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Texas Tech targets show out at Rivals Camp Dallas

2024 Del City DL David Stone holds a Texas Tech offer
2024 Del City DL David Stone holds a Texas Tech offer (Ben Golan/RedRaiderSports.com)

The annual Rivals Camp in Dallas returned on Sunday for the first time in two years after last year's COVID pause.

Several top rated recruits, some Texas Tech targets and a bunch of West Texas products made the trip to Coppell high school to come compete.

RedRaiderSports was on hand, and we highlight some of our top performers below.

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Ranked as a four star guard, Harris Sewell was one of the top lineman in attendance and it's easy to see why he's ranked where he is, and why he holds the offers that he does. Sewell plays nasty and put several defensive lineman on their backs during the camp.

For his efforts he was invited to the Rivals 5-star challenge later this summer.

Texas Tech offered back on February 3rd and Sewell has remained in contact with the Tech coaches.

Thoughts on the camp: "I thought it was really good, I love going against some of these bigger, better guys that I normally don't get to see."

Earning the 5-star invite: "It's pretty cool just to come out here and get one of the awards. I've never gotten an award before so that's pretty cool."

Texas Tech coaches: "Coach (Sonny) Cumbie is really cool, he's from West Texas so he's just like me, he grew up an hour away from where I live."

Visit plans: "Yes sir, my mom is from Lubbock and my grandparents live there so I'm probably gonna go down there and stay the weekend pretty soon."

Offseason plans: "I did shot put but that just finished so now I'm focused on getting stronger and better. We have spring ball in two weeks."

One of the newest Tech offers, Cameron East made the long trip from New Orleans to the DFW area. He holds 13 offers and is every bit of 6-foot-7.

East mentioned Tech as one of the schools standing out the most to him.

Goals for the camp: "I want to win every rep and win the day."

Tech offer: "I talk to coach (Kevin) Cosgrove, our relationship is pretty good."

Potentially going out of state for school: "I'm open to looking anywhere, anywhere is fine. Right now Arkansas, Mississippi State, Virginia, Houston and Texas Tech are the schools I'm talking to the most."

Visit plans: "I don't have any visits set yet but I want to see are Arkansas and Mississippi State definitely."

Commitment plans: "I'm still keeping it open for now. I want to be committed before my senior season."

What his schools needs to do to accomplish senior year goals: "I have to get our team together, we have to build that bond together because we want to win a state championship."

Isaiah Kema is one of the few 2023 prospects who already holds an offer from Texas Tech. It doesn't hurt the Red Raiders' chances that his dad, Troy Kema, is on the football staff as Associate A.D. for Player Development & Student-Athlete Services.

Kema was impressive on the day, displaying good power and physicality as a guard and showing why he is nearing double digit offers entering the summer into his junior season.

He was also in town for a wrestling competition, which translates to the football field and to the trenches.

Goals at the camp: "I just want to show how I can compete with others and show out. It's nice to have other people at my same level of expertise and skill, so it's nice to see that and to compete against them will be really good to see."

Wrestling: "It was good, I got 3rd place and I'm going to regionals next week."

Overall recruitment: "It's been really good. Just to be able to look at my options as a sophomore, and from here out to have my options open is good."

Virtual visits: "I haven't been able to take any yet. As a sophomore there are a lot of restrictions and everything, I can call coaches but they can't call me. It's good though."

Visit plans: "Texas State wanted me to go up to there and see me in person. I also want to check out Texas Tech just being so close to home."

Spring football: "Just getting better honestly. We've been practicing a lot in the mornings. With spring football, we're gonna be starting with helmets this week and the spring game is coming up so just getting better and working on my craft."

Another Frenship lineman who made the trip was Karson Jones. Jones is a lengthy 2022 prospect who holds a couple offers so far from Kansas and New Mexico, but should add to that this offseason.

Texas Tech and OL coach Steve Farmer have been in weekly contact and, despite not being allowed to talk to coaches, Jones plans to be in the stands for Saturday's spring game.

The RedRaiderSports team will follow up with Jones following the spring game to get his thoughts.

One of Tech's top defensive back targets in the 2022 class is Andress' Jeremiah Cooper. Cooper holds over 20 offers so far and is also a top priority for Big 12 rivals Baylor and Iowa State among others. This is a key recruiting battle that Matt Wells and staff need to start winning more of to get Texas Tech football turned around.

Cooper is the younger brother of former Arizona safety Tristan Cooper.

Camp goals: "Just to ball out, show that I can ball out too. I'm in the Dallas area, I'm from El Paso and a lot of people probably think El Paso ball is not the same here in Texas. I just gotta ball out and do what I gotta do."

Texas Tech offer: "It means a lot. It's a great program, I love the coaches over there. It's only about five hours from home so it wouldn't be hard for my parents to come see me. That's a good offer for me, I've always liked Texas Tech and I've always been a fan so it means a lot."

Tech coaches: "I talk to coach (Julian) Wilson, I talk to the head coach, I talk to a lot of recruiters so I got a good relationship with them. I'm looking to get down there this summer."

Schools hearing from the most: "I got Texas Tech up there, Baylor, Syracuse, Iowa State, Arizona. Pretty good amount."

Visits set: "I got Iowa State and Baylor official visits right now, locked in for June. With Texas Tech I'm still looking at dates but I'm up gonna visit for sure."

Recruitment timeline: "Once June hits I really wanna have at least my top 10. I want to take my five visits to where I really feel like I wanna go, and we'll see from there. Once I take those visits if I feel comfortable then I could definitely make my decision."

Both of these Del City products hold Tech offers and are underclassmen to keep an eye on. Tech recruited Del City linebacker Donovan Stephens hard in 2021, but missed out to the nearby Cowboys.

David Stone is a massive prospect just about to enter his sophomore year. He had a great day and promptly picked up an offer from Oklahoma State right after the camp ended. In addition, he holds offers from Texas Tech, Memphis and Iowa State early on.

Kanijal Thomas picked up his Tech offer back in June 2020. He has the exact same offer list as Stone: Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Iowa State and Memphis.

Both of these prospects will be household names soon enough.

We've written about Curtis before and the same things held true at Rivals Camp on Sunday.

Curtis' motor, effort, speed and ability continually give offensive lineman problems. Curtis is up to 12 offers so far, including a recent Power 5 in Arizona.

Because this is a Texas Tech site, I will continue to repeat that Curtis is the grandson of Tech legend and former Green Bay Packers 1st round pick Donny Anderson.

Braxton Myers was at John Paul II but recently made the move to Coppell.

He's a 2023 prospect with several top offers already in his pocket: LSU, Oklahoma State, Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Michigan just to name a few.

No Tech offer yet but it's never too late, and he's been followed on social media by several members of the coaching staff including secondary coach Derek Jones.

McClellan is a longtime Texas Tech target and has always had great things to say about the Red Raiders, but his recruitment has really taken off over the past month and he addressed some of that in our conversation.

"I'm here to win the day. I don't want to let anyone beat me or look better than me in drills. I want to be first in line and all of that today."

The standout defender won the DL MVP and earned an invite to the Rivals Five-Star Challenge yesterday.

On the new offers and recruiting interest over the past month...

"It has been surreal, getting offers like LSU and Ohio State and Auburn and Oklahoma, the high caliber schools like that. I'm just enjoying the recruiting process and have talked with my parents about cutting down my list later this summer. I don't want to keep others from getting those offers, but I will keep learning more about each school and then go from there."

Texas Tech...

"The coaches have been trying to get me down there for a visit, and I'm going to use an unofficial visit to go down there because it is closer to home. I will use my official visits for schools that are further away."

Opinion/Translation...it might be time to find another target at this position

Patton took a few minutes to update us on his overall recruitment before Rivals Camp yesterday.

"I have three (3) visits setup so far for this summer. I have official visits setup with Baylor, Oklahoma State and Texas Tech. I'm going to Lubbock the last week of June. I want to take these visits, see the campuses and learn more about each program. I want to be around each coaching staff, see the vibes around the program because I will be there for the next four years."

Overall timeline...

"I'm narrowing things down later this summer, then I would like to commit before my senior season."

Communication with TTU coaches...

"Man, the whole staff really. I will get a call from one coach, then I end up talking with several other coaches and I love it. Coach (Kevin) Cosgrove and I probably talk the most, and he wants me to play linebacker. He believes that he can help develop me into the player and person he sees in me."

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