On the Hardwood
The Lady Raiders defeated Wichita State 83-43, led by Jada Malone who had a double-double, 19 points and 10 boards. Malone was one of 4 players in double-figures, along with Bailey Maupin who had 10, Jaylynn Bristow who had 10, and Snudda Collins who had 13.
On the Gridiron
National Signing day was yesterday and from what I can tell, there were no surprises. Everyone that was supposed to sign did and I don’t believe that Texas Tech signed any players that were a flip on signing day. Texas Tech’s official site has a breakdown of the entire class and the YouTube channel has those short videos of those players if that floats your boat. I have found that the paid sites like On3 and 24/7 Sports, most of the recruiting content is behind a paywall and even after all of these years, I have never paid for content, although I think that I’ll have to do that at some point (today is not that day). Thus, the reason I haven’t linked to Red Raider Sports or Inside the Red Raiders is because I just didn’t see anything that was outside the paywall.
ESPN’s Craig Haubert breaks down the top 75 recruiting classes with USC having the best class in the nation and Texas Tech finishing at No. 19. The other Big 12 teams are as follows:
22. BYU
27. West Virginia
35. Houston
36. Arizona
37. Arizona State
46. TCU
48. Kansas State
49. Kansas
50. Utah
61. Iowa State
64. Cincinnati
Lubbock Avalanche-Journal’s Don Williams on the best recruits for this class and superlatives:
Texas Tech football’s signing day sleeper
Luke Hamilton, cornerback, New Braunfels Canyon: How’s this for under the radar? Not only is Hamilton not listed among the top 150 prospects in the state, but up until the past week he was known as Luke Bell. Blanchard said on social media Hamilton is “probably the most underrated player in this class.”
Lubbock Avalanche-Journal’s Nathan Giese on Frenship receiver Chase Campbell, who had deep ties to Arkansas:
Campbell has spent the last few years being surrounded by Texas Tech athletics, but his DNA is rooted in Razorback territory.
His mother, DeeDee Brown-Campbell, was a former track and field star at Arkansas, part of the school’s athletic hall of fame. His father, Marcus, played defensive back for the Razorbacks. And his grandfather, Darrell Brown, was one of the first Black football players in the history of the Razorback program.
“Me, personally, it’s always a wish to go back to your alma mater and be a player and hope that your son does go there,” Marcus said. “But then you have another side that this is his life, his legacy, that he’s also making his self. We are proud of Arkansas. Arkansas ties to the fullest. We enjoy Arkansas, but right now we’re happy to be Texas Tech Red Raiders.”
Desert News’ Jackson Payne on head coach Joey McGuire stumping for BYU to make the the College Football Playoffs:
BYU’s CFP hopes, however, almost certainly ride on the Big 12 championship. McGuire doesn’t agree with such a fate, believing the Cougars are being overlooked.
“I think that, without a doubt, we both should be in the Playoff,” McGuire said. “No matter what happens on Saturday, I think we’ve earned a right (to make the Playoff). I think whenever you look at it, they’re discounting both of us whenever you’re talking about where we’re ranked. I think we’re as good as anybody in the country, and we’re going to put on a great game.”
In Big 12 news, ESPN’s Pete Thamel reports that head coach Chris Klieman has retired (he’s not necessarily reporting that because the press conference happened and Klieman actually retired) and that Texas A&M offensive coordinator and former Kansas State quarterback Collin Klein will be named the head coach.
The Big 12 availability report for Texas Tech:
OUT
DL #0 Skyler Gill-Howard
CB #4 Maurion Horn
WR #4 T.J. West
WR #18 Roy Alexander
OUT – 1ST HALF
LB #34 Trent Low
QUESTIONABLE
CB #12 Macho Stevenson
PROBABLE
QB #2 Behren Morton
S #5 Cole Wisniewski
LB #6 John Curry
QB #12 Mitch Griffis
OLB #31 David Bailey
OL #79 Howard Sampson