Recruiting on the South Plains | Wrapping Up Texas Tech's 2013 National Signing Day

By the Numbers | There are 25 signees and transfers. There are a couple of preferred walk-ons, Wall RB Grant Eubank and Sherman K Joseph Harvey. Of the 25 signees, three of those players may already be on campus and will count towards last year's class, including QB Davis Webb, DT J.J. Loller and WR Peyton Williams. Now we're down to 22 signeess as part of the 2013 class. There were about 17 scholarships available, which means that there are at least 5 players that won't be back next year. Perhaps they didn't make the grades. Perhaps they didn't want to be back. Perhaps Kingsbury told them their scholarship would no longer be available. This is the tough part of the National Signing Day process.

LINKS
Texas Tech Red Raiders Official Athletic Site - Football ---- Despite late start, Kingsbury "very satisfied" with first recruiting class | Red Raiders ---- A look at Texas Tech's class of 2013 signees | Red Raiders ---- The King's Court: With first class set, coaches upbeat | Red Raiders ---- Despite late start, Kingsbury "very satisfied" with first recruiting class | Red Raiders ----
Late Miami offer has Easton's Edward Williams reconsidering | NOLA.com ----
Kingsbury announces first recruiting class as Tech football coach - The Daily Toreador: Sports ----
Big 12 Signing Day Superlatives

Texas Tech Head Coach Kliff Kingsbury - 2013 National Signing Day Press Conference Transcript

Recruiting Defense |There were 13 players on the offensive side of the ball and 12 on the defensive side of the ball. Almost all of the defensive players were recruited by Kingsbury's staff. I don't remember exactly how bad it got, but of the 12 defensive commits, Kingsbury pulled on board Alston, Jenkins, Barnes, Woods, Mack, Barnes, Crawford, Hill and Paul.

The only players that remained from the previous staff was Loller, Woodward and Nelson. Woodward and Nelson are projected to play defense and that obviously can change at any time. Still, it is nice to see the staff focus so much on defense.

Immediate Secondary Help | I'm generally in favor of redshirting each and every player. For the most part, there's actually really good depth at most positions. The only position that lacks real depth is at the secondary, either cornerback or safety.

There's no doubt that Crawford and Hill should have the opportunity to make an immediate impact. Crawford is more of a cornerback and I think that Hill played a lot of nickel coverage and could probably play cornerback or safety. We'll see if any of the other 2013 commits can make an impact. Perhaps J. Barnes.

Schedule | I'll be finishing up profiles on the late additions: Outlaw, Mack, Polite-Bray and Thomas. I'll also be taking specific looks at the offensive and defensive commits that will probably be coming down over the course of the next couple of days.

Size at Linebacker | There are some long and lean athletes that look to be outside linebackers and/or defensive ends at some point. Jenkins and Barnes already have pretty good size, but if they're going to play outside linebacker in a 3-4, then I'm thinking that 10 or 15 more pounds to their respective frames seems about right. Mack is definitely a redshirt candidate for me as he's the lightest linebacker of the bunch. Woods already has terrific size to play inside. Really interested to see how he develops.

In the Family (via techathletics)

Immediate Help on Offense | I just don't see it, other than maybe Bennett, but I could honestly see him redshirting this year. Kingsbury said this yesterday:

But as far as specific names, we recruit them all to play. I think that's kind of our philosophy on it. We wouldn't recruit a guy if we thought he was a down-the-road. We want guys that can come in and help us right now.

I think that's the message, but the reality is that you really don't want to play an offensive lineman unless they just really surprise you. Heck, even Rashad Fortenberry redshirted all of last year and he was probably more advanced than any of the offensive linemen part of the 2013 class. It takes time for receivers to get into the mix. It just takes time.

I'm really excited about Middleton and what Kingsbury has in store for him. If I had to pick a player that can come in and play right now and make an impact in some form or fashion, I'll take Middleton every day of the week and twice on Sundays.

Family | I'll direct you to go take a look at the Texas Tech YouTube channel (beware of auto-play). There's a lot of good stuff there. A lot of good things there and you can see how proud the former players who are now coaches are to be at Texas Tech. I'll try to highlight some of these as we go along, but I really encourage you go visit. You won't be sorry.

Texas Tech TV Exclusive: Kliff Kingsbury (via techathletics)