Frankie Policelli – Forward (Long Island Lutheran, New Hartford, NY)

Height	Weight
6’8″	205 lbs

Ratings: 88 by 247 / 79 by ESPN / 3-star by Rivals / 87.96 by 247composite

Interest: George Washington (Warm), Stony Brook (Warm), Texas Tech (Warm), Cincinnati (Warm)

Frankie’s recruitment is interesting. Before the Red Raiders offered Policelli in December, he had about 15 or so offers. He had also visited many schools unofficially over the summer and officially visited George Washington and Stony Brook this October. However, he recently started heating up with schools like Texas Tech, Cincinnati and Illinois offering him. In fact, Policelli told @TTUHoopsFans via Twitter that Tech was heavily in the mix and that “The (TTU) coaching staff has been great. Right now, I’m focused on the season and playoffs but looking forward to visiting after our season”. So it appears Tech will get a visit from Policelli and be in it toward the end. It’s also interesting that Rivals lists him as a power forward, so maybe Policelli can play a little bigger than it appears.

Now let’s look at what he can do on film. He’s a lot like Moore in how he plays. Policelli is an athletic forward with the ability to finish at the rim and can hit it from outside if necessary. He also has good passing and dribbling ability for a guy his size. Perhaps the best part of his game from the video is how he can get to and attack the rim by dodging and dribbling around defenders. Now this video is from more than a year ago, but I couldn’t find anything more modern on Policelli. Which a bunch of size leaving, Policelli would make a good addition to the team.

J’Raan Brooks – Power Forward (Garfield, Seattle, WA)

Height	Weight
6’8″	215 lbs

Ratings: 92 by 247 / 84 by ESPN / 4-stars by Rivals/ 96.94 by 247composite

Interest: St. Johns (Warm), Texas Tech (Warm), USC (Warm), Washington (Warm)

J’Raan Brooks wasn’t on anyone’s radar about a week ago. In face, up until two weeks ago, he was committed to St. Johns, and before that he was committed to USC. But @TTUHoopsFans on twitter stated that Brooks and Tech had interest, and then Tech confirmed that by offering the Top 100 power forward on Friday. The Red Raiders biggest commit right now is Khavon Moore at 6’8″, 185 pounds, and they’ll need some players to replace Zach Smith and Tommy Hamilton IV. Right now, 247sports has in state Washington listed as the lone “warm” team, but I bet there is a wide open recruitment for Brooks. Although those teams who had an offer before Tech might be at an advantage here. However, maybe some of those teams ran out of room for their class. Sometimes there are advantages to having spots open late in the recruiting process. While looking up his highlights, I noticed he was touted as a middle schooler when he 6’7″. He hadn’t grown much since then.

Speaking of which, let’s take a look at what Brooks can do. From looking at his film, I feel that Brooks may be able to play the Odiase role in the Tech offense. He doesn’t have the weight Norense has, but can creep towards Odiase’s 250 pounds through John Reilly’s weight program. He can play with his back to the basket and can pull it up from mid-range. Although I don’t know how much of a threat he’ll be from the three, he will at least keep the defense honest. What separates him from others is his athletic ability, his ability to stretch the floor, and his strength at the position. What I like the most is his tenacity on defense, deflecting balls and blocking shots. Tech typically does best when it is playing smaller, and Brooks could be a great player for this type of lineup.

Now for some recruiting updates, starting with the 2019 Football class.

Football 2019:

• Marcus Alexander, 83 rated OG, was on the visitors at Texas Tech’s junior day this weekend. Rivals talked to him before his visit about this recruitment.
• Nolan Matthews, 82 rated TE, visited Texas Tech the weekend of February 24th. Matthews recapped the visit with Matt Clare. He talked about meeting the coaches, Amendola and Texas Tech outside of sports.
• Thomas Grayson, NR 2019 RB, received an offer from Texas Tech on Sunday. He visited Lubbock this weekend for their junior day. Zach Tanner of Inside The Red Raiders talked with him about his offer shortly after, including who is leading in his recruitment.
• Kennedy Lewis, NR 2019 WR, was offered by the Red Raiders on Sunday. Lewis received an offer after his junior day visit at Texas Tech.

Football 2020+:

• Jase McClellan, 95 rated RB, received an offer from Texas Tech on Sunday. McClellan is currently committed to Oklahoma, but still a long ways to go til his National Signing Day.

Basketball 2018:

• Khavon Moore, 93 rated SF, committed to Texas Tech last Monday. This is huge, as two recruiting services had him as a Top 50 recruit. You can read my quick reaction, Seth’s much cleaner review, and 247sports’ analysis.

Basketball 2019+:

• Pierre Crockrell Jr, 89 rated 2019 PG, received an offer from Texas Tech on Friday. Crockrell also has an offer from Houston and Montana. It’s not often you see a Tech offer from California.

For junior day, Inside the Red Raiders (the Texas Tech 247sports page) listed all the junior day visitors along with a few quotes from them before the event. A lot more Lubbock area athletes than I can remember in years past.

I would list them, but it’s a long list and it’s much easier to give you the work of someone who worked hard to not only find everyone visiting through twitter and such, but also quotes from them. However, I will mention some notable visits below:

• Brannon Brown (87 rated OG)
• Grant Tisdale (89 rated DT-QB)
• Jayden Jernigan (87 rated DT)
• King Doerue (87 rated RB)
• Nnamdi Adim-Madumere (88 rated TE)
• Sean Simms (NR Athlete)
• Shamar Johnson (83 rated WR)
• Steven Parker (90 rated WDE, TTU commit)
• Taurean Carter (88 rated SDE)
• Trevor Roberson (87 rated OT)