tech with Sonny Dykes before joining Texas Tech’s staff and Curtis has largely been the guy recruiting the Southeast portion of the recruiting trail.

Texas Tech went after WR Tyron Johnson and LB Arthur McGinnis, made the top five or two for both, but they ended up committing elsewhere. Texas Tech also had a player committed, DT Courtney Wallace, who ended up flipping on National Signing Day and committed to Louisiana Tech. A lot of Texas Tech fans bemoaned the idea that Texas Tech is having horrible luck in the state of Louisiana and is spending recruiting time and resources in Louisiana despite not there being not much to show from that time and effort.

Well, that has not deterred head coach Kingsbury and Curtis as they continue to offer the state and according to Wreck’Em 24/7 already has 10 offers out to players in the state of Louisiana (it’s actually 11 if you include Shea Patterson, who was a pretty big Ole Miss lean and ended up recruiting there) for the 2016 class:

WR Clyde Leflore (6-0/170) Warren Easton, New Orleans — 4-star
WR Isaiah Graham (6-1/180) Bastrop — 4-star
WR Cameron Dantzler (6-2/153) St. Thomas Aquinas, Hammond — Not rated
OL Gerald Wilbon (6-3/340) Destrehan — Not rated
DT Rashard Lawrence (6-4/300) Neville, Monroe — 5-star
LB Giovanni LaFrance (6-2/215) St. Augustine, New Orleans — Not rated
LB Pernell Jefferson (6-2/235) Warren Easton, New Orleans — 3-star*
LB Michael Divinity (6-2/218) John Ehret, Marrero — 4-star
LB Jonathan Picone (6-2/220) Mandeville — 3-star
S Chanse Sylvie (6-0/185) Calvary Baptist Academy, Shreveport — 3-star

All ratings are the cumulative ratings except for Jefferson who is just ranked by 24/7.

There are a couple of takeaways here in that Texas Tech is continuing to shoot for the stars as four of those players are 4-star or higher and Texas Tech, at least right now, is not about to re-assign Curtis to another area. There’s part of me that thinks that Curtis would excel anywhere, but I think that Curtis is one of Texas Tech’s best recruiters and have intentionally given him the toughest area to recruit. I think you’ll see Texas recruit Louisiana more as Charlie Strong has excellent ties to the Southeast, and we all know that Texas A&M (with or without Chavis) will continue to recruit the area and TCU recruits the area as well. I think it would be a shame to just dismiss Louisiana as a place that Texas Tech cannot recruit, there’s too many good players there to ignore.