Wallace has great relationship with Tech staff
National Signing Day for the class of 2015 is exactly one month away, and much of the recruiting attention has been aimed towards who the Texas Tech coaches will add throughout the month of January.
They were able to add another piece to the 2016 class on Sunday night, however, as DeSoto (Texas) 2016 athlete Tristen Wallace committed to Texas Tech. The DFW prospect received an offer from Texas Tech in late November and he noted that head coach Kliff Kingsbury was a big reason for pulling the trigger.
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"Coach Kingsbury and I have been talking a lot and we have a good connection," Wallace said. "He told me that I'm talented enough to go play anything, any position."
Being that he could play quite a few different positions, the Red Raiders are taking Wallace as an athlete, despite the fact that he's playing quarterback at DeSoto right now. He feels he'll ultimately end up as a pass catcher at Tech, and that's just fine in the big ATH's eyes.
"Ultimately, I'm going to play wide receiver for Texas Tech. I play quarterback now, but coming into DeSoto I played wide receiver and ended up playing quarterback. I have always been an athlete and coach Kingsbury believes that I can help in a number of ways in their offense."
With nearly 14 months left until National Signing Day in 2016, what made Wallace decide to commit so early on?
"It was a number of things," he said. "Coach Kingsbury and Coach Morris are both great coaches and we have a great relationship. I just wanted to get it out of the way too."
He's also honestly just ready to be done with recruiting and get ready for his senior season.
"There is a lot of pressure and attention with the recruiting process. I wanted to focus on school and planning for next season. Now I'm one step closer to my ultimate goal of playing college football."
The six-foot-three, 220-pounder also had another important connection to the Texas Tech football program that helped in his decision.
"I also have family that graduated from and played football at Texas Tech," Wallace said. "Trent and Brent Nickerson are my cousins. They told me a lot about the school, the people in Lubbock, what it is like being a student athlete at Texas Tech and how it is just a great environment out there."
"Having that family connection and talking with them about their experiences at Tech made me feel more comfortable about my decision to commit."
Wallace is currently ranked as the number 14 overall dual-threat quarterback prospect and the number 36 prospect in the Rivals Postseason Top 85 for the state of Texas in 2016.
He chose the Red Raiders over offers from Nebraska, Ohio State, Indiana, SMU and UCLA.