How about that, something to discuss on a Friday morning. Irving Nimitz QB/RB/WR/CB and overall athlete J.J. Gaines has committed to Texas Tech. And yes, apparently Gaines did it all for Nimitz, but he'll apparently play cornerback for Texas Tech and we'll label him as an athlete for now. Depending on the recruiting service, Gaines also had offers from Baylor, Duke, Rice, Colorado St., Illinois, Iowa St., etc. I've got no problem with beefing up the secondary and seeing if a player can play the position and the fact that Gaines was most likely the best athlete on his team makes me think this is a good commit. I also like that Gaines is looking at schools like Rice and Duke because it means that he's probably not a grade risk.
The Measurables:
J.J. Gaines
Position: QB/WR/DB
DTN Profile
Video: N/A
Rivals Profile5.6
Scout Profile
ESPN Profile
Ht: 5'11"
Wt: 175 lbs
Forty: 4.5
High School: Irving Nimitz (Irving, TX)
More after the jump.
The Player Speaks: Nothing recent, but I did find a Q&A from the DMN with Gaines from this summer where he talked about his and he talks about playing offense and defense:
Gaines was an all-district quarterback last season, but Louisiana Tech and Tulsa want him to play wide receiver. Other schools see him as a defensive back. Gaines said he prefers to play defense in college.
"More than likely I want to play defense, but I like the ball in my hands," Gaines said. "I feel like I can be a major threat with the ball in my hands."
Gaines also said that during the summer he gets up at 6:00 a.m. and takes his brother to school. I'm pretty sure I wasn't doing that as a high schooler.
UPDATE: LAJ's Don Williams and DMN's Corbett Smith about playing for Texas Tech. Gaines' high school coach had this to say about Gaines:
“From my understanding, they’ve recruited him as a cornerback,” Hohenberger said. “Everybody I’ve talked to that was recruiting J.J., most of them were at defensive back. But the thing all of them did say is, ‘He’s a football player. We may recruit him as a corner, but we know darn well he can play wide receiver.’ He returned kicks for us this year. He’s just an explosive playmaker.”
Video: The only free video that I could find was this from 15 second clip from ESPN where Gaines is the quarterback, does a little zone-read and outruns every defender. Not very exciting.
There's also some video from 2008, and the DMN Q&A linked above said that Gaines was playing quarterback as a sophomore, which would be the 2008 season, so I have to assume that Gaines is playing quarterback and I believe he's #5. If someone has additional video or can find Nimitz highlights from this year, then please link in the comments and I'll update this post.
Scouting Report: Gaines does look like an exceptional athlete. He's pretty danged fast and he shows some explosive speed. He's got enough height and weight right now to be a decent cornerback. He shows good quickness as well, all traits that help make a cornerback good. The one thing that this staff has done, is take the best athlete off a high school team: LaDarrin Roberton, Ronnie Daniels and DeAndre Washington. You worry about where these guys will play the game when they show up on campus.
J.J., welcome to Texas Tech and Git Your Guns Up!
The 2011 Class:
| Position | Commitment | Ht/Wt | High School/State |
Rivals
|
Rivals Rating |
Scout
|
ESPN
|
ESPN Grade |
| QB | Michael Brewer | 6-0/175 | Lake Travis (Austin, TX) | 3 | 5.7 | 3 | 3 | 78 |
| RB | Kenny Williams | 5-10/210 | Hendrickson (Pflugerville, TX) | 4 | 5.8 | 4 | 4 | 80 |
| RB | Bradley Marquez | 5-11/180 | Odessa (Odessa, TX) | 3 | 5.7 | 4 | 4 | 79 |
| WR | Derek Edwards | 6-1/163 | Brenham (Brenham, TX) | 4 | 5.8 | 3 | 3 | 79 |
| WR | Marcus Kennard | 6-4/205 | Butler County C.C. (El Dorado, KS) | 4 | 5.8 | 2 | N/A | N/A |
| TE | Jace Amaro | 6-5/237 | MacArthur (San Antonio, TX) | 4 | 5.9 | 4 | 3 | 78 |
| OL | Tony Morales | 6-4/300 | Sam Houston (Arlington, TX) | 4 | 5.8 | 3 | 3 | 78 |
| OL | Alfredo Morales | 6-3/287 | Sam Houston (Arlington, TX) | 3 | 5.7 | 3 | 3 | 76 |
| OL | Le'Raven Clark | 6-6/245 | Rockdale (Rockdale, TX) | 3 | 5.7 | 4 | 3 | 79 |
| DL | James Castleman | 6-4/255 | Amarillo (Amarillo, TX) | 3 | 5.7 | 4 | 3 | 77 |
| DL | Jon Lewis | 6-2/260 | Klein Oak (Spring, TX) | 3 | 5.6 | 3 | 3 | 78 |
| DE | Kindred Evans | 6-6/215 | South Grand Prairie (Grand Prairie, TX) | 3 | 5.6 | 3 | 3 | 75 |
| LB | Terrell Hartsfield | 6-4/215 | Hargrave MA (Chatham, VA) | 4 | 5.8 | 3 | 2 | 74 |
| LB | Blake Dees | 6-0/234 | Spanish Fort (Spanish Fort, AL) | 3 | 5.5 | 3 | 2 | 73 |
| LB | Sam Eguavoen | 6-2/220 | Lakeview Centennial (Garland, TX) | 3 | 5.6 | 2 | 3 | 75 |
| DB | Freddie Warner | 5-9/170 | L.G. Pinkston (Dallas, TX) | 3 | 5.5 | 3 | 3 | 76 |
| CB | Jeremy Reynolds | 5-9/166 | Oak Ridge Military Academy (Oak Ridge, NC) | 3 | 5.5 | 2 | 3 | 77 |
| ATH | Ronnie Daniels | 6-1/195 | La Cueva (Albuquerque, NM) | 3 | 5.6 | 3 | 3 | 76 |
| ATH | LaDarrin Robertson | 6-3/215 | Longview (Longview, TX) | 3 | 5.5 | 3 | 3 | 77 |
| ATH | DeAndre Washington | 5-9/183 | Marshall (Missouri City, TX) | 3 | 5.7 | 3 | 3 | 78 |
| ATH | J.J. Gaines | 5-11/175 | Irving Nimitz (Irving, TX) | 3 | 5.6 | 3 | 3 | 77 |
| Averages | 3.28 | 5.67 | 3.09 | 2.85 | 73.33 |