Back on June 9th, Duncanville OL Jaylen Early announced his top six schools which included Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Texas A&M, Ohio State, Florida State and Penn State. It was a bit of a surprise to see the Red Raiders in that group, considering they didn't offer until April 3rd, a couple months after Early had previously released his top 10 without Texas Tech.

Still, maybe it shouldn't be a surprise once you factor in Early's relationships with the Tech coaches. Director of Recruiting Eron Hodges, offensive line coach Steve Farmer and head coach Matt Wells are leading the charge for the Rivals250 offensive tackle.

"I've known Eron (Hodges) for quite some time now because he actually recruited me at Purdue. I kinda already knew what he was like coming in to the visit and his personality. But overall the Tech coaches are real genuine, they mean what they say and they say what they mean. They're real cool people.

I was sitting in coach Farmer's office and he was like coaching me. He was showing me different techniques and stuff like that so it was real cool to see that.

Coach Wells, I ended up going to his house and seeing how he is with the players and all that. I really liked that, just seeing what kind of person he was. I met with him again on Thursday morning before he headed back."