As spring workouts begin, we’re looking ahead to the fall by selecting one newcomer on each Big 12 roster most likely to create excitement when he gets to work.
This is not necessarily the best recruit or transfer or the most impactful; rather, it’s the guy who demands your attention when he’s on the field.
The series continues today with Texas Tech.
Most exciting newcomer: OL Jack Anderson
Loyalty is an exceedingly rare thing these days in recruiting, and the kind of loyalty Jack Anderson showed Texas Tech during his recruitment is even rarer.
He was one of the top prospects in Texas, the No. 52 overall player in the ESPN 300. He reeled in more than 40 offers and could’ve gone anywhere. He checked out a few of them early on in his recruitment. Nobody wowed him quite like Texas Tech.
It was his dream school, his grand plan all along, and he committed early to the Red Raiders in October of 2015. And then he stayed firmly committed to Texas Tech the rest of the way and showed up in Lubbock this winter.
The elite recruits almost never act like that anymore, but Anderson is different. The Under Armour All-American knew all along that Texas Tech, the school his father and his sister attended, was home. And he has a chance to be a big man on campus right away.
Anderson is a 6-foot-5, 300-pound mauler with the potential to play any spot on an offensive line. By getting to school a semester early, he’ll get a prime opportunity to prove he’s ready to play right away this spring. Where he ends up on that line will be interesting to watch, no doubt, especially since the Red Raiders need help up front.
Anderson, his Frisco High teammate Dawson Deaton and fellow newcomers Will Farrar and Jacob Hines can immediately help fortify an offensive line that did not meet expectations in 2016.
“We struggled last year up front. That wasn’t hard to see,” Texas Tech coach Kliff Kingsbury said on signing day. “These guys are going to get thrown right in there and see if they can get it done.”
When new Red Raiders offensive line coach Brandon Jones gets Anderson all caught up and playing up to his potential, the Big 12 better watch out.
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