The Red Raider football team got their first non-special teams commit on Monday afternoon when Brandon Joseph pledged his commitment to the school in Lubbock. He became the 14th overall commit, seventh defensive commit and third defensive back.

Here are his measurables and a quick recap of his recruitment:

Brandon Joseph – Safety (College Station HS, College Station, TX)

Height	Weight	40 time	Shuttle	Vertical	Bench	Powerball
6’1″	185 lbs	4.69	3.93	34″	220 lbs	36

Ratings: 86 by 247 / NR by ESPN / 5.5 by Rivals / 84.66 by 247composite

Interest: Arizona, Colorado, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Iowa State, Northwestern, Purdue, Utah, Vanderbilt

Joseph first started receiving offers in the late spring, when UTSA offered him. However, what’s most interesting about his early offers is the number of Ivy League schools involved. Cornell, Harvard and Dartmouth all offered, along with another prestigious school in Vanderbilt.

The College Station defensive back started gaining Power 5 offers in April, with Arizona, Purdue, Texas Tech and Utah extending offers. With offers piling up, Joseph started to visit schools. He had an official visit to Northwestern in May, and seemed to love he visit to Texas Tech in early June.

After the trip to Lubbock, Joseph named his Top 8 schools, listing Texas Tech. He cut down his list once again after his trip to Arizona to include Arizona, Northwestern and Texas Tech. Finally, he teased his commitment early his morning and pledged to the Red Raiders.

Looking at his film, Joseph appears a little lanky, but he has a nice frame he can grow into. He has a good form on his tackle, as evident on his first few plays, and can become a hard hitter once he puts on more weight.

Joseph is also a playmaker in many ways. One of more interesting things I find is his special teams plays, which aren’t always included in recruits highlight tapes. He does a good job coming around the edge and putting a mit on the ball. He also has a nice one handed interception and another good pick while undercutting a route.

His size will make him an interesting prospect for the Red Raiders. He’s probably my favorite defensive back commit thus far and one of my favorite commits in general.

Links: Much like for Hogan’s commitment, both recruiting websites did a pretty good job of getting out recruiting stories:

• Ben Golan of RedRaiderSports talked with Joseph about his great relationship with the coaching staff, his plan at Texas Tech on the field and academics (compared to the Ivy Schools) and why he was so interested in the Red Raiders.
• Zach Tanner of InsideTheRedRaiders spoke with Joseph about what went into his decision, how he plays to progress on the football field and the overall decision of choosing Texas Tech.

After the two commits, the Red Raiders moved to the 37th overall class and sixth in the Big 12 with an average rating of 84.41 according to 247sports. Rivals has Texas Tech ranked 32nd overall and fifth in the Big 12 with an average rating of 2.8.