Bye Week Recruiting Thoughts | The Texas Tech Football 2013 Recruiting Class

I am woefully behind on the cumulative rankings, but I plan on updating those over the weekend. This actually an interesting class because it seems that there are a lot of defensive players and athletes, but that the class overall lacks players on the offensive and defensive lines. That can change in the blink of an eye. I'm guessing that the next commits will be along the lines, but we'll see. Here are some thoughts, feel free to post your own in the comments.

There are 11 high school players currently committed and 6 JUCO players.

In terms of just looking at the offensive line, these are the guys that currently have offers, according to ESPN and appear to have some interest via 24/7 Sports. I won't speak to the accuracy of any of these offers how the percentage that they'll commit, just throwing some names out there as possibilities. I'd also add that there are always offers out there that guys like myself don't know about because I don't pay for a subscription. I'd also add that Calhoun was once a Texas Tech commit and he's huge.

OT Jesse Robinson (6-6/271) (L.D. Bell | Hurst, TX)
OT Josiah St. John (6-6/295) (Trinity Valley CC | Athens, TX)
OT Aleon Calhoun (6-7/345) (Navarro College | Corsicana, TX)
OG Andrew Billings (6-2/308) (Waco | Waco, TX)

I've done the same thing with defensive tackles, tried to knock some names off the list that don't even seem to be on Texas Tech's radar. I'm not too worried about defensive tackle, especially since there appears to be some relative youth along the defensive line, including two guys who will redshirt, J.J. Loller and Anthony Smith. I think they will play next year. Supposedly, Calloway is a strong possibility, and Lawrence is Texas Tech's only offer. That's odd since Lawrence is in SEC country.

DT Derrick Calloway (6-1/300) (Manatee | Bradenton, FL)
DT Jalen Lawrence (6-0/250) (Westside | Macon, GA)
DT Quincy Russell (6-4/308) (Trinity Valley C.C. | Athens, TX)

I am also sure that you could see a couple more linebackers. The 2012 class had Ryan Flannigan fail to qualify, but is already seeing playing time from Micah Awe and Kris Williams will redshirt.

I've looked through the list of possible tight end targets and they are mostly all committed. I guess there are two schools of thought, which is that if TE Jace Amaro really turns it on this year, this could change some player's mind. They'll see what he can do in this offense. I think that Amaro will be the most productive tight end in the Big 12 this year.

Texas Tech seems dead-set on obtaining some serious depth at defensive back. I didn't have time to really look ahead all that much, but Olaoluwa Falemi, Bruce Jones and Tre Porter will all be seniors next year and you have to recruit a couple of years ahead. Not only that, I think that Lovett was personally responsible for saying that he wants both Butler and Dotson. He personally scouted those guys.

I am very happy with the offensive skill positions and I'll say this now, I think that Dylan Cantrell will prove to be the best receiver in the state by the time it is all said and done. There are players that are probably more physically gifted, although there aren't many, but there is no one that catches the ball like Cantrell can. No one. He makes seemingly impossible catches on a routine basis. I am more excited about Cantrell than any player in this class.

The coaching staff has a particular type of athlete that they like to find and they are usually in the 6-0/185 type of athlete. Keenan Ward, Reginald Davis and Dominique Wheeler were all these types of athletes. They all three played quarterback in high school as do Nelson and Woodward. Ward has found a home at defensive back while Davis and Wheeler project at receiver. I think that a lot of programs may shy away a bit from players like this, that are playing the most important position on their high school team at quarterback, but will project elsewhere in college. I think those types of players are incredibly important because you don't know how their body will develop and they could turn into cornerbacks, safeties, linebackers, wide receivers, inside receivers or running backs.

The entire class in table format is after the jump.