Killeen (TX) Shoemaker safety Malik Esquerra has set his commitment date and the Red Raiders are sitting pretty.

On Saturday, July 15th, the 6-foot-3, 185 pound Esquerra plans to reveal his college decision. The schools in the mix, which he took official visits to in June, are Nebraska, Oklahoma State, Oregon State, TCU and Texas Tech, though in his head Esquerra's narrowed it down even further than that.

Esquerra visited Texas Tech the weekend of June 16-18, and his recruitment to Lubbock is being led by Director of Player Personnel James Blanchard, Secondary coach Marcel Yates and Head coach Joey McGuire.

What you need to know...

... The Red Raiders were Esquerra's first offer back on April 27. He now holds eight total offers.

...As a junior, he was named to the All-District 4-5A first-team as a safety after finishing the season with 68 tackles, four interceptions, and one forced fumble.

...Esquerra also competes in track and field, running the 110-meter hurdles, 300-meter hurdles, and the 4x400 meter relay. At the UIL Regional 3-5A track meet, he set a personal record in the 300 meter hurdles with a time of 38.60.

What stood out from his Texas Tech official visit: "CJ Baskerville was my player host. (What stood out) was definitely the relationships I made with the players. I know when I went on that visit I met the most amount of players there than I did at any other school. I met pretty much the whole defensive back room, even positions that I don't even interact with mostly like offensive line. Just a lot of the players there that I didn't get to do at other schools. So I would say my relationships with the players.

Whenever I was on the visit they helped me apply things to game situations. When we would go out we were talking and they were introducing me, including me in the conversations and stuff, making me feel a part of the family."

Relationship with coach James Blanchard: "He's a real cool guy, I can say that. I met him before, I stopped by one of their camps earlier in May. One of my teammates went to a camp so my coaches made me tag along with him just to go see and meet the coaches. But he's a real cool guy, he stood by his word. He told me that I could be something at Texas Tech and when I got there he showed me all the possibilities there are and what they're building at Tech. The same thing over the phone was the same thing in real life."