Rewind: Texas Tech's 2005 class

Texas Tech's 2005 signing class was not as flashy as the group the program had signed the year before; Lufkin's McKinner Dixon was the only prospect ranked higher than a three-star to sign with the Red Raiders that year, compared to five in 2004. But what the 2005 class lacked in star power, it appeared to make up for with stability and balance.

For the first time since 1999, Texas Tech did not sign a single junior college prospect. In fact, the bulk of the team's signees came from the Texas high school football ranks, with the only exceptions being Shawn Byrnes (Arizona), Pete Richardson (Oklahoma) and Chris Todd (Kentucky). Perhaps most importantly, all 21 signees qualified academically and reported in time to participate in preseason camp.

"I think it's the best recruiting class we've had since I've been here," then head coach Mike Leach said at the time. "A couple of the things that we're particularly proud of with this recruiting class is the academics of this group, all of them should be on pace to qualify."

Indeed, on paper, the Red Raiders' 2005 class was definitely in the discussion for Leach's best class up to that point. It was ranked No. 37 nationally, fifth in the Big 12 - the program's previous five classes finished no better than sixth in the conference - and nine of the program's 18 in-state signees were ranked in Rivals.com's Texas Top100.

True to form, like he did in almost all of his signing day press conferences, Leach noted how little use he had for recruiting rankings.

"Suffice it to say that the rankings or how many stars someone got, receives virtually no consideration in our selection process," he said. "We look at film and decide if we think they can play or not, and proud to say that we believe all of these guys have the potential to be great players and representatives of this class."

While the potential may have been there, the production never was - just nine of Tech's 2005 signees ended up exhausting their eligibility with the Red Raiders, and only five of those were multi-year starters.

BIGGEST BUST: McKinner Dixon. At that point in time, Dixon was highest-ranked high school defensive prospect to sign with the Red Raiders under Leach. Rivals.com ranked him as the No. 11 weakside defensive end in the country and the No. 23 overall prospect in the state of Texas. Dixon secured a role in the defensive end rotation as a true freshman and logged 29 tackles, two sacks and six TFL in 11 games. Following the 2005 season, he seemed well on his way to living up to his ranking. Unfortunately, Dixon failed to get things done academically, missed most of spring practice and was ruled ineligible before the 2006 season. Instead of staying at Tech and sitting out that season, he transferred to Cisco J.C.

Also considered: WR Chris Cunigan, WR Todd Walker

BIGGEST HOMERUN: Louis Vasquez. Vasquez will go down as one of the best Red Raider offensive linemen of the Leach era. He played in five games as a true freshman and started 32 games over the next three seasons. Vasquez earned second-team All-Big 12 and third-team AP All-American honors as a senior and was Texas Tech's only 2005 signee to be selected in the NFL Draft.

Also considered: OL Brandon Carter, OL Marlon Winn

STRENGTH OF THE CLASS: Offensive Line. Were it not for an exceptionally strong offensive line haul in 2005, this class would without a doubt be remembered as the least productive in over a decade. Even more important, thanks to nine misses over the past two years, the Red Raiders would have been in dire shape up front had it not hit on four of its five 2005 offensive line signees. As it turns out, that group - Shawn Byrnes, Brandon Carter, Louis Vasquez and Marlon Winn - formed the backbone of Tech's offensive successes in 2007 and 2008. It is also worth mentioning that two other offensive linemen that would have an equally big impact on the program joined the team as walk-ons that season: Stephen Hamby and Rylan Reed.

WEAKNESS OF THE CLASS: Running Back. The Red Raiders signed three players in 2005 that began their careers at running back - Edward Britton, Kobey Lewis, Pete Richardson - and none of them turned out to belong-term options at the position. Britton was moved to wide receiver where he was moderately successful, Richardson transitioned to defensive back and Lewis was kicked off the team after the 2007 season. This was a pretty big need position at the time because Taurean Henderson was entering his final season of eligibility and no other running back on the roster had more than three career carries.