Possible Red Raiders: A Weekly Recruiting Update – 2/5/2018

First off, let’s take a look at a couple 2019 recruits that Tech is looking at in Hunter Spears and TQ Jackson.

Hunter Spears – Defensive Tackle (Sachse HS, Sachse, TX)

Height	Weight	Vertical	Powerball
6’4″	280 lbs	26.3	46

Ratings: 90 by 247 / 82 by ESPN / 5.8 by Rivals / 91.45 by 247composite

Interest: Alabama (Warm), Notre Dame (Warm), TCU (Warm), Texas Tech (Warm)

Spears is likely to top rated defensive prospect that the Red Raiders have a decent shot of getting. He currently has 14 offers right away, with four teams considered as warm (as listed above). Texas Tech was Spears’ first offer in December of 2016, with his second offer in Alabama following three months later. So far, Spears has been to a couple of junior days in TCU and Notre Dame, and has unofficially visited Notre Dame and Cal. The Irish look like the favorites right now, but it’s far away from his commitment date on September 15. I’m sure whenever Tech has their junior day, Spears will visit. Now let’s take a look at what Spears can do. Spears is a strong individual who has burst through the line with speed. He fines the smallest holes in the line and is able to use that combination to get into the backfield. His signature moves looks to be his swim move, which he uses often in the gaps. Spears’ also plays pretty good talent as Sachse, which is a Class 6A school in Dallas. He won defensive MVP in his district

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TQ Jackson – Wide Receiver (Jefferson HS, Jefferson, TX)

Height	Weight	40 time	Bench	Deadlift	Clean
6’2″	180 lbs	4.47	225 lbs	385 lbs	185 lbs

Ratings: 86 by 247 / NR by ESPN / 5.6 by Rivals / 85.77 by 247composite

Interest: Arkansas (Warm), Texas Tech (Warm), Houston (Cool), SMU (Cool)

TQ is one of Texas Tech’s top wide receiver options for the 2019 class, and is currently one of the leaders for Jackson. The Red Raiders were the fourth team to offer last month and second Power 5 team to offer behind Arkansas, who offered a month prior. Since then he’s gotten offers from Tulsa, Houston, UTSA and Arkansas State. The only junior day Jackson has visited so far is Baylor, but I bet he goes to a few more before the spring is over. And if he were to commit to Tech, I’m willing to bet that someone will make a “GQ gets TQ” comment. Let’s take a look at what Jackson can do. TQ is a big size at 6’2″, 180-pounds, which Texas Tech has seemed to like the past few years. He locates the ball at the high points well and can be a deep threat. They also ran a lot of screens, which you don’t see too much for a guy his size. Perhaps his most underrated skill is his speed, which sits at 4.47 and is pretty good for a receiver his size.

Now for our recruiting updates, starting with football.

2018 Football:

Ta’Zhawn Henry, 84 rated RB, committed to Texas Tech on Saturday night. Henry was considered a favorite to land in Lubbock. Here’s my review of Henry from a few weeks ago, and here is Seth’s commitment story.
John Stephen Jones, 84 rated Pro-QB, committed to Arkansas on Sunday. It wasn’t a big surprise, as his granddad Jerry Jones went to Arkansas.
Nikia Jones, 83 rated WR, is still considering Texas Tech along with Oregon State and Iowa according to Josh Helmholdt of Rivals. Jones had his lone official visit to Oregon State this past weekend.
Kevin Terry, NR 2018 WR, accepted an offer from Texas Tech as a walk-on. Terry had two offers from Arkansas State and Army.
Mason McHorse, NR 2018 TE, accepted an offer from the Red Raiders as a preferred walk-on. McHorse caught passes from Tech signee Alan Bowman this past season.

2019+ Football:

Marquez Beason, 93 rated 2019 WR/CB, received an off from Texas Tech on Monday. He has over 40 offers.
Tamauzia Brown, 93 rated 2019 WR/CB, received an offer from the Red Raiders on Wednesday. Brown has 12 offers thus far.
Bobby Wolfe, 92 rated 2019 CB, received an offer from Texas Tech on Monday. Wolfe has over 25 offers so far.
Demani Richardson, 91 rated 2019 S/RB, received an offer from the Red Raiders on Monday. Richardson has 12 offers so far.
David Ugwoegbu, 88 rated 2019 TE/DE, received an offer from Texas Tech on Wednesday. Ugwoegbu has 19 offers currently.
Dee Winters, 87 rated 2019 WR, received an offer from the Red Raiders on Thursday. Winters committed to TCU on Monday, but there’s still a year until next NSD.
Cole Birmingham, 84 rated 2019 OT, received an offer from Texas Tech on Thursday. The Red Raiders are Birmingham’s first Power 5 offer.
Zach Marcheselli, NR 2019 OLB, received an offer from Texas Tech on Friday. Marcheselli has one other offer thus far from North Texas according to his Twitter account.
Corey Flagg Jr, NR 2020 OLB, received an offer from the Red Raiders on Thursday. Flagg received his first offer from Memphis on Thursday.
Courtland Ford, NR 2020 OT, received an offer from Texas Tech on Monday. Ford also has offers from Baylor and Indiana.
Majik Rector, NR 2021 WR, received his first FBS offer from Texas Tech on Wednesday. Former Tech commit and current NMSU commit John Graves and Rector both attend Lancaster.
Erick Cade, NR 2021 OT, received an offer from the Red Raiders on Monday. He also has offers from Arkansas, Baylor and Tulsa.

2018 Basketball:

Jethro Tshisumpa, NR 2018 JUCO C, is receiving interest from Texas Tech. Tshisumpa was a four star recruit by two of the three recruiting services in 2016. He played his freshman season at Arizona State before transferring to San Jacinto College.
Kyler Edwards, 89 rated G commit, has some new highlights. Check them out here.

Kliff NORAD Tracker:

Jan. 29 – Some Texas Tech coaches visited Waxahachie on Monday. It appears they visited Demani Richardson, who received an offer from Texas Tech the same day.
Jan. 30 – Kingsbury and Brandon Jones visited Wellington High School on Tuesday. They likely visited 2019 recruit Trevor Roberson (87 rated OT), who is 6’11”, 354 pounds. Wellington, near Amarillo, is about three hours from Lubbock.
Jan. 31 – Emmett Jones stopped by South Oak Cliff on Wednesday. Tech has been a frequent visitor to South Oak Cliff, where 2019 commit Steven Parker (90 rated DE) and 2019 recruits Bobby Holmes (84 rated CB) and Deondre Dansby (85 rated CB) are.
Jan. 31 – Kingsbury met with Otito Ogbonnia (87 rated DT) on Wednesday at his high school. There seems to be an optimism that Tech may land Ogbonnia.
Jan. 31 – Kingsbury, Terrance Jamison and David Gibbs visited not only Preston Gordon (Rice DT transfer), but his mom and grandma on Wednesday. Tech really wants Gordon it seems.
Jan. 31 – Some Texas Tech coaches visited Dallas Carter High on Wednesday. It is unclear who Texas Tech could have been visiting.
Feb. 2 – Kingsbury visited Midland High on Friday. He might have been visiting Suddin Sapien (NR 2019 QB).
Feb. 2 – Emmett Jones visited Amarillo Tascosa on Friday. One likely player Jones is looking at is King Doerue (83 rated 2019 RB).