Texas Tech felt like home

Rivals100 offensive lineman Jack Anderson committed to Texas Tech on Monday night, giving the Red Raiders a major boost to their 2017 recruiting efforts.

The 6-foot-4, 275-pound prospect had already collected over 40 FBS offers from programs across the country, but the connection to Texas Tech and the coaching staff was already there for Anderson.

"When I looked at everything over and over, I just couldn't see myself playing anywhere else," Anderson said. "It seemed like everyone recruited me to go there. The hosts, the players, even the families of players. It wasn't just the coaching staff like it is with everyone else."

Anderson received his offer from Texas Tech in May of 2014 and began to build a strong relationship with offensive line coach Lee Hays.

"Coach Hays, that's my second father," Anderson said. "I cannot say enough about him, we are extremely close and I'm really looking forward to playing for him. He believes that I can play any position on the line, but I would like to be at offensive guard.

"Really all of the coaches at Texas Tech and I are close. Coach (Trey) Haverty says we are like brothers, same with coach (Eric) Morris and coach (Kevin) Curtis. I love them all."

Anderson shared more about the moment he realized that he was ready to make his decision and commit to the Red Raiders.

"I was there on my last visit and when I walked into the Tech locker room, got about 10 hugs from every offensive lineman, every quarterback and most of the defense," Anderson said. "It was probably about 20 different guys going out of their way to make me feel welcomed and it just feels like home there.

"It is considered early for a 2017 recruit to make a commitment and my parents did want me to wait, but they also knew it was weighing down on me and that I really wanted to choose Texas Tech. It feels great to have my decision made though, and now I cannot wait to build the best recruiting class that Tech has ever had in 2017."

With the decision and recruiting process weighing on him, Anderson admitted the call to Hays and Kliff Kingsbury last night took a big weight off of his shoulders.

"I called coach Hays and I was crying on the phone while sitting next to my mom," Anderson said. "He called coach Kingsbury, sent me a direct message and then I called Kliff. I didn't expect to be emotional when making my commitment, but the whole recruiting process with 40-plus offers and schools, coaches, reporters calling gets to be a lot. It was a very happy emotion."

Moving forward, Anderson is looking forward to becoming a recruiter for Texas Tech and wants to attract more talent to West Texas with him.

"I would tell any recruit to come visit Texas Tech with me," Anderson said. "See everything we have to offer, and how early playing time is huge there. I'm close with both Xavier (Martin) and Tyler (Castaneda) and we have talked a lot.

Anderson's commitment received national attention, and deservedly so for one of the top offensive lineman prospects in the nation, but his favorite part of the evening was getting to tell Hays about his decision to commit.

"My favorite part of the night?" Anderson said. "Probably when I told coach Hays, I had been waiting to do that for a while. But I really appreciate all of the support from the Texas Tech fans as well."

Ranked a four-star prospect by Rivals.com, Anderson is the top-ranked center in the nation, the No. 60 overall player in the latest Rivals100 and the No. 6 player in the Rivals.com Texas Initial Top 80 for the 2017 class.