Texas Tech Recruiting: Changing Of The Guard Or NIL Fools Gold?
Will the summer to remember in Lubbock continue into the fall?
In case you haven't been paying attention, the Texas Tech Red Raiders have gone on a bit of a heater this summer with regard to high school football recruiting.
Exhibit A is none other than Class of 2026 five-star offensive lineman Felix Ojo's Fourth of July commitment to coach Joey Maguire and company.
The recruiting streak in Lubbock didn't stop, as just a month later, the number one recruit in the 2027 class, LaDamion Guyton, pledged his services to the Red Raiders, shocking fanbases in Athens and Knoxville alike.
Just based on these two recruiting wins alone, Texas Tech is seeing an unprecedented amount of success on the trail relative to its prior history as a football program, but are the Red Raiders really shaking up the old guard of recruiting juggernauts?
Or is this just smoke and mirrors?
If you lived your life on social media, you would assume the center of the recruiting universe was in Lubbock, Texas.
Fans and haters of the program were crowing from the mountaintops about how the Red Raiders' brass was using oil money to coax high-profile recruits to come to Texas Tech, and while that is still true, it isn't happening at the accelerated rate many are being led to believe.
If we look at the 247Sports composite recruiting rankings, an industry amalgamation of all recruiting services' player rankings, Texas Tech is currently 25th with 19 commits.
That's a particularly high watermark for the program, but the Red Raiders aren't exactly upsetting the status quo of recruiting powers.
Their 88.37 average player rating is comparable to recruiting giants like Illinois (88.07), Baylor (88.96), and Houston (88.26).
Other notable programs with the same or fewer commits in their current class, like Oregon (7th, 17 commits, 94.39 avg), LSU (8th, 18, 93.48), and Florida (13th, 19, 91.88) are lapping Texas Tech in terms of both class rating and quality of player.
Red Raider fans should be ecstatic that their program is on the rise.
They signed a stellar transfer portal class and are starting to shell out the big bucks for five-stars at premier positions like offensive tackle and edge rusher.
It's a great start.
But let's slow our roll before we claim Texas Tech is the new Alabama or that Joey Maguire is moving like Kirby Smart on the recruiting trail.
Just enjoy the climb and don't be too preoccupied with trying to be "ahead of schedule."
Of course, knowing my luck, I just created the next college football dynasty in West Texas.
You're welcome, Red Raider fans!