clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

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

Lawton, Oklahoma defensive tackle Ivan Thomas committed to Texas Tech.

Thomas Mueller (R) of Muenchen is challenged by Ivan Santini of Freiburg during the Bundesliga match between SC Freiburg and FC Bayern Muenchen at Mage Solar Stadium on February 18, 2012 in Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany.
Thomas Mueller (R) of Muenchen is challenged by Ivan Santini of Freiburg during the Bundesliga match between SC Freiburg and FC Bayern Muenchen at Mage Solar Stadium on February 18, 2012 in Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany.
Alex Grimm

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:

Player Position Ht/Wt School VTM Profile
Patrick Mahomes QB 6-3/198 Whitehouse (Whitehouse, TX) April 24, 2013
Justin Stockton RB 5-9/175 Steele (Cibolo, TX) January 21, 2013
Demarcus Felton RB 5-7/179 Dekaney (Spring, TX) April 18, 2013
Jakari Dillard WR 6-4/185 Princeton (Princeton, TX) August 13, 2012
Cameron Batson IR 5-9/165 Milwood (Oklahoma City, OK) April 23, 2013
Ian Sadler WR 5-11/192 Argyle (Argyle, TX) April 25, 2013
Byron Daniels WR 6-0/170 Madison (San Antonio, TX) May 8, 2013
Deionte Noel OL 6-3/300 Steele (Cibolo, TX) April 17, 2013
Mildren Montgomery OL 6-4/245 Douglass (Oklahoma City, OK) June 4, 2013
Justin Murphy OL 6-8/275 Belton (Belton, TX) June 10, 2013
Robert Castaneda OL 6-5/315 Round Rock (Round Rock, TX) June 10, 2013
Ivan Thomas DT 6-2/270 Lawton (Lawton, OK) June 21, 2013
L.J. Collier DE 6-3/235 Munday (Munday, TX) February 10, 2013
Tevin Madison CB 5-10/160 Fayette County (Fayette, AL) April 26, 2013
Derrick Dixon S 5-9/187 Skyline (Dallas, TX) June 19, 2013
Derrick Neal ATH 5-9/155 Lincoln (Dallas, TX) May 2, 2013