Without a high school running back signee in the 2025 class, the Texas Tech coaches are intending on adding at least one, if not multiple, running backs in the 2026 class.
One of the prospects who has made his way up the board quickly is New Boston's Ashton Rowden.
Rowden was officially offered by Texas Tech General Manager James Blanchard on January 17th, the first Power 4 offer for the 5-foot-11 speedster.
Rowden made his first visit to Texas Tech on Monday to take in Texas Tech's first football practice of the spring, and RedRaiderSports spoke with Rowden following the visit for his reaction to the day in West Texas.
What you need to know...
... Rowden holds 16 offers to date. Other than Texas Tech, he's earned offers from Arkansas State, Colorado State, Kansas State, Louisiana, New Mexico, North Texas, Sacramento State, Sam Houston, South Florida, Stephen F. Austin, Texas State, UTEP, UTSA, Western Kentucky and Wyoming
... Rowden has set three official visits to date. Those visits are Kansas State (May 29-31), Texas Tech (June 13-15) and Houston (June 19-21)
... As a junior Rowden was credited with 1,337 rushing yards and 14 rushing touchdowns per his MaxPreps profile
... He was named the 3A-2 Region III District 10 Most Outstanding Player – Offense following his junior season
... On the track Rowden holds a personal record of 11.28 seconds in the 100 meter and 24.94 seconds in the 200 meter per his MileSplit profile
How Texas Tech got involved: "I think it was coach (James) Blanchard that started it all. He followed me on Twitter. I already had some of them followed on Twitter but he followed me one day and he texted me, and I think the first thing he asked me was can I dunk? I was like, yeah I can dunk. He was like you got any videos? I sent him like two videos, and then, like, I was in my basketball game. I about to play actually, and then like 20 minutes later my mom called me. She FaceTime'd me and she was like Texas Tech just offered you. I'm like, what? Then my head coach called me because he was at the basketball game and he told me to call coach Blanchard on the phone, and he sent me his number. I called him. We talked and he was just telling me about what he did, like he was watching the film and whatnot. He was like I love the film, the head coach loves the film, the running backs coach loves the film. We have to offer you. What was going on in our head, this is one of the best running backs in the nation, why haven't we found him yet? Then he was just telling me all of that. That's really what happened."
