Texas Tech Aims to Make History on the Recruiting Trail in 2024
When people around the country think about Lubbock, what comes to mind? Is it the hot sun or maybe the West Texas wind? The cactus or the desert landscape? Or how about all the great musicians that have come from there?
Of course, when I think about Lubbock, I think about Texas Tech. I think about the days of Mike Leach roaming the sidelines and the offense lighting up the scoreboard. Unfortunately, Lubbock has been known as a difficult place to recruit football players in the recruiting world, but head coach Joey McGuire is trying to change all that.
We all know that Texas Tech has had its fair share of struggles over the years. The Red Raiders haven’t won more than nine games in a season in over 10 years, and they haven’t finished higher than fourth in the conference since 2009. On the field, Texas Tech has work to do but Joey McGuire has certainly made his presence felt in his first full year. He won eight games last season which was the highest win total since 2013.
While 2022 may be considered a successful season by many Texas Tech fans, Joey knows that the way to make the program better is by getting better players to Lubbock. As I mentioned earlier, Lubbock has always been a tough place to recruit but right now, Joey McGuire is making it look fairly easy.
When you look at the team rankings on 247Sports for 2024, you will see some familiar schools. Georgia, Michigan, Ohio State, and Florida take up the top four spots but when you look further down the list, you will see a school that normally isn’t in the top 20. Of course, the school I am talking about is Texas Tech.
If I would have told you that Texas Tech has a better recruiting class than Alabama right now, would you believe me? Well, you better because it’s true. Texas Tech has a total of 19 commitments at the moment for the class of 2024 and they still have a few spots to fill. Four out of their 19 commitments are four-star prospects and seven of their commitments are top 100 players in the state of Texas. As it stands, the Red Raiders have the 19th-best 2024 class according to 247Sports. Not only are they the highest-ranked class in the Lone Star State but they also have the highest-ranked class in the Big 12 (including Oklahoma and Texas).
Texas Tech got their first four-star commit back in December of last year when wide receiver Ivan Carreon (Odessa, Texas) announced his decision to commit to the Red Raiders. Shortly after that, Tech got several commitments from three-star prospects but then got their second four-star of the class when edge rusher Cheta Ofili (Sachse, Texas) committed.
As great as those two commitments were, the month of June has been magical for Texas Tech. A week ago, four-star offensive tackle Ellis Davis (Prosper, Texas) made his commitment to Texas Tech before four-star athlete Tyson Turner (Bryan, Texas) announced his decision to do the same on Sunday.
If Texas Tech can hold onto its current commitments, it would make the 2024 class the highest-ranked class for the school since 2015 when they finished in the top 35. That 2015 class also had several four-star players as well. What is crazy about all this is that Texas Tech may not even be done this month. Joe McGuire and his staff had a big recruiting weekend these last few days and it has seemed to pay off rather quickly. In fact, it appears that there may be several silent commitments right now which will only boost Texas Tech’s numbers. I know that it gets hot out in West Texas, but the sun isn’t the only thing that is hot right now out in Lubbock because Joey McGuire and his staff are on fire on the recruiting trail.
