I've been meaning to do some sort of recruiting update the last couple of weeks, but with the Thanksgiving holidays and being out of town after that, I'm a bit behind in terms of actual content. The standard recruiting table is updated and after the jump. As always, if you see any errors, please let me know and I'll get things fixed.
De-Commits
As previously discussed on DTN, Texas Tech has had two de-commits, but overall, I think it's a very solid class. WR Marcus Johnson and OL Christian Okafor both de-committed, I think within the span of a week. Johnson committed to Texas A&M and within two days then committed to Texas. Okafor has committed to California. I won't try to tell you that their losses don't mean anything, they do mean something. Of the two, Johnson is a player that I think Texas Tech could afford to lose as I think that Reginald Davis and Dominique Wheeler are better players, but we'll see. Okafor is concerning because his brother, Mickey, is on the team and it makes you wonder if Mickey influenced Christian to lean another direction, or maybe Christian decided that being in Berkley was a lot cooler than being in Lubbock. I don't know.
Updating Green and Nguema
Last year, DE Desimon Green and DB Thierry Nguema (see both of their profiles below) committed as part of the 2011 class. Green ended up not qualifying and has had to spend a year at Hargrave Military Academy. I haven't been able to find any statistics on how Green did this year, but let's just assume he's the same player as he was last year, but maybe a bit more mature off the field. I went ahead and added him to this list.
Also, DB Thierry Nguema committed late in the process and Nguema never actually made it on campus, but he is supposed to arrive in Lubbock by the time the spring semester starts. I think he'll count against last year's scholarship totals, but it seems disingenuous to put him in the 2011 class since he didn't see the field or was even on the team in 2011. So I've decided to add him to the 2012 class, which is completely illogical, but I didn't want Nguema to get lost between the 2011 class and the 2012 class.
Updating Stars and Ratings
I started to keep track of up got updated and who didn't, but then that process became tedious and tiresome. So I stopped. Even though Nguema doesn't even have a 24/7 Sports profile and isn't rated by ESPN, the averages aren't bad. So, despite the thought that the sky is falling as far is recruiting is concerned, that's just not completely true. Again, I'm a little concerned about two players changing their commitments, but I'm not about to jump off a ledge. This is a pretty quality class and despite the two defections, Texas Tech has the #21 rated class by Rivals, the #22 class by Scout, the #15 class by ESPN and the #19 class by 24/7 Sports.
That's still pretty good and although I know that I'll get the comments about how winning recruiting battles doesn't necessarily equate wins, and I agree, but I'm trying to focus the conversation here and would appreciate it if you could indulge me.
Possible JUCO's
As of right now, I've been able to track and/or confirm that Texas Tech has offers to the following JUCO players:
DB Kass Everett (Rivals: offer made)
DB Oliver Johnson (Scout: offer made)
LB Dylan Reda (Rivals: visit on 12/08/2011)
WR Javon Bell (Rivals: offer made)
DT Damien Jacobs (Rivals: visit on 11/20/2011)
CB Cameron Cole (Scout: visit on 12/16/2011)
LB Zaire Anderson (Scout: visit on 12/10/2011)
I wouldn't be surprised to see the number of JUCO commits creep up to 5 or 7 by the time it's all said and done and wouldn't be surprised to see an offensive line and running back JUCO player commit. There may be other players that have offers, but these are the players I've been able to confirm through my morning google search of news.
The full recruiting table is after the jump. If you have any additional news or thoughts, then please feel free to post in the comments.
| Position | Commitment | Ht/Wt | School/State | Rivals |
Rivals Rating |
Scout |
ESPN |
ESPN Grade |
24/7 |
24/7 Grade |
| QB | CLAYTON NICHOLAS | 6-3/205 | Cooper (Abilene, TX) | 3 | 5.7 | 3 | 4 | 79 | 3 | 88 |
| RB | QUINTON WHITE | 5-8/180 | A&M Consolidated (College Station, TX) | 3 | 5.6 | 3 | 3 | 75 | 3 | 82 |
| WR | REGINALD DAVIS | 6-1/185 | Tenaha (Tenaha, TX) | 4 | 5.8 | 4 | 4 | 81 | 4 | 91 |
| WR | DOMINIQUE WHEELER | 6-2/178 | Crockett (Crockett, TX) | 4 | 5.9 | 4 | 4 | 82 | 4 | 95 |
| TE | ||||||||||
| OL | HALAPOULIVAATI VAITAI | 6-5/260 | Haltom (Haltom City, TX) | 3 | 5.7 | 4 | 3 | 78 | 3 | 89 |
| C | JARED KASTER | 6-4/268 | Rice (Altair, TX) | 3 | 5.6 | 3 | 3 | 78 | 3 | 88 |
| OL | TREY KEENAN | 6-5/270 | Argyle (Argyle, TX) | 3 | 5.7 | 3 | 3 | 78 | 4 | 90 |
| DL | J.J. BYNUM | 6-3/275 | A&M Consolidated (College Station, TX) | 3 | 5.6 | 3 | 3 | 79 | 3 | 87 |
| DL | MICHAEL STARTS | 6-5/285 | La Vega (Waco, TX) | 4 | 5.8 | 4 | 4 | 80 | 4 | 94 |
| DL | ANTHONY SMITH | 6-0/291 | Westfield (Houston, TX) | 3 | 5.6 | 3 | 3 | 76 | 3 | 86 |
| DL | CHASE ROBISON | 6-4/225 | Christian Brothers (Memphis, TN) | 3 | 5.5 | 2 | 3 | 76 | 2 | 79 |
| DL | DESIMON GREEN | 6-5/230 | Hargrave Military Academy (Chatham, VA) | 3 | 5.5 | 3 | 3 | 78 | 3 | 89 |
| LB | MICAH AWE | 6-0/210 | Mansfield Summit (Mansfield, TX) | 3 | 5.5 | 2 | 3 | 78 | 3 | 84 |
| LB | KRIS WILLIAMS | 6-2/200 | Bryan Adams (Dallas, TX) | 3 | 5.5 | 3 | 3 | 76 | 3 | 81 |
| LB | RYAN FLANNIGAN | 6-1/200 | Marshall (Missouri City, TX) | 3 | 5.6 | 3 | 3 | 79 | 3 | 86 |
| DB | LA'DARIUS NEWBOLD | 6-1/180 | Lancaster (Lancaster, TX) | 3 | 5.7 | 3 | 3 | 75 | 3 | 82 |
| DB | THIERRY NGUEMA | 6-0/175 | Santiago (Corona, CA) | 2 | 5.3 | 3 | - | - | - | - |
| ATH | KEENON WARD | 5-9/176 | Snyder (Snyder, TX) | 3 | 5.5 | 3 | 3 | 78 | 3 | 87 |
| Averages | 3.11 | 5.61 | 3.11 | 3.05 | 73.67 | 3.00 | 82.11 |