Recruiting on the South Plains | 2014 DT Ivan Thomas Commits to Texas Tech

PLAYER: Ivan Thomas

POSITION: Defensive Line
HEIGHT: 6'2"
WEIGHT: 270
FORTY: 4.70
HIGH SCHOOL: Lawton (Lawton, OK)
VIDEO: Clip 1
RECRUITING SERVICES: Rivals 5.4 | Scout N/R | ESPN 77 | 247 Sports N/R
CUMULATIVE RANKING: 0.8399
VTM PROFILE DATE: June 21, 2013

OFFERS | Kansas St. and Texas Tech

STATS | I have had a hard time finding stats for Thomas as a junior. As a sophomore, he ran for 672 yards on 100 carries, but I found a game where he rushed for 238 yards alone. NewsOK says that Thomas rushed for 621 yards on 118 carries, 9 TD's with 11 tackles as a junior. I don't think that's accurate because he probably had 11 tackles in his highlight video.

THE PLAYER SPEAKS | Thomas spoke to WreckEm 247:

"I like the campus and the coaching staff," Thomas told 247sports.com. "Everybody was just so nice to me. It felt like a big family – the coaches, the players, the campus, and they had my major, agribusiness. It’s like the number one major they have there.

"They treat me like I’m one of their own. They’re loving and caring and they smiled and said they really want me there."

And Thomas' Lawton head coach had some really good things to say about Thomas:

"(Thomas) has got incredible strength and he’s extremely athletic for 280 pounds and they feel like they can put him at the nose guard spot and he can be a disruption," Breeze said. "He benches over 400 pounds. Offensively, he plays running back. That shows the athleticism he has, being able to play running back for us. He’s a nose guard, a natural. They wanted him really really bad. He had a great visit and the staff did a great job of really selling the university and making a heck of a presentation. I think it’ll be a great fit."

SCOUTING REPORT | A couple of things. Thomas is at the same high school as Texas Tech commit DB Maurice Chandler, who committed to Texas Tech and was never really a part of the Texas Tech class, but I think that the new and old coaching staffs embraced Chandler, Kingsbury & Co. even had him down for a visit even though it was pretty likely that he wouldn't qualify. I don't know what JUCO that Chandler is going to go to, but Chandler and 2015 C Jalin Barnett are some of reasons why the coaching staff knows about Thomas. Thomas is also the #26 best player in Oklahoma according to NewsOK.

Just watching his film, you can see that Thomas is an athletic freak. I somewhat doubt his height at 6'2" and think it is closer to 6'0", which is why he may not be getting the offers that you think a guy his size should be.

Thomas is athletically gifted, just by watching his plays at running back, but as a defensive tackle, he has poor technique. At defensive tackle, he stands straight up on almost every play and he doesn't get low and drive the opponent. I'm not worried about that flaw at all, technique can be fixed, especially at defensive tackle. It's the athletic ability that resonates. You can see that chasing down players from the defensive tackle spot. I like this recruit and I this is similar to the type of high ceiling player that we've been talking about.

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

The 2014 Class | Expect a lot of defensive recruits from this point forward: