[rl] Texas Tech is one of those programs that feel if the coaches can get a recruit to their West Texas campus, they have a good shot at getting him to commit.

Last weekend, they found out just how tough a task that can be.

Houston (Texas) Bellaire wide receiver Devin Lauderdale - a Texas Tech commit - and three other Houston-area players were planning on making the roughly 550-mile drive to Lubbock, Texas, to take in the school's Spring Game.

But they never got there.

The never even got, in fact, to West Texas.

"(We) didn't use a GPS, and we didn't even know we were going the wrong way," Lauderdale said. "So we were driving (and we ended up) in East Texas."

The group didn't realize their mistake until they found themselves in Nacodoches, Texas - which was roughly 100 miles east of I-45, the road they should have been on, and still more than 500 miles from their destination.

The players, in fact, were roughly an hour away from the Louisiana border. Texas Tech, meanwhile, is roughly an hour away from the New Mexico border.

The foursome - which also included Houston (Texas) Sharpstown inside linebacker Reggie Chevis , Manvel (Texas) cornerback and fellow Tech commit Tavares Garner , and Houston (Texas) Yates running back Arthur Lockett - decided to turn around and head home after they discovered they had, shall we say, run the wrong route.

Texas Tech officials are not allowed to comment on recruits before National Signing Day. But they remain confident they will be able to find their way around the football field, even if roadways have proven to be a little difficult to navigate.

Click Here to view this Link.And they are still interested in all four players - though likely happy that Letters of Intent can be faxed instead of hand delivered.

Lauderdale, good spirited about the mishap, remains confident in his commitment to Texas Tech. And confident in his ability to find the campus.

"We're (still going to) go down there this spring," he said.

And presumably, next fall - provided he can find the way.