Jacob Zeno – Pro Style Quarterback (John Jay HS, San Antonio, TX)
| Height | Weight |
|---|---|
| 6’4″ | 195 lbs |
Ratings: 86 by 247 / NR by ESPN / 5.6 by Rivals / 85.77 by 247composite
Interest: Arkansas (Cool), Florida (Cool), Missouri (Cool), Texas Tech (Cool)
Zeno is possibly the quarterback most likely to land in Lubbock. The Red Raiders offered the pro style quarterback from San Antonio back on September 4, just a couple days after their season opener against Eastern Washington. According to 247sports, he named Texas Tech his favorite on Halloween. However, I can not find any new top list or new leaders since then. In the past week, Zeno has almost doubled his offers with North Texas, Arkansas, Florida and Missouri extending an offer. Last season, Zeno passed for 1,957 yards and 18 touchdown, and also ran for 188 yards and four touchdowns. Let’s take a look at what Zeno can do. Zeno is good at placing the ball right in the receivers bread basket. There are several times in his film where he places in the ball right over a defender’s arm and right outside a defenders reach. He also does a good job evading defenders, although he tends to get outside the pocket a little more than needed. Finally, even though he’s a pro style quarterback, he has descent mobility. He can escape and rush for a first down if needed. Zeno very well could be the quarterback of the class.
Cole Birmingham – Offensive Tackle (Katy HS, Katy, TX)
| Height | Weight | 40 Yard Dash | Vertical | Bench | Squat | Deadlift |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6’5″ | 290 lbs | 5.2 | 24″ | 315 lbs | 405 lbs | 500 lbs |
Ratings: 86 by 247 / NR by ESPN / 5.6 Rivals / 85.77 by 247composite
Interest: Boston College (Cool), Houston (Cool), Texas Tech (Cool), UTSA (Cool)
Birmingham appears to be one of Texas Tech’s top offensive lineman along with Trevor Roberson, who we reviewed last week. Birmingham has good size for the Division I prospect at 6’5″, 290-pounds and appears to be pretty strong. Right now Birmingham has seven offers, which includes the teams listed above and Louisana-Monroe, SFA and Texas State. The Red Raiders were the first Power 5 team to offer on the first day of February. Followed shorty was offers from Houston, Boston College and Louisiana Monroe. He’s been to Oklahoma’s and Baylor’s junior days, and I wouldn’t be surprised if a Tech visit was down the line. Now’s lets take a took at Birmingham’s film. First off is the competition Birmingham faces. He attends Katy High School, one of the best football programs in Texas, and plays against top competition all the time. He never gives up on the play, even if there’s no one for him to block right away. There’s one play he goes five or 10 yards downfield to block a player that ended up being the last resort to catch the running back. Birmingham has a lot run plays in his film and not a lot of pass plays, but he appears to do well in both. Birmingham would be a good addition to the Red Raiders.
Now let’s take a look at our recruiting updates from the past week:
Football 2018:
- John Stephen Jones, 84 rated Pro-Style QB, was close to committing to Texas Tech according to the Dallas Morning News. Was down to Arkansas and Texas Tech in the end.
Football 2019
- Hunter Spears, 90 rated DT, moved up his commitment and committed to Notre Dame on Tuesday. Spears is a Tech legacy and was planning to commit sometime in September.
- Trevor Roberson, 87 rated OT, has a recruitment summed up by Zach Tanner here. We discussed him last week. Before anyone says anything, it was released around the same time, so don’t accuse anyone of anything. Lot of great stuff there, including his love for Texas Tech and where Tech stands.
- Nolan Matthews, 82 rated TE, visited Texas Tech this past weekend. Matthews does not currently have an offer from the Red Raiders.
- Anthony Watkins, NR 2019 DB, received an offer from Texas Tech. Apparently his mom played basketball at Texas Tech.
Football 2020+:
- Monterran Parks, NR 2020 WR, received an offer from Texas Tech on Saturday. He also has an offer from Arkansas.
Basketball 2018:
- Khavon Moore, 93 rated SF, is down to Texas Tech and Oklahoma according to Jarret Johnson. Here’s a tweet with the info and a quote from Moore.
Basketball 2019+:
- Martynas Arlauskas, NR 2019 SF, is receiving interest from Gonzaga and Texas Tech, but is leaning towards Gonzaga. He talks about it in a 247sports article. Arlaukas resides from Lithuania.
Junior Day Invites:
Here’s a list of players that have been invited to junior day as far as I’m aware. Junior Day for the Red Raiders is March 3rd.
- Markel Reed, 84 rated 2019 CB
- Giovonni White, 84 rated 2019 DT (Spring Practices)
- Steven Parker, 90 rated 2019 DE commit
- King Doerue, 86 rated 2019 RB (According to Zach Tanner)
- Grayson Murphy, 84 rated 2019 OLB (According to Zach Tanner)
- Gabriel Murphy, 86 rated 2019 OLB (According to Zach Tanner)
Also, here’s a list of Red Raiders Sports’ Recruiting Board. They updated it with prospects the coaching staff is looking at for the 2019 Football class.