Altair (Texas) Rice Consolidated offensive center Jared Kaster switched his commitment from Rice to Texas Tech on Thursday. The 6-foot-4, 265-pound prospect pledged to the Owls in February, but reconsidered after the Red Raiders offered earlier this week.

"I went to their camp, Tech was obviously interested and everything, and it's a great opportunity for my career," Kaster said. "My family, we talked about it and told Rice. Of course, Rice is a fabulous school with the education and everything, but it's my dream to play at Tech and my dream is to play in the Big 12. It just happened, so I took it."

Kaster was offered following his performance at Tech's Cypress-Ridge camp.

"They didn't offer there at the camp, they offered through the coach and everything," he said. "They were interested and so was I, like I said, it's a dream and I couldn't let it go by.

"I called Coach (Chad) Scott and he told me that they were going to offer. I told him, I was like, 'I'm taking this and I want to be a Red Raider.' I'm going to go up there this weekend and talk to (Tommy) Tuberville and shake his hand all of that."

In addition to his desire to play in the Big 12, Kaster cited his relationship with Scott as a big reason for his decision.

"We hit it off from the start," Kaster said. "He came out to the school my sophomore year and, of course, they couldn't talk to me or anything since I was just a sophomore. My coach said that they were interested probably further down the road when I got to be a junior or so. They came out and watched practice and everything. We talked on the phone, I'd call them of course. We just hit it off and are pretty close."

Kaster, a first-team Class 2A All-State selection in 2010, was also receiving interest from Baylor and Oregon.