Notebook: Football, basketball notes and updates

We recap the week in Tech recruiting with some fresh updates on football and basketball.

Texas Tech landed former Arkansas receiver Jojo Robinson this past week. Robinson was in Lubbock for a visit and committed to the Red Raiders shortly after. Robinson was suspended in 2015, spent a year and a half at Independence C.C. in Kansas and was eligible following this spring.

When healthy, Robinson has the potential to be one of the best in the country and Tech absolutely needed a boost to their receiving corps after a few departures this spring. The Tech coaches did their research and heavily vetted Robinson and were more than happy to accept his commitment when it was all said and done.

Robinson feels like he is a changed man, too, and is ready to have an immediate impact at Tech.

“I’m taking that role head on (being accountable on and off the field)," Robinson told RedRaiderSports. "I had problems at my former school that I have learned from, matured from, and have grown from. Now I am a totally different person off the field. On the field, I feel better than I have ever been and better than I was before. I’ve been working hard to perfect my craft. I’m ready to break out and put it in on the field.”

Quick notes on Robinson:

-Held offers from Arkansas, LSU, Florida State, Auburn, USC, and TCU out of high school.

-Will arrive in Lubbock on July 10 and will be eligible this season. He will have two years to play two.

-He measured in at 5-foot-11 and 1/2 and 196 pounds on his visit to Lubbock. His most recent 40-yard dash was in the 4.3 range.

-He has not been told what position he will play yet but will presumably start on the inside at the H-receiver position. He can play on the outside and return punts/kicks if needed.

Hinds C.C. receiver recently announced a top-five list of schools that included Texas Tech along with LSU, Arizona State, Oregon, and Mississippi State. He talked about his decision to choose the Red Raiders:

"I really am interested in going there because they like to throw the ball a lot," Guidry told RRS following the announcement. "I've talked to their receiver coach a lot, coach (Emmett) Jones. We've been talking about how they've been put on the board in terms of a great passing offense, how I'd be a good fit for the program, and just how much I would like it if I were to go there."

Thoughts on Guidry:

Guidry is no doubt an incredible talent and Tech making his top-five is a big step in the right direction. With LSU always lingering (he has committed to LSU on 3 separate occasions), it is tough to see him going elsewhere when it is all said and done. A July visit to Lubbock, though, shows that he is open to all of his options and a good visit will go a long way. Guidry will be able to slide in nicely when Cantrell and Derrick Willies depart following the season.

With only one spot left in the defensive backfield for the 2018 class, Texas Tech hosted Louisiana safety offer Shawn Preston as they look to make a move to the top of his board. Preston has a lot of connections to Texas Tech and really enjoyed his visit to Lubbock. The interactions with the coaches were great but the campus architecture and new facilities really caught his attention.

"The buildings were my favorite eye-opening thing during the campus tour," Preston discusses in detail to RRS following his visit. "When I look at the facilities, you can usually see a stadium for just what it is, but at Texas Tech the facility looks like a huge building. The basketball arena and the football stadium from the outside don't even look like stadiums. They look like huge buildings that they cut into a stadium, that definitely caught my eyes."

Texas Tech hosted Tech legacy Hunter Spears this past weekend and Spears came away very impressed. The Sachse DE target is on track to be a four-star recruit and a potential R250 prospect. He already holds an offer from Alabama but Tech seemingly has the inside track if things go well on the field.

One of the bigger highlights from his visit was meeting and speaking with coach Jamison. He talks about their conversation:

"Coach Jamison mostly just got to know me, but we also talked about his philosophies on the defensive line and his plans for the defensive line at Texas Tech," Spears told RRS. "It was really good to take that time and get to know him. He really likes my size and how fast that I play. He mentioned that I could play all across the line, really wherever I wanted to. Even though we hadn't met, Coach Jamison told me that he knows from Coach Spavital and from Riko (Jeffers) that I'm a hard-working guy. He mentioned that is what they need at Tech, guys who are willing to work hard to accomplish the group's goals."

Texas Tech is seemingly only taking one LB in this upcoming 2018 class, but admittedly, anything can change. With linebacker being the one position on defense lacking a commit for 2018, we thought it would be good to take a look at the front runners based off our recent conversations.

The Tech coaches are seemingly waiting on Chad Bailey right now as he has the Red Raiders in his top-five list with some other schools Tech can definitely beat out; however, the linebacker closest to committing is Xavier Benson as he is very high on the Red Raiders. He is also the only linebacker at the moment who has a visit date nailed down (July 23), but Wilkins has said he will visit in July as well.

It is unclear at the moment how things will shake out if Benson wants to pull the trigger first, but I would bet the coaches find room to take Benson plus another linebacker.

Joseph Ogunbanjo is also another linebacker offer name to watch.

Beard and Co. hosted two basketball prospects yesterday in 6-foot-8 small forward Jal Bijiek and 6-foot-8 power forward Garrett Thibodeaux. Bijiek holds a Tech offer and offered up an update on his recruitment before his visit. By all accounts, Bijiek's visit went great...

With 2018 recruiting in full swing, Beard and Co. will always make time for 2019 prospects as good as Timme. Timme was offered by Tech a couple months ago and made his way to Lubbock for an unofficial.

The 2019 four-star prospect did a quick recap of his visit with RRS:

"The Arena was awesome. I really wasn't expecting it to be so nice. The scoreboard was crazy big. The campus was incredible, too. I really was not expecting it to be so big. The visit was great, I really like it out here."

-Iowa State added three new commits recently in 5.6 rated Allen (TX) wide receiver Carson Schleker, 5.5 linebacker Gerry Vaughn, and 5.7 rated Richmond (TX) defensive back Christian Young.

The Cyclones have 12 commits and the No. 45 rated class.

-The Kansas Jayhawks added a commit this past week in 5.6 rated OL Nick Williams, who is rated as the 44th OT in the country.

The Jayhawks have 13 commits and the No. 21 recruiting class

-The Oklahoma Sooners received a big boost to their 2018 class as they nabbed four new commits over the past week. They added four-star wide receiver Jaylon Robinson, 5.6 rated wide receiver Treveon Johnson, 5.6 rated wide receiver Kundarrius Taylor, and 5.7 rated athlete Tavion Thomas.

The Sooners have 14 commits and the No. 7 rated class.

-The Oklahoma State Cowboys added to their top-ranked class this week with a commitment from 5.7 rated defensive back JayVeon Cardwell. Cardwell is the 51st ranked cornerback and held more than 12 offers.

The Cowboys have 18 commits and the No. 9 rated class.

-The TCU Horned Frogs won a big recruiting battle this week landing 5.6 rated linebacker Ben Wilson from Sumner, Washington. TCU beat out Arizona, Arizona State, California, Louisville, UCLA, and Washington State among others.

TCU has 14 commits and the No. 24 rated class.

-Texas added 5.6 rated Kentucky RB Rondale Moore this past week. Rated as the No. 18 all-purpose back, Moore also held offers from Alabama and 27 other programs.

Texas has 11 commits and the No. 14 rated class.

-West Virginia ended their month and a half long commitment drought this week adding commits from 5.5 rated athlete Bryce Wheaton, 5.6 linebacker Josh Chandler, and 5.5 rated TE TJ Ivy.

West Virginia has 8 commits and the No. 61 rated class