Friday Flare

The coaches landed an intriguing new addition to the roster this week, handed out several more offers to new targets and Texas Tech made the 'top schools' list for a pair of top 2025 targets.

We cover all of that and much more...it's Friday, let's Flare.

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South Dakota product Sullivan Schlimgen earns first Power 5 offer from TTU

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2027 Anna OL Peyton Miller picks up offer from Texas Tech

The coaches add a unique prospect to the offensive side of the ball, a pair of top targets included the Red Raiders in their 'top schools' list and the coaches made several more new offers this week.

Fidelis Okereke, a 6-foot-6, 260-pound power forward from Cal State Bakersfield announced in late April that he intended on pursuing opportunities to play college football.

Our very own Benjamin Golan reported that Okereke will join the Red Raiders as a walk-on tight end this past weekend. You can reach several pages on Google searches looking for any sort of football history for Okereke and there is nothing to see. In fact, on his Cal State Bakersfield profile, it highlights his basketball accolades and mentions a history of playing track and field...but no mention of football.

There is a history of former college basketball players taking on football late in their careers, not a ton of history, but a walk-on prospect who stands at 6-foot-6, 260-pounds with great athleticism is a very unique and intriguing addition this time of year.

We should see Okereke in action at practices over the summer and into fall camp, so more to come on this addition soon.

Cypress Falls linebacker and longtime Texas Tech target Kaleb "KB" Burns announced his Top 7 schools on social media this week. The 6-foot-1, 210-pound standout lists 21 total offers from programs across the country, and now he is focused on these seven (7) schools moving forward - Texas Tech, Florida, SMU, Houston, Pitt, Baylor and Washington.

The 5.7 three-star prospect is a top target for the Red Raiders and is set to officially visit the South Plains next month. He also has official visits scheduled to both Baylor and Houston. Burns recently took an official visit to SMU, and interestly enough, he also officially visited TCU but the Horned Frogs are not included in this top schools list.

Time will tell, but this appears to be a battle of Texas / Big 12 programs between Baylor, SMU, Houston and Texas Tech moving forward.

Captain Shreve (Louisiana) offensive guard Lionel Prudhomme Jr. announced his Top 6 schools on social media last night. The 6-foot-2, 291-pound standout lists 17 total offers from programs around the country, and now he is focused on these six (6) schools moving forward - Texas Tech, Mississippi State, Arkansas, Tulane, Houston and Ole Miss.

Currently unranked by Rivals, Prudhomme Jr. is set to officially visit the South Plains next month. This off-season, he has taken unofficial visits to Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Arkansas and Texas Tech. Plucking talent away from SEC programs out of Louisiana is no easy chore, but the Red Raider coaches have recruited Captain Shreve and have players on the roster from previous classes, so there is a legitimate shot at landing Prudhomme Jr. here.

The coaches were busy again this week with seven (7) offers handed out to new targets, including a handful of intriguing new 2025 targets from across the country.

The coaches offered Stanton Community (Nebraska) offensive guard Ren Brown this week. The 6-foot-6, 280-pound propsect now lists 15 total offers, including offers from your Red Raiders, Air Force, Army, Columbia, Dartmouth, Eastern Michigan, Montana, North Dakota, North Dakota State, Northern Illinois, Northern Iowa, Ohio, Oregon State, South Dakota and South Dakota State.

Brown connected with Ben Golan this week to talk about his recruitment and the new offer from the Red Raiders. He is working to schedule an official visit to Lubbock next month, and the unranked lineman already has plans to camp with Kansas, Iowa State and Nebraska in the coming weeks.

All of that is great, but how about some kudos to the recruiting team at Texas Tech...Stanton, Nebraska? I mean, these guys have been all over the map in the past month turning over rocks to identify talent, regardless of location.

The coaches offered Eaton 2026 defensive end Alijah Lash this week. The 6-foot-3, 225-pound prospect now lists five (5) offers from your Red Raiders, Coastal Carolina, North Texas, UNLV and UTEP.

Lash was named the District Newcomer of the Year and finished with 11 sacks to lead the district. He has been active on the camp circuit and recently earned an invitation to the 2025 U.S. Army Bowl.

Based on his tape and early offers, Lash could be a top prospect in the state of Texas for the 2026 class.

The coaches offered Papillion Lavista (Nebraska) offensive tackle Garin Maley this week. The 6-foot-6, 260-pound standout now lists 13 total offers, including offers from your Red Raiders, Eastern Michigan, Harvard, Illinois State, Montana, North Dakota, Northern Illinois, Northern Iowa, Oregon State, Princeton, South Dakota State, Southern Illinois and Yale.

Maley has an official visit scheduled to Oregon State for next month. We should see an official visit scheduled with the Red Raiders, but more to come there soon. The standout lineman has also unofficially visited both Kansas and Nebraska this off-season.

The coaches offered Waseca (Minnesota) athlete Damarius Russell this week. The 5-foot-11, 175-pound standout now lists four (4) offers from your Red Raiders, North Dakota State, Northern Iowa and South Dakota State.

Russell is listed as an athlete and plays both defensive back and wide receiver for Waseca. He spoke with RedRaiderSports about the offer this week and mentioned an official visit to Lubbock is in the works.

Currently unranked, Russell is also a standout in track and set a school record in the 100m with a time of 10.97 seconds.

The coaches offered Brandon Valley (South Dakota) 2026 defensive tackle Hudson Parliament this week. The 6-foot-4, 285-pound junior now holds four (4) early offers from your Red Raiders, Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota State.

The standout defensive lineman has received camp invitations from coaches at Oklahoma, Kansas, Alabama, Auburn, Kansas State, Iowa, Northwestern and Iowa State this off-season.

Listed as a defensive lineman, Parliament also plays offensive guard for Brandon Valley and some schools see him playing offensive line at the next level.

The coaches offered Sioux Fallas O'Gorman (South Dakota) linebacker Sullivan Schlimgen this week. The 6-foot-1, 220-pound standout now holds eight (8) offers from your Red Raiders, Air Force, North Dakota, North Dakota State, Northern Iowa, Sioux Falls, South Dakota and South Dakota State.

Schlimgen spoke with RedRaiderSports about the offer this week and shared that he plans to officially visit Lubbock in late June. This past season, Schlimgen recorded a school record 99 tackles and earned All-State honors as a junior. He also plays varsity baseball, playing catcher for O'Gorman. On the track this season, Schlimgen set a personal record in the 100m with a 10.99 second time.

The coaches offered Anna 2027 offensive guard Peyton Miller this week. The 6-foot-4, 285-pound sophomore standout now lists 17 early offers, including offers from your Red Raiders, Arkansas, Baylor, Houston, Minnesota, Ole Miss, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Penn State, Pitt, San Diego State, SMU, TCU, Tennessee, Texas A&M, Texas State and Tulsa.

Miller spoke with RedRaiderSports about the offer and his recruitment this week. He plans on taking an unofficial visit to Lubbock this summer and even mentioned that his grandparents are alumni, so there is a family connection to Tech.

Miller and Anna won the state championship this past season and Miller has three (3) years of varsity football remaining, so it is safe to say that he will only get bigger and should continue stacking these offers and become a national recruit sooner than later.

Momma, there goes that man...

Another week, another shoutout for Texas Tech running back Tahj Brooks. He comes into the season as the highest-graded returning running back in the Big 12 conference.

I mean, time to order a pitcher of Kool-Aid after watching this video. What a very on-time, on-brand video montage here from the Texas Tech media team.

We are now less than 100 days away from college football, now we get to enjoy the summer before the best part of the year starts.

Coach McGuire was in Houston this week speaking at The Houston Touchdown Club event. The local news grabbed video clip during his speech and he went through a list of several Red Raiders from the Houston area, thanking the local high school scene and describing how important the area has become to him and his staff at Texas Tech.

If there is an obscure statistic that ultimately means nothing, then you better believe the Red Raiders are on the list.

With all of the hype around the return of EA Sports NCAA Football with the official trailer released last Friday and release date coming in less than a month, it seems like all everyone talks about these days.

Former Red Raider great and Texas Rangers World Series Champion Josh Jung was in the house to support Texas Tech at the Big 12 Conference Tournament this week.

That wrist is looking so so good, please hurry back and play baseball again soon.

Sam Spiegelman is back with Rivals, and this time around Sam will cover the Southeast and help with the Texas area as well.

He brings a wealth of experience and connections back to the network, and with Marshall on board, this only benefits RedRaiderSports when it comes to prospect evaluations and information on the recruiting trail.

Welcome back, Sam!

We look around the new-look conference this week and the Arizona State Sun Devils are the top ranked program in the new Big 12 Conference.

This week we look at new 2025 commitments for West Virginia, BYU, Cincinnati and Houston.

*listed in current Big 12 rankings order, new programs now officially added to the Rivals rankings list - plus a new 'look' or design from the Rivals team on these lists/pages.

Thank you for reading, have a great holiday weekend!