Possible Texas Tech Quarterback Target: Waco Midway QB Ben Hicks

You pick up and you move on.  After Jarrett Stidham's decommitment last night, it was mentioned in the comments that Texas Tech offensive coordinator Eric Morris followed Houston commit Ben Hicks (6-2/195), a 3-star prospect from Waco Midway, who has been committed to Houston very early in the process, but with Houston firing head coach Tony Levine Hicks has no idea if he will even be wanted by the new head coach, whoever that may be.

Not only that, but Hicks was also supposed to enroll early, which means that the Texas Tech coaching staff has Sunday to convince Hicks that Texas Tech is a landing spot for him.  The reason why Texas Tech only has Sunday is that starting Monday, December 15th through January 15th, this is a dead period, which means there cannot be any face-to-face meetings with the players.  The NCAA defines dead period as follows:

During a dead period a college coach may not have face-to-face contact with college-bound student-athletes or their parents, and may not watch student-athletes compete or visit their high schools. Coaches may write and telephone student-athletes or their parents during a dead period.

There is plenty of opportunity to talk to Hicks and any other uncommitted quarterback or a quarterback in a similar situation as Hicks, where the head coach that he committed to is no longer employed.  It was mentioned in the comments of this morning's post on Stidham's decommitment that Texas Tech offensive coordinator Eric Morris started following Hicks on Twitter and just in case you were wondering, Hicks followed back (typing this felt as ridiculous as thinking about it and I want to type, #followback #hollaback for some reason).

Hicks said after Levine was let go that he would consider other colleges, but the interest (probably up until last night) was minimal and he would keep his options open:

While he hasn't officially re-opened his recruitment, Hicks said he would, as a courtesy, listen to any school that expresses interest. Hicks characterized current interest from other schools as, "not overwhelming" and "not that significant."

‘If they want to recruit me I'm going to give them the respect they deserve for recruiting me," Hicks said. "I'm still committed, but I'm listening to what other people have to say."

By enrolling in January, Hicks can adjust to the transition from high school to college. Hicks' early arrival also means he can participate with the Cougars in spring drills and compete for what is expected to be a wide-open quarterback battle.

"The only reason I'm graduating early is to give myself a better opportunity to start as a true freshman and get stronger and faster," he said.

So you're saying there's a chance!  There's one thing that Texas Tech can offer that Houston cannot, which is the most recent Big 12 initiative to offer all student athletes four year scholarships.

As far as Hicks as a player, I think there's a ton to like here.  Hicks was an Elite 11 invite and by looking at his film, Hicks has a really nice arm, maybe not the swiftest guy, but he's fast enough to scramble and he looks just fine rolling out of the pocket and taking a few zone read plays he looks relatively athletic.  Hicks appears to throw a really catchable ball and I think the arm-strength is above average.  He does have a tendency to throw off-balance every once in a while, but he's got enough arm strength to make up for it. Hicks threw for 3,700 yards, completing 68% of his passes for 36 touchdowns and just 6 interceptions as a junior. It was tough finding senior statistics for Hicks, but from rolling through his game totals on the above linked 24/7 Sports profile, Hicks appears to have had a very similar year, most likely a bit better.