When they were recruits: Texas Tech Quarterbacks
The Texas Tech Football roster was recently updated, showing what is likely the 2020 version of the Red Raiders.
Today we take a look back at the recruitment of each recruit by position group, starting with the quarterbacks.
The recruitment: Tech quarterback recruiting was not going well heading into the 2018 class. In 2015, the staff failed to sign a signal caller after losing long time commit Jarrett Stidham to Baylor. In 2016, they landed Mr. Texas Football, Jett Duffey, but Duffey was suspended for a semester and in legal problems. In 2017 Tech signed Xavier Martin (later moved to WR and DB) and McLane Carter, who would start a handful of games but transfer to Rutgers for his senior year.
Tech made a total of eight quarterback offers in the class, including Alan Bowman. They tried for higher ranked recruits such as Adrian Martinez (Nebraska), Tanner Mordecai (Oklahoma) and Spencer Sanders (Oklahoma State) before finally landing Bowman following an unofficial summer visit.
The staff also made a late run at John Stephen Jones to be the second quarterback in the class, but he ended up going to Arkansas.
Ranking: Bowman was rated by Rivals as a 5.6 3-star recruit, the No. 97 prospect in Texas and the No. 29 Pro-Style quarterback in the country.
Notable offers: Cincinnati, Houston, Illinois, Ole Miss
Where he is now: Bowman won the backup QB job coming out of camp his freshman season, and after starter McLane Carter got hurt in the opening game he took over as the starter for good. The only thing that's held Bowman back are injuries, and he is coming off a season where he played in just three games.
Bowman is the favorite to start in 2020.
The recruitment: A native West Texan out of San Angelo, Maverick McIvor was always a guy who was highly thought-of by Red Raider fans. Kliff Kingsbury offered 4-star Grant Tisdale early in the process, but soon after zoned in on Jacob Zeno as his top target.
After several months of recruiting Zeno, he ended up choosing Baylor over the Red Raiders. It didn't take long for Kingsbury to make his next move, and he officially offered McIvor a few weeks later.
In June, McIvor pulled the trigger for the Red Raiders and remained solid until the coaching change. Maverick opened things up for a handful of days before re-committing to Texas Tech and the new coaching staff.
Ranking: McIvor was rated by Rivals as a 5.7 3-star recruit, the No. 56 prospect in Texas and the No. 14 Pro-Style quarterback in the country.
Notable offers: Arizona State, Iowa, Minnesota, Ole Miss, North Carolina, Rutgers, USC, Washington State
Where he is now: McIvor was likely going to be the backup quarterback in 2019, but a serious foot injury knocked him out for the season. That made it back-to-back years with no game action, as McIvor also missed his senior season with an injury.
He enters 2020 with a shot to compete for the starting job.
The recruitment: It surprised many Tech fans when the staff offered Donovan Smith as a quarterback in January, 2019. After all, he had been a wide receiver at Bishop Gorman (NV), and Tech already had a quarterback commitment in Wilson Long.
It was after the fact that many realized that Smith was running back coach DeAndre Smith's son, and that this coaching staff had seen Smith throw in multiple settings before.
After a Junior Day visit in February, Smith committed and remained solid throughout. He transferred to Frenship for his senior season in order to be closer to family and play quarterback. He definitely impressed, leading Frenship to a 7-4 record and a playoff birth.
Ranking: Smith was rated by Rivals as a 5.6 3-star recruit, the No. 87 prospect in Texas and the No. 25 Dual-Threat quarterback in the country.
Notable offers: Nevada, San Diego State, Utah State
Where he is now: Smith just enrolled with the rest of the freshman class this summer. He enters camp as the likely the number four quarterback, and ideally the guys in front of him stay healthy all year and he redshirts and develops.
The recruitment: Out of high school, Henry Colombi chose Matt Wells, David Yost and Utah State over Power 5 offers from Arkansas and Iowa State among others. After serving as Jordan Love's backup the last couple years, he entered the transfer portal this summer.
Less than a week later, Colombi was reunited with his former coaches at Texas Tech. What makes his commitment a huge win for the staff was the fact that he's coming as a walk-on, choosing Tech over multiple other scholarship offers.
Ranking: Colombi was rated by Rivals as a 5.6 3-star recruit and the No. 100 prospect in Florida.
Notable offers (HS): Arkansas, Iowa State
Where he is now: Colombi just arrived in Lubbock last week. What gives him a leg up is he should know the system, having played in it for two years. He's in the mix and will have a chance to win a role for himself.
The recruitment: Brylon Lawson-Young announced his intentions to transfer to Texas Tech as a walk-on on April 16. He played in high school football at Monterey and this is a return home for Lawson-Young after a season at Dodge City C.C.
Ranking: Lawson-Young was unrated by Rivals.
Notable offers: N/A
Where he is now: Lawson-Young is likely the fifth quarterback on the roster, and will provide depth at the position.