Well what a nice surprise this is. Carlos Strickland decided to commit after visiting TCU this weekend, but he didn't commit to the victor. Skyline HS twitter announced that Carlos Strickland decided to stay a Raider at the next level, becoming Tech's 12th commitment. He becomes the 2nd receiver in the 2015 class and the 5th (yes, 5th) blue chip recruit. Here is my analysis of Carlos Strickland from back in January:

Carlos Strickland - Wide Receiver (Skyline HS, Dallas, TX) Height Weight 40 time Shuttle Vertical Power Throw SPARQ 6'5" 200 lbs 4.54 4.28 28.7" 31' 79.14 Ratings: 90 by 247 / 82 by ESPN / 5.9 by Rivals Interest: LSU (Warm), Texas Tech (Warm), Oklahoma State (Warm), TCU (Warm) There isn't a lot of info out there on Strickland, but a story on LSU's 247 behind a paywall suggest that he is very interested in them. My guess is that somewhere in the article he mentions Tech, TCU and Okie Lite because they are all above everyone else on 247. Anyway, it is not clear who the lead pack is, but I feel like Tech has a good chance at him. He was teammates with Tech commit Derrick Dixon, TCU commit Ty Barrett and Ole Miss commit Victor Evans in high school, and two of those teams in ahead according to 247. We'll see where Strickland decides to go camp this upcoming spring and summer. Let's go into his film. As you can probably guess, Strickland was a big red zone target for Skyline. There a several red zone plays in his highlights, including a few a few corner fade routes where Strickland just simply jumps above the defenders, one being an impressive one handed catch. He also is a good route runner, not having an explosive step, but not revealing what he's going to do until the last moment. He's a big guy with big legs, so if he can make his stride reach full potential, maybe he can get faster. He reminds me a lot of Darrin Moore (MacArthur High School Alum!) for Tech two years ago, with not elite speed, but tall enough and good enough route running to have great stats. This could be the tall receiver that Tech decides to grab this class, and hopefully so.

I was personally so excited about getting this guy. He's someone I've looked at early on in the process and felt he was a can't miss prospect. Tech first offered Carlos Strickland back in September 28th, 2013, one of the first schools to offer Strickland. Since then, Texas Tech (more specifically Eric Morris) has been recruiting him incredibly hard. In fact, everytime Strickland mentioned his top schools or who was recruiting him the hardest, Texas Tech was always mentioned. Just this past month, Kingsbury and Eric Morris visited Skyline for one of his games and convinced Strickland to visit for the West Virginia game. He planned officials to UCLA, TTU, Cal and TCU (for the Tech game), but ended up choosing the Red Raiders in the end. You have to believe a big reason why is because of the atmosphere we had (compared to schools like TCU). Despite our 3-3 record, we had a bunch of fans show up, students were loud and rowdy, and they showed why Texas Tech is the best damn school to play at. So give yourself a pat on the back. Hard work and relentless pursuit by the coaching staff helped Texas Tech land one of the best players in the country.

Here is a review of Carlos Strickland's game. The first thing we all noticed about Strickland is the height he brings. He has a big body at 6'5" and uses his 29" vertical to locate the ball high in the air and bring it down. He's jumping over receivers and catching the ball where only he can get it. Not only that, but Strickland is pretty fast for his size. He runs a 4.54 40 time and can be used on verticals and screens if needed. So you can't just have someone tall guard him, they'll have to be able to keep up with him too. Finally, he has pretty good hands. There was one catch I remember where he caught the ball one handed in the back of the endzone. Another time he high pointed the ball and caught it while being covered up by the CB. Unless you have a tall, fast CB, I don't see a scenario where you put a single CB on him and get away with it. Strickland is a star waiting to happen.

First Texas Tech got a 4-star Power Back, then they shocked the world by grabbing a 5-star QB, followed by adding two of the Top O-linemen in the Class. Now finally they add they 4-star WR that everyone and their mom wanted. If you just look at the offense in this class alone, it already looks deadly. Not only that, but you could add the #2 WR in the nation with Tyron Johnson (who is visiting again soon), an offensive guard with Semisi Uluave and a speedster in DeDe Westbrook. There's still a lot a good prospects on the board that Tech could get. Tech is getting the right recruits for the system Kingsbury wants to form for maybe the best offense in Tech history and possibly the best offense in the nation. Obviously we won't know what happens until they hit the field, but Texas Tech definitely has the personnel to do so. No doubt in my mind.

Maybe with Strickland committed, he could teammate Kylan Johnson to commit, who plans to play safety at the next level. Another player we could see Strickland help recruit are Tyron Johnson and AD Miller, whom both visited when Strickland did. The potential for this class on the offensive and defensive side is unbelievable, and still a ways from being complete. As of right now, Tech has the 26th ranked class with only 12 commitments. Crazy right. We weren't lying when we said Tech could very well get a Top 25 class. We're only getting started!!!

Wreck'em Carlos Strickland!!!