Texas Tech Football Recruiting:
For those of you who think the recruiting class is pitiful, then please see the DTN spreadsheets first. I don't think this class is bad at all, and if you throw out the kicker ranking (I think kickers are almost always a 2 star rating) and the average gets even higher. The Texas Tech 2007 class had an average Rivals rank of 2.73, the 2006 class was 2.88, and the 2005 class was 2.67. The 2008 class has an average Rivals rank of 3.07.
Once again, I don't know that I'll have the time to give the recruiting class the analysis it deserves. I've got a ton of thoughts running in my head and just not enough time to type everything that I'm thinking. For now, just links:
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Red Raider Sports Armen Williams has a great (and I'm not using this term lightly) discussion with Ruffin McNeill on the defensive recruits. I thought this was great. Loved this. Williams gets McNeill's thoughts on every defensive player and I thought this quote from McNeill summed up how this staff felt after yesterday's defections:
"The guys that didn't come, I wish them well. It's like we talked about the other day, we were in the office and I said 'you know what? I'm ready to coach the guys that are coming and the guys that already came' and I meant that.
"Because the way we work at Tech, everybody can't handle that. We work hard in the off-season and during the season and we have a lot of demands on people and some people can't handle that. The ones that are here now understand that. If a guy hesitates then that's his loss not being a part of our nation and our football team and being a part of our fan base. I mean that sincerely and hope them well but these are the ones that want to be here and I want these guys."
"The theory behind that is the guys that want to come here have been productive on and off the field. Those guys that wanted to come to Tech have been the most productive players. I don't get into the five and four-star thing, we go on what fits our packages and our needs and the guys that have come here are steadfast. Two examples are (McKinner) Dixon and then when (Broderick) Marshall gets here. Those guys stay committed to us and they are ready for the demands we're going to put on them as a staff and as a football team, and not just from us but from other players as well.
If you read the whole article, you'll know that Ruffin somewhat confirmed what I thought, that he's going to play the best 4 players, almost regardless of position, next year. Give that man some players!
- The official Texas Tech football site has notes on each player as well as a video of Leach being interviewed on the telephone by CSTV folks (IE only and click on link with camera).
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DMN's Chuck Carlton does an excellent job of breaking down this year's class and had this from Coach Mike Leach:
"We only signed 16 players and that's just based on what we had available. The most important thing to us was to get offensive linemen and defensive linemen. ... Those are the two most important positions on any football team. If you don't believe me, ask the New England Patriots when they went against the Giants' defensive line."
- The FWST takes a look at Texas Tech's 2008 recruiting class as well as a slideshow of some of the facilities at Texas Tech. Both of these are worth your time this morning.
- LAJ's Don Williams rounds up Texas Tech's class.
- SAEN's Dan McCarney says that this class year's class was light on talent, and I'd like for him to show me where that's true. As discussed above, it was light on quantity, not quality. The SAEN staff compiles a capsules on the Big 12 South's classes.