Recruiting on the South Plains | Bishop Dunne Safety Payton Hendrix Commits to Texas Tech

PLAYER: Payton Hendrix

POSITION: Safety
HEIGHT: 6'3"
WEIGHT: 190
FORTY: 4.50
HIGH SCHOOL: Bishop Dunne (Dallas, TX)
VIDEO: Clip 1
RECRUITING SERVICES: Rivals 5.5 | Scout | ESPN 79 | 24/7 Sports 85
CUMULATIVE RANKING: 0.8630
VTM PROFILE DATE: December 27, 2013

OFFERS | Arizona St., Arkansas, Arkansas St., Baylor, Iowa, Kansas St., Louisiana Tech, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Texas, Notre Dame, Purdue, SMU, Southern Miss, Tulsa, Utah, Wake Forest, and Washington.

STATS | Nothing current, although I did find some stats from 2012, but I’m guessing that these aren’t all that relevant (86 tackles as a junior).

THE PLAYER SPEAKS | Per RRS, Hendrix liked the coaches and the depth situation at safety:

"They did pretty good in their first year with the new coaching staff, have a pretty good recruiting class, and I just feel like Texas Tech is going to have a great opportunity to win championships and things like that."

"Their safety depth is not too deep, and I was talking to Coach Haverty, and it looks like I have a great opportunity to walk in and play early. It's just a good fit for me and things like that."

There are quite a few more quotes there, so go check it out.

Also, kinda fun or interesting is an interview that Hendrix did with his high school paper, which is Catholic and might have been pushing the Notre Dame angle as one of his teachers was the Leprechaun. Glad Hendrix ended up choosing Texas Tech.

SCOUTING REPORT | Hendrix is already physically mature and at 6-3/190, he has room to grow. That’s a bit scary. Hendrix is way ahead of his counterparts at the high school level. Hendrix is great in space, keeps the ball in front of him. Already has pretty darned good footwork. Hendrix is a hard-hitter, but it’s the range that’s the most impressive. Hendrix’s best attribute is to cover a ton of ground and he just eats up yards across the field so easily. For a free safety, this is obviously the most important attribute, to be able to make up space.

This is really quite a luxury for Texas Tech, an unexpected and really great luxury. I honestly didn’t have Hendrix on my radar, was for sure thinking that he would end up at Notre Dame, but this is really just a fantastic get for Texas Tech.

Payton, welcome to Texas Tech and Git Your Guns Up!

The 2014 Class | Texas Tech is at 25 commits for the 2013 class, although I think there may be something to some of these players counting towards the 2013 class. I'm expecting a few more commits for some reason.