Back in February, Texas Tech received possibly their biggest commitment ever for the basketball program when Khavon Moore committed to the Red Raiders. Now, they’ve landed possibly their second biggest (Music in Tweet NSFW).
COMMITTED….. 🤭 (click the link to see my full commitment video) https://t.co/H0F4rWhJSM pic.twitter.com/kYDqsX66Kt
— ¹⁵ (@Kevin_McCullar) July 6, 2018
Kevin McCullar Jr., son of former Texas Tech linebacker Kevin McCullar Sr., pledged his commitment to the Red Raiders on Thursday and brought the 2018 recruiting class to seven players. Here are his measurables and a little bit about his recruitment:
Kevin McCullar – Small Forward (Wagner HS, San Antonio, TX)
Height Weight 6’6″ 180 lbs Ratings: 94 by 247 / NR by ESPN / 4-stars by Rivals / 97.19 by 247composite
Interest: Baylor, Houston, Kansas State, Louisville, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Virginia Tech, Xavier
Those who follow Texas Tech recruiting are well aware of how McCullar ended up at Texas Tech. But for those who don’t, let’s start from the beginning. McCullar started receiving offers last summer, which includes a Texas Tech offer in late August.
The four-star recruit from San Antonio had unofficial visits to Oklahoma that summer, along with visits to Kansas State and Baylor during the school year. McCullar was going to visit Tech during the Kansas game, but couldn’t make it. Perhaps McCullar would’ve wrapped up his recruitment right there.
After he named his Top 5 of Houston, K-State, Minnesota, Oklahoma and Texas Tech in March, McCullar started seeing offers from schools such as Louisville, Virginia Tech and Xavier.
Then, he announced in early May he would reclassify to the 2018 class and join for the spring semester. He renamed his Top 5 of Houston, Kansas State, Louisville, Texas Tech and Virginia Tech in late May and scheduled visits.
After visiting four of the five schools (he ended up canceling his visit to Louisville), he decided to announce his commitment to the Texas Tech Red Raiders.
As far as what McCullar will bring to Texas Tech, he appears to be a descent sized forward who loves to finish at the rim and has great vision on the court. The video linked, along with the videos below, show his ability to drive to the basket and put the ball in the bucket.
McCullar is lankly and can get a little physical around the rim. He also shows a little bit of range in the second video below, but that’s really the only video where he shoots the ball from distance. There’s also not any defensive plays, but I doubt Beard would recruit someone who can’t play defense.
Links: InsideTheRedRaiders and RedRaiderSports both have free stories about the commitment. You can read them here:
- Jarret Johnson of InsideTheRedRaiders has a quick recap of his recruitment, the overall class and a couple quotes on his visit and what Beard’s plan for him is.
- Corey Evans of Rivals spoke with McCullar about Chris Beard and his plan from Tech. It appears that McCullar may not play next season despite graduating early, but instead focus on school and working out the first semester.
- Blue Zertuche of TexasHoops.com (with Rivals) spoke to McCullar about his position in college, his family legacy at Texas Tech and why he will graduate early.
The recruiting class now expands to seven commits, with a few four stars (DeShawn Corprew, Kevin McCullar, Khavon Moore and Kyler Edwards according to some), a couple a graduate transfers (Matt Mooney, Tariq Owens) and an international player (Joshua Mballa).
It hard to determine where the class ranks because he’s still a 2019 recruit in both recruiting services, but 247sports would be roughly 18th overall with an average recruit rank of 91.57. Rivals now has Texas Tech ranked 16th overall with an average commitment rating of 3.6 stars.
And these rankings don’t include the graduate transfers. The Red Raiders have had a lot of players graduate, but it appears they have a strong base and should continue to do well.