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Notebook: Recruiting impact of new DL hire Terrance Jamison

We look at the recruiting and on-field impact of new Texas Tech defensive line hire Terrance Jamison and take a brief look at Big 12 recruiting in this week's notebook.

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Following the departure of Kevin Patrick after signing day, Kliff Kingsbury and David Gibbs got to work trying to fill the vacant defensive line coach position. The search ended last Thursday when the Red Raiders announced the hiring of former Florida Atlantic defensive line coach Terrance Jamison.

With a staff already littered with Texas ties, Jamison will bring a different recruiting flavor to the mix as he has spent his nine-year career at stops on the West coast, the Midwest, and down south in Florida. Jamison coached three years at FAU (2014-2016), one year as a quality control assistant at Cal (2013), and spent five years coaching in Wisconsin, with four of those years coaching for the University of Wisconsin.

In his three years coaching defensive line at FAU, Jamison frequently kept things local and tapped into the talent-rich state of Florida, but wasn't afraid to mix things up a bit and recruit throughout the country.

Below, we will take a quick look at the recruits Jamison signed while at FAU, the offers he was making (more importantly what parts of the country the offers were being extended), and NFL successes under Jamison.

Signees -- 2015, 2016, and 2017 classes

Hooper committed to FAU over offers from Cincinnati and Tulane.

McCrary committed to FAU over offers from Duke, Louisville, North Carolina, NC State, Pittsburgh, USF, USC, and West Virginia.

Belvin committed to FAU over offers from Appalachian State and Marshall.

Davis committed to FAU over offers from Idaho and Louisiana Lafayette.

Leggett did not hold any other offers. He recorded 30 tackles and four tackles for loss this season under Jamison's tutelage.

Offers -- Where did Jamison recruit?

Florida - 72 offers

Illinois - 7 offers

Georgia -3 offers

New Jersey - 3 offers

California - 3 offers

Mississippi - 2 offers

Louisiana, Alabama, Kentucky, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota - 1 in each state

Quick thoughts:

Jamison spent the majority of his time in Florida, with a whopping 75 percent of his offers being made in the state. Jamison recruited the area he knew best, Florida, but also wasn't afraid to go up north to tap into some of his the connections he made while coaching at Wisconsin, too. The southeastern pipeline (Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama) should be well-recruited under Jamison.


NFL prospects -- How did they develop under Jamison?

In regards to post-college successes, Jamison has four notable players who spent the majority of their time under Jamison's tutelage who have either gone on to the NFL or are being considered for the NFL. Trevon Coley (Browns), Brandin Bryant (Jets), Shalom Ogbonda (2017 NFL prospect) and Trey Hendrickson, who is considered an mid-round prospect for the 2017 draft, all spent multiple seasons being coached by Jamison.

Coley was a class of 2012 prospect and was thus not recruited by Jamison. He was a four-year contributor playing in 48 games in his career. Jamison's work with Coley was helping him go from a 225-pound defensive end to a 300-pound interior lineman, while also keeping him effective at his new position with the added weight.

In Coley's two years under Jamison, Coley recorded 119 tackles, 17 tackles for loss, and 10 sacks. He was picked up by the Cleveland Browns following the 2016 draft.

Bryant was another class of 2012 prospect that was not recruited by Jamison but did receive quite a bit of coaching from Jamison, in the two most important years of a players' development. Bryant came in as a defensive end but was moved inside and beefed up to 290 pounds while at FAU.

Bryant had an injury-plagued 2014 campaign and only played in six games, recording 13 tackles, two tackles for loss, and one sack. Bryant really made his mark during his senior season as he recorded 33 tackles, 10.5 tackles for loss, and five sacks during his senior season in 2015. He recorded 38 reps of 225 at the 2016 NFL Combine and was signed by the Seahawks before being traded to the Jets in October.

Ogbonda was a 2012 signee and redshirted in the 2012 season. He played one season as a rotational defensive lineman before receiving significantly more snaps when Jamison took over in 2014.

Ogbonda was signed as a defensive end but was beefed up to 300 pounds and played on the interior at Florida Atlantic. He recorded 95 tackles, 8.5 tackles for loss, and two sacks in the three years under Jamison. Ogbonda saved his best performance for last, recording 53 tackles, 6.5 tackles for loss, and 1.5 sacks during his senior season. Ogbonda isn't considered a draftable prospect, but at 6-foot-4 and 300 pounds with solid production, he has a market as an UDFA.

Hendrickson has the chance to be by far one of Jamison's better success stories. Hendrickson was a tight end coming out of high school but flipped to DE when he stepped foot on campus at FAU. Hendrickson's three years as an impact player for FAU's defense coincided with Jamison's three years at FAU.

After playing in four games as a freshman and recording six tackles as a special teams contributor, Hendrickson burst onto the scene in Jamison's first year as his position coach, recording 30 tackles, 9.5 tackles for loss, and five sacks. In the two years following, Hendrickson recorded 89 tackles, 30 tackles for loss, 23 sacks, and had six forced fumbles.

Hendrickson was voted the C-USA Defensive Player of the Year for 2016 and is considered a mid-round (4-5) prospect pre-NFL combine. He leaves FAU at around 270 pounds.

Overall thoughts on Jamison

Jamison isn't the flashiest of hires, but he does very well with what he is given. He squeezes as much talent as possible out of his players and is big on simplifying things and getting back to basics. Tech needs a fundamental guy like Jamison. And while his recruiting numbers may leave more to be desired, he will provide a huge boost in Florida recruiting and should be able to tandem with an Emmett Jones or Zac Spavital to land some guys in Dallas/Houston. If he was able to land some talent at FAU, he should be able to do a lot more recruiting to a Power-5 school like Texas Tech.

The roster that Jamison inherited here at Tech isn't devoid of talent, they are all just inexperienced. Jamison's specialty at FAU was getting the talented guys (three out of his four NFL prospects were three stars) on the roster to produce at their expected level, while also getting the lower-rated guys to contribute as well. If Jamison can do that with the talent he has at Tech, there should be marketed improvement.

Around the Big 12

-Iowa State is on the board with their first commitment of the 2018 class with Wisconsin athlete Will McDonald.

-Texas made a splash with their first commit of 2018 in Rivals100 Florida athlete Justin Watkins. Watkins held 12 total offers including Clemson, Florida, Florida State, and LSU.


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