Possible Red Raiders: A Weekly Recruiting Update - 10/27/2014

Damion Ratley - Wide Receiver (Blinn College, Brenham, TX)

Ratings: 82 by 247/ NR by ESPN / 5.5 by Rivals / 2-star by Scout

Interest: UTSA (Warm), Texas Tech (Warm), Kentucky (Warm)

Texas Tech offered Damion Ratley a couple weeks ago, making him one of several WR offers as of late and the 3rd to come out of Blinn College (DeDe Westbrook and Kyle Fulks). At the time of the offer, he was committed to UTSA, but decommitted from the Roadrunners once he received a Tech offer. The Kentucky offer came about a week later, who like Tech, are also in need of a WR. I'm not sure what rating Ratley was in High School or if he was heavily recruited or not because I couldn't find a recruiting profile for him. He played 4A ball at Yoakum, so I doubt it was lack of exposure, but it might've been. Ratley is predicted to go to Texas Tech as of right now and will visit Lubbock for the Texas game this weekend. As of right now, he is predicted to commit to Texas Tech, but a lot can change from now and when he commits. His teammate DeDe will be visiting Texas Tech in December, after the season is over. Now let's take a look at what Damion Ratley can do on the football field. Ratley is a taller WR that can catch balls over the corners and use his height to his advantage. There is no doubt that Tech is trying to get bigger, and Ratley is a good way to do so, giving Tech height right away while the coaching staff has time to find and develop big guys. That's not all he can do though. Damion runs a 4.47 40 time, which is great for a guy his size. He can accelerate quickly and cut at any time. He's a 6'1" guy that can also play like a small receiver when necessary. He's a guy I would like to see in a Red Raider uniform, and hopefully he ends up at Tech when it's all said and done.

Tipa Galeai - Defensive End (Trinity HS, Euless, TX)

Ratings: 84 by 247 / 73 by ESPN / 5.4 by Rivals / 3-star by Scout

Interest: Hawaii (Warm), Houston (Warm), Utah (Warm), Texas Tech (Warm)

We first learned about Tipa Galeai when Will McKay of Rivals reported that Tech had offered Galeai on Friday. He was likely offered by John Scott, who was in Houston earlier in that day to look at D-linemen. Tipa's offer adds to a number of Defensive linemen who have been offered since the football season started. Tech will likely want to add a defensive end or two to the already D-linemen heavy class. Tipa currently has 7 reported offers, including North Texas, Utah State, Washington State and the teams listed above. Tech is one of three offers that are in a Power 5 conference. Tipa was recently offered by OKST and said that he really liked Texas Tech right now. He currently doesn't have an official visit planned for Texas Tech, but maybe one in in the future could be possible. Tech has two home games left on the schedule and a few weeks afterwards to visit, so Galeai has plenty of time to visit. Now let's take a look at what Tipa Galeai can do on film. What I like the most about Tipa is his great agility and speed. He explodes off the line and uses his speed and acceleration to get into the backfield quickly and get to the ball carrier. He also has relentless pursuit and chases players downfield, taking them down occasionally.  Finally, Tipa tackles with force. He uses speed and his strength to pull the opposition and lay a vicious hit at times. He's a little skinnier than most DE's right now and weights only 200 lbs, but if you add enough weight to Tipa, he could becomes a great DE in the Big XII.

Here are some more updates:

Football 2015:

• Jarrett Stidham, 98 rated QB commit, was injured during Friday's game. He injured his throwing hand and didn't return in the game. He will have surgery and hopes to return for the playoffs. Hoping for a successful recovery
• Tyron Johnson, 97 rated WR, tweeted out Guns Up during the game, despite being down by 30+ points at the time. While we don't look good on the field right now, that's not hurting or slowing down recruiting. We'll be fine in that department.
• Trent Irwin, 95 rated WR, will be making an official visit to Texas Tech at some point according to Ryan Bartow of 247sports. He has a Top 5 of Standford, ASU, Texas Tech, UCLA and Oregon State, with ASU and Stanford on top.
• JoJo Wicker, 94 rated DT, named Texas Tech in his Top 4 this past week with Notre Dame, ASU and UCLA. He is also planning to visit Texas Tech for the OU game, his only official visit planned thus far. He is being recruited by Darrin Chiaverini.
• Corey Dauphine, 92 rated RB, took an official visit to Washington State last weekend. Dauphine had expressed wanted to use all his officials in the past, not really anything to worry about.
• Fred Ulu Perry, 95 rated C, will take an official visit to Texas Tech for the OU game. He was recruited hard by Tech but is currently committed to UCLA.
• KeKe Coutee, 87 rated ATH, will visit Texas Tech this weekend. Tech looks to be in the lead currently for Coutee. He was committed to Texas back in January, but decommitted.
• Darrion Daniels, 88 rated DT, attended school in a Texas Tech jersey this past week. He tweet was posted by current Tech target AD Miller. Both recruits attend Bishop Dunne (where Peyton Hendrix went to school) and could become Red Raiders.
• McKinley Whitfield, 88 rated ATH, was looked at by Texas Tech coach Matt Brock last Friday. He is currently a 6'3" Safety and WR for the 2015 class. He currently does not have a Texas Tech offer.
• Kahlil Haughton, 92 rated S, was looked at by Trey Haverty last Friday. He still remains to be a big target for the Red Raiders despite the new Safety offers. He has visited OU, BU, Arkansas and Nebraska and will visit Texas Tech for the Texas game.
• Joseph Broadnax, 87 rated DT, was visited by Texas Tech this Friday. Tech is in town for the TCU game and stopped by to look at the TCU commit.
• Justin Reid, 93 rated S, will visit Tech for the Texas game this weekend. He's an intelligent safety that Tech has been going hard after for a long time now. Only other official so far was OU last month.
• AD Miller, 84 rated WR, was hurt last Friday night during his game. Payton Hendrix was also at the game, since he went to Dallas Bishop and the game is in Fort Worth tomorrow.
• Vaimoe Sekona, 86 rated DT, will visit for the Texas game. Sekona is one of the Top DT targets left for the Red Raiders.
• ESPN updated their ranking this past week and Tech now has 4 representatives in the Top 300. Jarrett Stidham (#39), Breiden Feoko (#54), Madison Akamnonu (#251), and Corey Dauphine (#295).
• Ian Allen, WR/DB from Kingsport Tennessee, will walk on at Texas Tech. He is a 5'7" 165 lb ATH with a 4.62 40 time and 4.02 shuttle.

Basketball 2015:

• Chad Lott, 83 rated SG, made his visit to Texas Tech this weekend. He has narrowed his Top 3 to LSU, SMU and TTU. Not sure if Tech will be able to use another scholarship or not with Williamson and Jackson committed.
• Wendell Mitchell, 88 rated SG, committed to Baylor this past week. He had Tech in his Top 5, but didn't list Tech in his Top 3 after the weekend and committed to Baylor shortly after.

Football 2016+:

• Tyler Castaneda, NR 2017 OT, committed to Texas Tech this past Thursday. Castaneda got offered by Tech the day before and committed shortly after. He is the brother of current Red Raider Robert Castaneda.
• Jack Anderson, 90 rated 2017 C, took notice of the Castaneda commit on Thursday night. Him and Castaneda could form a good pair on the O-line.
• Robert Revels, 79 rated 2016 LB, received an offer from Texas Tech this past week. This is his 2nd offer thus far, the other being Texas State.
• Maciah Long, 92 rated 2016 ATH, received an offer from Texas Tech this past week. He currently plays QB and ILB for North Score HS and attended a Texas Tech camp back in June. He currently has 3 offers, with the other schools being Ohio State and UCLA.
• Camron Williams, 87 rated 2016 WR, received an offer from Texas Tech this past week. This is his 4th offer and 3rd from the Big XII (TCU and Oklahoma). He is a taller receiver.
• Tyjon Lindsey, 91 rated 2017 WR, received an offer from Texas Tech last night. He becomes the 7th offer of the 2017 class and the 3rd receiver.
• Tate Martell, 90 rated 2017 QB, was also offer by Texas Tech. He is a teammate of Tyjon Lindsey and is currently committed to Washington.
• Isaiah Graham, 90 rated 2016 WR, told 247sports that Texas Tech is one of the schools recruiting him the hardest. He recently visited LSU for the Ole Miss game. He is from Louisiana.

Baseball:

Josh Naylor, the #1 ranked 1st Baseman for the 2015 class, committed to Texas Tech Monday night over Kentucky and Arizona State. With that commit, Texas Tech now has the #22 ranked baseball class and 1st in the Big XII. Naylor is a 6'1" 225 lb 1B from Mississaugo, Ontario, Canada and is the 31st ranked player overall according to Perfect Game. He was named to the Perfect Game Underclass 1st team and was an Under Amour All American. The attribute he is most known for is his power, placing 2nd in the junior HR Derby. In an article with Prep Baseball Report, he talked about his experience playing for Team Canada, chances of going pro and finding a good school. This is roughly a week before he committed to the Red Raiders. He stated that he thought about school and the draft, and that he wanted to commit to a good school (he did). He hopes to represent Team Canada well in the draft and find a good school. He'll likely be drafted in the first 5 rounds, so it's likely he won't attend Tech, but if he slips or decides to go to college instead, Tech will have a great player waiting them.

How did the 2014 commits do?

How did the 2015 commits do?

It's getting difficult to do the math to find out the defensive players stats and I wrote this part late Sunday night, so I'll likely only have the offensive players the rest of the way.