Devon Thomas became the third member of the 2015 recruiting class for Texas Tech. We take a look at the most recent signee, who hopes to help out at the point guard position.

Photo via mtsrs @ Flickr.

GUARDS
DEVON THOMAS	POINT GUARD
HT/WT: 6-0/173 JUCO: Cloud County Community College (Concordia, KS) VIDEO: YouTube RECRUITING SERVICES: Rivals N/R | Scout N/R | ESPN N/A | 24/7 Sports 87 CUMULATIVE RANKING: 0.8700 PROFILE DATE: April 19, 2014 OFFERS: Creighton, Georgia State, North Carolina Central, Texas Tech, Towson

THE PLAYER SPEAKS: We don’t get anything from Thomas, but we do hear from his new head coach, Tubby Smith:

“Devon’s ability to distribute the basketball, as well as keep pressure on defense are some of the things we like,” said Texas Tech head coach Tubby Smith. “He is an excellent defender and his skill sets are better suited for an up-tempo style of play that we want to employ.

“I think his leadership will be critical. He has played a number of games at the Division I level and at the junior college level. He also learned a lot under the tutelage of Cloud County head coach Chad Eshbaugh.”

SCOUTING REPORT: Thomas may be everything that Randy Onwuasor isn’t, which is a slight, but scoring point guard that doubled his assist to turnover ratio and shot pretty well from the floor, but not so great from beyond the three-point line. The biggest problem with Thomas’ game is that he’s undersized and I think the 6’0″ listing is a bit generous. What Thomas does do is score really well and in a variety of ways.

Thomas played 32 games last year and it’s pretty amazing that he shot 52% from the field for the year. That’s really terrific and I don’ think that you can really appreciate that. Especially when you consider that the best shooter on the team for Texas Tech last year was Isaiah Manderson at 50.9% and his shots came within 5 feet of the basket. The other important aspect of Thomas’ game is that he just doesn’t turn the ball over that much. Thomas had two games, out of 32, where he had more turnovers than assists. One was a dreadful night against Butler where he had 1 assist and 6 turnovers and the other was the very next game where he had 7 assists to 8 turnovers against Hutchinson. Overall, Thomas had 201 assists to just 90 turnovers for the year and that’s really terrific. Last year combined, YES COMBINED, Devaugntah Williams (52), Robert Turner (59), Randy Onwuasor (37) and Keenan Evans (44) had 192 assists. Think about it. Sure, the likelihood that Thomas gets close to 200 assists is probably not going to happen, but this is a move in the right direction.

Thomas displays some unique ways to score. He’s opportunistic and he’s got just a terrific mid-range game. Thomas is a terrific ball-handler, and he’s a lefty, which makes things interesting. I do like his ability to involve his teammates. Thomas has a variety of flip shots and tough shots and shots that are at the rim and somewhat he finds a way to get it into the basket.

Devon, welcome to Texas Tech and Git Your Guns Up!

2015 Class

GUARDS
JORDAN JACKSON	SHOOTING GUARD
HT/WT: 6-3/175 HIGH SCHOOL: St. Pius (Houston, TX) VIDEO: Clip 1 RECRUITING SERVICES: Rivals | Scout N/R | ESPN 78 | 24/7 Sports 84 CUMULATIVE RANKING: 0.8288 VTM PROFILE DATE: October 13, 2014 OFFERS: Bowling Green, Houston, Tulsa, Stephen F. Austin, Bryant University, Citadel, Long Island, Louisiana Tech, North Texas, Rice, Rider, Sam Houston State, Texas Tech
C.J. WILLIAMSON	COMBO GUARD
HT/WT: 6-6/185 HIGH SCHOOL: Evans (Orlando, FL) VIDEO: Clip 1 | Clip 2 RECRUITING SERVICES: Rivals | Scout N/R | ESPN 77 | 24/7 Sports 87 CUMULATIVE RANKING: 0.8418 VTM PROFILE DATE: October 20, 2014 OFFERS: Texas Tech, Virginia Tech, Missouri, Boston College, Kansas State, Murray State, South Florida, St. John’s Texas, UCF, UTEP VCU
DEVON THOMAS	POINT GUARD
HT/WT: 6-0/173 JUCO: Cloud County Community College (Concordia, KS) VIDEO: YouTube RECRUITING SERVICES: Rivals N/R | Scout N/R | ESPN N/A | 24/7 Sports 87 CUMULATIVE RANKING: 0.8700 PROFILE DATE: April 19, 2014 OFFERS: Creighton, Georgia State, North Carolina Central, Texas Tech, Towson