Last week one of the recruits I covered was Tyrell Alexander who is listed as an athlete and will more than likely play wide receiver if he was to join Texas Tech. This week I take a look at three more athletes that Tech has its eyes on. One athlete the Red Raiders had its eyes on was former commit Tristen Wallace. On Wednesday Wallace committed to Ohio State, he will more than likely be looking to play quarterback for the Buckeyes. It's unfortunate that Tech missed out on the highly talented prospect but we will look to rebound with another recruit we can build our 2016 class around.
Devwah Whaley | Athlete
Central Senior High School (Beaumont, TX)
24/7: 92 | Rivals: 4-Star | Scout: 4-Star | ESPN: #34 in Top 300
Texas Tech already has one running back committed to its 2016 class in Da'Leon Ward but would like to add one more to the class. Who better than one of the top RBs in the state? Whaley recently jumped up to #34 in ESPN's latest revisions to its top 300 list. A few recruiting sites have him listed strictly as a running back and others have him posted as an athlete. His sophomore year highlights reflect his athlete status because he is playing a little bit of everything. I think the case there was he was a young talent who Central wanted to use in any aspect they could. In his junior year highlights you see him lining up primarily at running back. Whaley is a fast and physical runner. It's usually hard to find guys who possess both of those attributes but he has them. He makes clean and smooth cuts and can run through arms tackles. Even when he does get tackled it's usually in a group effort because he keeps his feet moving the whole time.
Zach Hall | Athlete
Robert E. Lee High School (Tyler, TX)
24/7: 85 | Rivals: 4-Star | Scout: NR
The Red Raiders are Zach Hall's only offer as of yet. Tech offered Hall back in October and still remains his only one. If anything this is good for us since recruits usually take a liking to programs who notice them before others. Hall is the signal caller for Lee high school but he will more than likely play wide receiver in college. Hall is listed at 5'10" on most sites and weighs in around 170, so he's not your ideal size for quarterback. He is a very raw quarterback but looks very comfortable on run plays. You can see what I'm talking about in the below film against Lee's rival John Tyler high school. Last year Hall threw for 2,000 yards with 16 TDs and 4 INTs while also running for almost 1,500 yards and 22 TDs. From those stats you can see how comfortable he is running the football. He would fill in quite nicely at slot receiver.
Christian Wallace | Athlete
Obra D. Tompkins High School (Katy, TX)
24/7: 88 | Rivals: 4-Star | Scout: 4-Star
Christian Wallace committed to TCU back in December but then decommitted in February. Wallace is a very sought after recruit and many of the schools in the Big 12 are going after him. It appears that as of now Texas is the favorite to land him. On the other hand, it wouldn't be anything new for us if we were able to land a once TCU committed recruit. It looks as though Wallace could play running back or defensive back at the next level. The film I have on him below is a bit older than his latest highlights which are game by game highlights but the film I used shows us a good variance of his time at RB and DB. I personally prefer Wallace at defensive back. Don't get me wrong, he is comfortable at running back and can pick up yards on the ground. His running style is north-south, not a whole lot of juking and stuttering. At defensive back Wallace will come up and lay the wood on the ball carrier or separate the ball from the would-be receiver. He has great ball awareness and can make a play on the ball over the receiver. He would be a great addition to Texas Tech in either position he was brought on to play.
Earlier this week Texas Tech landed its 5th commit in OL Gio Pancotti. Pancotti held offers from both Houston and Texas Tech but committed to Tech after recently visiting Lubbock. Tech continues to add OL which will help out tremendously with our depth. Pancotti has great size which could transition to either guard or tackle and is a consensus 3-star recruit across the board. Two commitments in the past two weeks is nice and hopefully Tech's recruiting class continues to fill out.
2016 Football Commits
Collin Wilder: Safety, Katy High School (Katy, TX)
Da'Leon Ward: Running Back, Skyline High School (Dallas, TX)
Donte Coleman: Tight End, West Mequite High School (Mesquite, TX)
Emoree Giddens: Offensive Line, Coronado High School (Lubbock, TX)
Gio Pancotti: Offensive Line, Episcopal High School (Bellaire, TX)
