| OVERALL |
I wanted to break the 2011 recruiting class down by offense, defense and by athlete, but also in comparison to the 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010 classes. Don't yell at me because I haven't included the athletes (Gaines, D. Washington, Daniels, Robertson and Wright) in the rankings for either the offense or the defense. I was tired, did not want to re-do the tables. Besides, in a year (or maybe this spring) we'll have a much better idea as to what side of the ball the athletes will be playing.
I wanted to go back to the Recruiting Rankings series that I did, you know, the one that painstakingly takes a look at each of the prior classes from 2007 through 2010. Go back and look at that post, just for a refresher. Overall, this was right up with with just about any recent class, and other than the ranking given out by ESPN in the 2009 class, this is the water-mark for a banner year for Texas Tech recruiting.
| Year | # | Scout | Rivals | Rivals Rating | ESPN | ESPN Grades |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | 29 | 2.38 | 2.72 | 5.47 | 59.34 | |
| 2008 | 16 | 2.75 | 3.00 | 5.58 | 42.88 | |
| 2009 | 25 | 2.84 | 3.00 | 5.57 | 70.36 | |
| 2010 | 28 | 2.61 | 2.89 | 5.40 | 2.07 | 60.25 |
| 2011 | 27 | 2.92 | 3.14 | 5.62 | 2.40 | 66.00 |
| AVERAGES | 25 | 2.70 | 2.95 | 5.53 | 2.24 | 59.77 |
Now, let's get to the offense, defense and the athletes.
| OFFENSE |
We'll get into the specifics of each player a little bit later. Generally speaking, this is an impressive an offensive class that I've seen at Texas Tech and the recruiting numbers prove that out.
| Position | Commitment | Ht/Wt | 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 | 0 | 0 |
| WR | Jakeem Grant | 5-7/157 | Horn (Mesquite, TX) | 3 | 5.5 | 3 | 3 | 75 |
| 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 |
| OL | Matt Wilson | 6-7/270 | Coldspring-Oakhurst (Coldspring, TX) | 3 | 5.5 | 3 | 0 | 45 |
| AVG. | 3.45 | 5.72 | 3.27 | 2.64 | 67.91 |
So much more good-strong after the jump.
As noted below, this was an outstanding class. Think about it like this, there's only 4 players (Brewer, A. Morales, Grant and Wilson) that don't have at least one 4-star ranking. Let that sink in for a minute and consider that Brewer was a 4-star at some point this year, but was lowered due to his injury. That's right 11 commits and 7 of them have a 4-star rating. Best overall, from top to bottom, offensive class I can remember.
| Year | # | % | Scout | Rivals | Rivals Rating | ESPN | ESPN Grades |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | 15 | 51.72% | 2.40 | 2.80 | 5.49 | 66.33 | |
| 2008 | 7 | 43.75% | 2.43 | 3.00 | 5.59 | 54.43 | |
| 2009 | 9 | 36.00% | 3.00 | 3.22 | 5.63 | 77.44 | |
| 2010 | 8 | 28.57% | 2.50 | 2.88 | 4.96 | 2.50 | 66.50 |
| 2011 | 11 | 40.74% | 3.27 | 3.45 | 5.72 | 2.64 | 67.91 |
| AVERAGES | 10 | 40.16% | 2.72 | 3.07 | 5.48 | 2.57 | 66.52 |
| DEFENSE |
I'm the guy that secretly thought that this thing was going to completely fall apart yesterday. I suppose that's the roller-coaster ride of not having a subscription. It was totally exciting. The thing that I love is that there are only two JUCO's although at some point, I'd love to see a highly-ranked high school defensive tackle commit in successive years. With that being said, there's an abundance of young defensive ends on this team. There's also some unknowns and long-shots, but then again, the entire recruiting process could be considered a long-shot.
| Position | Commitment | Ht/Wt | School/State | Rivals | Rivals Rating | Scout | ESPN | ESPN Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DL | Dennell Wesley | 6-3/315 | Butler County C.C. (El Dorado, KS) | 3 | 5.5 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| DL | Leon Mackey | 6-5/260 | Hinds C.C. (Raymond, MS) | 4 | 5.8 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| DL | Donte Phillips | 6-3/260 | Homestead (Mequon, WI) | 2 | 5.4 | 3 | 2 | 74 |
| DE | Kindred Evans | 6-6/215 | South Grand Prairie (Grand Prairie, TX) | 3 | 5.6 | 3 | 3 | 75 |
| DE | Branden Jackson | 6-4/220 | McKeesport (McKeesport, PA) | 3 | 5.7 | 4 | 3 | 78 |
| DE | Desimon Green | 6-5/230 | Clairton (Clairton, PA) | 3 | 5.5 | 3 | 3 | 78 |
| DE | Cooper Washington | 6-4/225 | Muleshoe (Muleshoe, TX) | 3 | 5.7 | 3 | 3 | 78 |
| 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 |
| LB | Justin Cooper | 6-1/205 | University School of Nova South (Ft. Lauderdale, FL) | 3 | 5.5 | 2 | 2 | 74 |
| CB | Jeremy Reynolds | 5-9/166 | Oak Ridge Military Academy (Oak Ridge, NC) | 3 | 5.5 | 2 | 3 | 77 |
| AVG. | 3.00 | 5.57 | 2.73 | 2.18 | 62.00 |
In looking back, this class was just about on par with the averages of the Scout, Rivals and Rivals Ratings for the past few years. Would like to start to see a marked improvement on this side of the ledger. Still, the 2011 class was better than the 2009 and 2010 classes, ever so slightly (except for ESPN). Baby steps.
| Year | # | % | Scout | Rivals | Rivals Rating | ESPN | ESPN Grades |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | 13 | 44.83% | 2.38 | 2.69 | 5.46 | 52.77 | |
| 2008 | 8 | 50.00% | 3.13 | 3.13 | 5.63 | 33.13 | |
| 2009 | 16 | 64.00% | 2.75 | 2.88 | 5.53 | 66.38 | |
| 2010 | 20 | 71.43% | 2.65 | 2.90 | 5.58 | 1.90 | 57.75 |
| 2011 | 11 | 40.74% | 2.73 | 3.00 | 5.57 | 2.73 | 62.00 |
| AVERAGES | 13.60 | 54.20% | 2.73 | 2.92 | 5.55 | 2.32 | 54.40 |
| ATHLETES |
I have a feeling that Daniels and Washington will end up on offense while Gaines and Wright will end up on defense. Robertson could play a number of positions and that's a pretty freaking nice luxury to have.
| Position | Commitment | Ht/Wt | School/State | Rivals | Rivals Rating | Scout | ESPN | ESPN Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 | 4 | 3 | 78 |
| ATH | J.J. Gaines | 5-11/175 | Irving Nimitz (Irving, TX) | 3 | 5.6 | 3 | 3 | 77 |
| ATH | Otis Wright | 6-0/180 | Dillard (Ft. Lauderdale, FL) | 2 | 5.4 | 0 | 0 | 45 |
| AVG. | 2.80 | 6.05 | 3.15 | 2.59 | 70.81 |
No yearly averages here as by this time, we're usually able to classify a player as an offense or defensive player. I'm being lazy.