2024 Shallowater OL Kasen Long decides to stay home, commits to TTU
After Texas Tech secured a massive victory over Texas this past weekend, the coaches have continued building towards the future and landed another future impact player on Sunday afternoon in the form of a local offensive lineman.
2024 Shallowater offensive tackle Kasen Long announced his commitment after his visit this weekend, and says the main reason was how the staff, led by offensive line coach Stephen Hamby, made Tech feel like home.
"It just felt like home. I've been to a lot of colleges and none of them quite felt like Tech.
Coach Hamby is a great guy, he's a down-to-earth guy. I can see myself playing for him. I truly talk to the whole staff, the whole staff is like family pretty much."
Long was part of the capacity crowd at Jones AT&T Stadium for the Red Raiders' victory on Saturday and while he enjoyed seeing the win, his mind was likely made up before that.
"I didn't commit just solely off of the win. I was thinking pretty hard about committing and I saw that win, it was a sign pretty much but there are so many reasons why I picked Tech. The win was crazy and it's just one of many reasons."
Another big factor for Long was how close to home Texas Tech is. Jones AT&T Stadium is less than 11 miles from Shallowater High School.
"(My family being able to see me play in college) means a lot. It means quite a bit. Tech is literally 15 minutes away from my house."
Long has already communicated with a couple local recruits and now that he's committed, will try to get others to join him in Lubbock. Long is the third commit of the 2024 class, joining Madisonville cornerback Lorenzo Johnson Jr and Hawley wide receiver Chandlin Myers.
"I just met a few recruits like Kaden Carr, he's a cool guy. Then there's Holt (Holton Hendrix), they're trying to get him right now. I haven't really met too many of the other recruits but I know Tech's going in the right way right now."
Along with his offer from Texas Tech, Long was also receiving interest from Oklahoma, Texas and TCU among others.
"Well I've been to Oklahoma, I've been to Texas, I've been to TCU and I've just been getting mail from other schools too."
The 6-foot-6, 250 pound Long says Tech fans should expect a hard worker and someone who will give it his all.
"I'm gonna try to do my best, I'm gonna work hard and contribute to the team."
Shallowater is an impressive 4-1 on the young season and Long believes the team is talented enough to make a deep postseason run.
"When you ask any school the goal is probably a state championship. All of our guys have just got to come together and we gotta get serious about it and win. We have the talent, we have all the guys to do it. We have the coaching staff too, we have everything."
Look for Long to "for sure" get back on campus for more games this season.
As a sophomore Long was named to the District 1-3A D1 First Team Offense.