 "Photo: Kerry Lentz")
The 2008 season brought a little more than the best campaign in Texas Tech football history.
Tech coach Mike Leach announced the Red Raiders' 2009 recruiting class on Signing Day Wednesday, signing 24 high school football stars and one junior college player. Of the 25 commitments, eight are four-star athletes either on scouts.com or rivals.com.
Leach, who believes this is the best class since he has been at Tech, said last season's 11-2 campaign played a significant part in getting recruits because it gave Tech a little more exposure than usual.
While offensive and defensive line always mark a concern, Leach said the secondary was an issue heading into the recruiting season. Tech lost its top four safeties to graduation, including All-Big 12 Conference first-teamers Darcel McBath and Daniel Charbonnet.
In response, Tech ended up signing five defensive backs and one athlete projected to play the position.
Terrance Bullitt from Naaman Forest High School in Garland and Yahshua Williams from Ryan in Denton are being recruited as cornerbacks. Daniel Cobb from Ellison in Killeen and Will Ford from Cooper in Abilene are being recruited as safeties.
Rivals.com has Ford as the No. 33-ranked safety in the nation.
Tech's lone athlete in the class, Jarvis Phillips from Carter in Dallas, is expected to play defensive back. Although he mainly played on offense in high school, D.J. Johnson from St. Stephen's Episcopal in Austin is expected to play cornerback as well.
From an offensive line that was fourth in the nation in sacks allowed with 13, Tech lost Rylan Reed and Louis Vasquez to graduation. On the defensive line, Tech's losses included Brandon Williams, who finished 2008 with 13 sacks. Williams recently decided to forego his senior season by entering the NFL Draft.
Tech signed four offensive linemen in Kyle Clark from Guyer in Denton, Matt Goetz from Steele in Cibolo, Joel Gray from Hebron in Lewisville, and LaAdrian Waddle from Columbus.
Clark was a part of an offensive line that averaged 280.9 rushing yards a game while scoring 55 touchdowns last season.
"These offensive linemen, to me," Leach said, "are quite similar because they're guys with long arms, good feet and hopefully aggressive people."
Defensive tackle Myles Wade, one of the four-star recruits, is the lone junior college player in this year's class. He comes from Arizona Western Community College in Yuma, Ariz., after attending Central Catholic High School in Portland, Ore.
According to Rivals.com, Wade is the No. 18 junior college prospect. He also was recruited by USC, Auburn and Nebraska.
Leach said what is different about Wade is the fact he has three years of eligibility and not two like most junior college players.
Signing six defensive linemen, McNeill said the reason for so much concentration on the position when recruiting season comes around is believing in a philosophy that builds football teams.
"You have to have defensive linemen, that's the meat of your team," he said. "The offensive linemen also are the meat of your team, so you always start recruiting and building your team from the inside out."
Tech also added three linebackers, a quarterback and a tailback. Quarterback Jacob Karam from Friendswood and Eric Stephens from Timberview in Mansfield are two of the eight four-star recruits in this year's class.
Tech also restocked at receiver, recruiting four in 2009. Eric Ward from Rider in Wichita Falls is one of the headliners in this year's class, switching his commitment from Oklahoma to Tech back in January.
In addition, Ward enrolled at Tech shortly after and already is participating in spring drills with the Red Raiders.
As usual, Tech mainly focused on Texas when it came to recruiting. Defensive tackles Pearlie Graves from Tulsa, Okla., and Romario Cathey from Nashville, Tenn., receiver E.J. Celestie from Lake Charles, La., and Wade from Portland, Ore., are the four out-of-state recruits for Tech this year.
As far as the rest of the country goes in this year's recruiting battles, rivals.com has Alabama with the best class in 2009. As far as Big 12 Conference teams are concerned, Texas is at No. 5, OU is at No. 13, and Texas A&M is at No. 21. A&M and Baylor signed the most recruits in the Big 12, according to rivals.com, finishing Wednesday with 28 apiece. Tech's 25 ranks third for most in the Big 12. Texas finished the day with three five-star commits.
But to truly determine which class is the best, it comes down to play on the field and who will end up contributing the most.
Leach said that depends solely on the mindset of the recruits and who can adjust the quickest.
Then there are those that Tech fights for all the way until Signing Day arrives.
Four-star receiver Emory Blake from S.F. Austin in Austin fits this description as Tech, among other schools, was on his final list of schools. Blake, the No. 42-ranked receiver in the nation, was recruited by Tech defensive line coach Charlie Sadler and took a visit to Tech on Oct. 31, 2008, according to rivals.com. Blake made the announcement Wednesday morning he was heading to Auburn instead of Tech, Oregon and Nebraska, to name a few.
Leach, who declined to comment on Blake's decision, said even though there are some that get away, the ones he already has are good enough for him.
"We can't really get into that," he said. "We only comment on the guys that are here, but we already got plenty of good receivers, and we got the best ones that we recruited."
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