Get to know new Texas Tech assistant coach Clay Jennings

While not yet officially announced by the university's athletic department, our team at RedRaiderSports and multiple other outlets have confirmed that Clay Jennings will join the Texas Tech coaching staff.

Jennings was most recently the co-defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach at Houston this past season, so a similar title or role is expected for him at Texas Tech.

All of those details will come out soon enough, but the Red Raiders are getting a seasoned defensive backs coach with deep roots in the state of Texas.

Jennings' career includes previous stops at TCU, Texas, Arkansas, Baylor, Houston, Sam Houston State and North Texas - a total of 13 years coaching at the college level in the state of Texas.

That means 13 years of cultivating relationships with high school coaches in Texas and truly knowing the recruiting landscape throughout the state.

With recent stints at Houston, Texas, Arkansas and TCU - we reached out to our colleagues throughout the Rivals.com network to learn more about Texas Tech's newest defensive assistant.

"Coach Jennings was a very cool person to deal with and fit in around here pretty quickly. He was always very open to the media when talking about the team, his unit and just answering our questions in general.

"In terms of recruiting, it is hard to say because Houston really leans on their support staff more than the individual position coaches for recruiting success, plus he was here for one year. That said, they really loaded up at defensive back this year with four (4) defensive backs and another athlete that is expected to factor into the secondary."

-Jefferson Powell, CougarsDen.com

All of these recruits listed below for the 2018 class are marked as 'signed' in our system, so nothing to see from a 'who can Tech try to flip' standpoint, but an example of the prospects Jennings was bringing into the defensive backs unit at Houston.

"Coach Jennings had a great reputation coming to Texas, but was only here in Austin for 10 months. Charlie Strong hired him early in 2016 and then that whole staff was let go later that same year. He did land a few commitments during his time at Texas and both stayed committed after the staff changeover."

-Jason Suchomel, Orangebloods.com

Jennings helped land two (2) defensive backs at Texas for the 2017 recruiting class.

"Coach Jennings did pretty well at Arkansas. He was really their go-to guy in the state of Texas. He is a great dude, just a good ol' country guy. The type of guy that never misses your birthday and little things like that, great guy. Some coaching staffs recruit to their position groups and some recruit certain areas, he was a big key in helping to land Texas guys for Arkansas."

-Danny West, HawgSports.com

Jennings landed a total of eight (8) defensive backs in his two seasons at Arkansas, along with a total of eight (8) prospects from the state of Texas overall.

"Well, his last year was my first year covering the team, but Coach Jennings was very well liked and respected during his time coaching at TCU. He recruited and signed Jason Verrett who was a first round draft pick. He also developed guys like Kevin White, who played in the NFL for a bit. Same with Rafael Priest and Quincy Butler earlier in his tenure at TCU."

-Billy Wessells, PurpleMenace.com

Rather than going through each recruiting class over a six year period, we have highlighted some of the players that Billy mentioned and some of the highest rated commitments that Jennings landed during his time with the Horned Frogs.

Make sure to visit the Inside the Double T forum for all of your Texas Tech recruiting and sports news.