On Monday afternoon Texas Tech landed its top remaining linebacker target in Cypress Falls' Kaleb Burns.
It wasn't too long ago that Donnie Baggs was a top prospect himself. Baggs chose Texas A&M in the 2011 class over several other Power 5 offers. Following a successful career as an Aggie, Baggs signed an undrafted free agent deal with the Dallas Cowboys.
Nowadays Baggs is one of the top linebacker skills development coaches in the country. He owns Higher Ceiling Performance, a training service for athletes. The list of recruits who work with Baggs is lengthy and plenty talented. One of the prospects who Baggs has been with for about a year is the newest Red Raider commit, Kaleb Burns.
Following Burns' decision, we spoke with Baggs about him to learn what Texas Tech fans should expect from their newest class of 2025 commit.
How did you get started with Kaleb, how long have you been training with him?
"We started training with each other last year. He did a session, I invited him out to a session with two of my top guys that were already in college, Alexander Kilgore and Daymion Sanford. As soon as I saw him work out, this was before any of the offers or anything, as soon as I saw him workout I was like 'this kid is special'. So from there we just dedicated, grinded the entire summer, that entire off-season. Then he had the season that he had, then the offers started flowing in and now we're here. It was a fun process, real fun process with him. It happened quickly."
When you look at Kaleb on the field, what would you say some of his strengths are and how he'll fit in at the next level?
"Yeah man, one he's sideline-to-sideline. He flies everywhere and makes plays. He's super instinctive. He's got great position flex, where like he can play MIKE, he can play WILL. He's big enough to play a MIKE but at the same time he's got the athleticism and the speed and the ability to play in space to play a weakside linebacker or a 'backer that plays more in space. So from that standpoint his skillset as a 'backer is perfect.
Then he's got like a really great frame. He's twitched up, he's explosive, and he's just a playmaker man. He just goes out there and makes plays. If you watch his tape that's all he does. Tackle for losses, interceptions, sacks, he's just a big-time, impact player on the defensive side of the ball. So I think his skillset is just gonna be all those things that makes him a really good high school player into a really good collegiate player as well."
Off-the-field, leadership wise, how is he with his peers and teammates from what you've seen?
"I've seen a lot of growth from him over the past year. He's kind of like a quiet kid by nature, just a little quiet, but when he hits the field he turns a switch on. He kinda comes alive and becomes like a different person almost so to speak. Just over the past year the growth I've seen in him, I've seen him open up, and then when he's out there playing with his peers and his teammates you can definitely see that they look up to him. They follow his leadership by his play. When they need a play he goes out there and makes a play.
There's always different types of leaders. You got a lot of guys that are super vocal but I think Kaleb is more of a guy that's gonna lead by what he does on the field, and his play on the field is plenty loud enough. So I think that speaks for itself."
Kaleb is one of the top linebackers in the 2025 class, who are some of your kids in the 2026 and 2027 classes that college football fans should keep an eye on?
"Oh man, absolutely. You got Tank King out of Port Arthur Memorial. Joseph Credit out of Pearland. Noriel Dominguez out of Fort Bend Marshall. Kosi Okpala out of Mayde Creek. Ayden Combs, he's at Cy Ranch. Then I would say probably Madden Morgan out of Episcopal, he's got a really good frame, really good nice size. Looks like a collegiate player already.
But yeah those six guys have already kinda made some noise, as far as their offers and who they've been offered by, but I definitely think going into their junior year they've got what it takes to be the top linebackers in the state of Texas in the class of 2026."
Note: Texas Tech had already previously offered King, Dominguez and Okpala from that list. Following Burns' commitment on Monday afternoon, Tech also put an offer on the table for Joseph Credit.
******************************************************************************************
Join the conversation with other Red Raiders on the Inside The Double T forum.
Subscribe today to get the most in-depth Texas Tech sports and recruiting coverage.
Follow us on X: @RedRaiderSports
Like and follow us on Instagram @rrs_rivals & like us on Facebook.
