What It Means: Louisiana cornerback Macho Stevenson commits to Texas Tech
The Texas Tech staff has done it again, landing another high-priority target to the 2023 recruiting class.
Captain Shreve (LA) cornerback Macho Stevenson announced his decision to commit to the Red Raiders after returning home from his official visit over the weekend.
Stevenson held six other offers at the time of his commitment, those being Austin Peay, Grambling State, Indiana, Mississippi State, New Mexico State and Sam Houston State.
In Stevenson Texas Tech gets a very athletic prospect who plays both wide receiver and in the secondary for his high school. As a junior Stevenson was named to the District 1-5A All-District offensive second team after catching nine passes for 262 yards and five touchdowns. He also added 152 kick return yards. However, Texas Tech is recruiting Stevenson as a cornerback.
A Louisiana state champion and All-American in track, Stevenson has been timed at a 10.59 100 meter, 21.09 200 meter and 46.85 400 meter. He also competes in the 4x100 relay, where he's teammates with 2024 Texas Tech target Krosse Johnson.
Texas Tech is betting on Stevenson's athletic traits here, which is how they've gone about building this class. In a recent interview with The Athletic, Texas Tech Director of Player Personnel James Blanchard said the staff is looking for the following when recruiting a prospective student athlete...
"If he has the movement and the athletic traits, then we can teach him to be a good football player,” Blanchard said. “There’s no ceiling on how much football I can teach him. But there is a ceiling on athletic talent. Me and you are never gonna run a 4.3 in the 40.
“He’s already a freak. Let’s make him into a football player.
A lot of people start the (evaluation) process looking at film,” Blanchard said. “I start the process looking at track times.”
Note: those quotes were not about Stevenson or any specific recruit
Stevenson becomes the second 2023 Texas Tech commit from the state of Louisiana, joining Natchitoches Central defensive tackle Tre'Darius Brown. The only other out-of-state commit so far is Byrnes, South Carolina linebacker Miquel Dingle Jr.
Overall Stevenson the 22nd commit of the 2023 class and fifth defensive back, joining Calvin Simpson-Hunt (corner), Brenden Jordan (safety), Chapman Lewis (safety) and Jmaury Davis (safety). Marcus Ramon-Edwards is also a hybrid safety/outside linebacker type.
It is unclear if Texas Tech is done in the secondary or still looking to add following the addition of Stevenson.
Timberview four-star safety Jordan Sanford took his official visit to Texas Tech last week, and had really good things to say about his interest in the Red Raiders. Other schools in the mix for Sanford include SMU, TCU, Utah, Vanderbilt, Michigan, Washington, Northwestern and Oklahoma State.
Brazosport's Randon Fontenette took his official visit to Texas Tech earlier in June, and said the Red Raiders are "at the top" of his recruitment. On Sunday evening Fontenette released his top three which included Texas Tech, Vanderbilt and Utah. He also officially visited Boise State.
Both Sanford and Fontenette are expected to make commitment decisions in the coming weeks.