Texas Tech lands commitment from defensive end Tony Bradford Jr.
2019 three-star outside linebacker Tony Bradford Jr. of North Shore Senior High School announced his commitment this afternoon.
He joins his teammate Keeyon Stewart as North Shore players who committed to Texas Tech within the past two weeks.
Bradford gave credit to the Texas Tech coaches and Lubbock for making him feel at home.
“The coaches down there made it a little easier to decide,” he said. “But, I mean, everyone down there in Lubbock, Texas, is friendly. I heard people say, ‘there’s nothing down there,’ ‘it’s dry and just about cotton,’ but it’s not. It’s just a nice place that not everyone thinks about. It’s a nice little city. When I went down there for my official visit, people asked me about myself, how I was doing, about football. They wanted to get to know me.”
All the coaches down there are just perfect. From the offensive coaches, defensive coaches, special teams; they’re about it. They’re just great men. I can see myself doing great things at Tech.”
Bradford mentioned that defensive coordinator David Gibbs and linebacker coach Zac Spavital as the two main coaches who stuck with him. Here’s what he said about the two.
“Coach Gibbs and coach Spavital – those two. I love coach Gibbs’ energy. He’s not a big man but he’s going to give it to you when he needs to. He’s urgent and gets the job done. He handles his business. When I was down there he made sure I had everything. He put me first. That made me feel real special.
Coach Spav is just a nice guy. He’s someone you can talk to and overall he’s loyal to Texas Tech and knows the game. I can see them two being down there forever. That’s another reason why I’m excited about this.”
As for his position, Bradford said he’s making a transition to outside linebacker. This is something that’ll be new for him as he’s utilized as a rush end in high school at the moment.
However, the coaches told him he’ll be used in multiple blitz packages to get to opposing quarterbacks – which is making him eager to arrive, especially to play against a rival school.
“I’ll basically be an outside linebacker,” he said. “It’ll be new to me because I just played straight defensive line in high school. They said there will be times when I go down and rush. That makes me excited. It makes me want to go play down there right now, actually. It’s always been my dream to go Power Five. I never did like Texas – the University of Texas – so I’ve always wanted to beat them and I think Texas Tech can continue to beat them everywhere.”
Bradford visited Texas Tech the weekend of June 8. His mother accompanied him and that’s the moment in time where being a Red Raider became a reality for him and his family.
“Me and my mom went for the visit,” Bradford said. “We honestly fell in love with everything there. We didn’t honestly think it would be as good as it was. It was amazing. When I went down there, my whole mindset changed about Texas Tech and I’m excited.”
Bradford holds offers from Power Five schools Arizona, Purdue, Syracuse and Washington State. He’s listed as 6’1”, 243 pounds.