How Texas Tech landed 5-star WR Micah Hudson and what it will take to keep him

Although Texas Tech is still searching for its first on-field victory in 2023, the Red Raiders notched a huge recruiting win on Monday by landing a commitment from five-star receiver Micah Hudson.

Hudson, the No. 2 receiver in the 2024 class and the ninth-best prospect in the country according to the 247Sports Composite, would be the first five-star recruit to join the Red Raiders in the internet recruiting rankings era if he sticks to his pledge and signs in December.

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Considering Hudson’s offer list, which included name-brand programs like Alabama, Ohio State, Notre Dame and LSU — as well as prominent in-state programs Texas and Texas A&M — winning Hudson’s commitment is a coup for coach Joey McGuire and his staff.

How did the Red Raiders pull it off? By leaning on a key relationship, a staff-wide recruiting effort and a low-pressure approach.

Hudson’s path to West Texas began in Waco. That’s where Brian Nance first watched Hudson’s film and became a believer.

Nance, who’s now Texas Tech’s director of scouting, had long been aware of Hudson. In 2017, the final year of Nance’s playing career as a defensive end at Baylor, he occasionally helped youth coaches in the Central Texas area. Hudson was a multi-talented pass rusher on one of the 12-and-under teams Nance assisted.

Nobody, not even Nance, knew then what Hudson would become. But he noticed how gifted the middle schooler was. When Lake Belton High opened in the fall of 2020, Hudson dazzled as a freshman.

After one year of junior varsity tape (the school had only freshmen and sophomores upon opening and played a sub-varsity schedule), colleges weren’t rushing to offer Hudson. But Nance, who was hired to Baylor’s support staff in 2019, bugged James Blanchard — then Baylor’s assistant athletic director for scouting — to offer him. He called the offensive coaches, pushing them to watch Hudson’s film.

The persistence paid off. On June 28, 2021, shortly after Hudson’s freshman year ended, Baylor offered, just a day after his first offer arrived from UTSA and the same day Pitt became his second offer.

“Coach Nance reached out to me during the summer and extended the offer from Baylor,” Hudson told 247Sports in September 2021. “It really meant a lot to me and let me know that my hard work is paying off and that I need to keep working hard to become successful.”

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His next Power 5 offer came on Nov. 22, 2021 from Texas Tech and McGuire, who had just left Baylor two weeks prior to take the Tech job. McGuire’s director of player personnel and first hire at Texas Tech? Blanchard, whom Nance had initially pushed to offer Hudson.

TCU offered Hudson less than two weeks after Texas Tech. Texas joined the fray in January 2022. Ohio State, Oregon, Texas A&M, Michigan State and Ole Miss followed. Alabama, LSU and Notre Dame later jumped in the race. By spring of his sophomore year, Hudson had earned five-star status in the 247Sports Composite.

Hudson has played four sports at Lake Belton. In addition to football, he was an all-district guard in basketball, ran a leg on the Broncos’ 800-meter relay squad (which placed third at the state meet) and played goalkeeper for the soccer team.

“He’s the best player I’ve ever had the opportunity to coach,” Lake Belton football coach Brian Cope said.

With Sonny Cumbie serving as Texas Tech’s interim coach through the end of the 2021 season, McGuire, Blanchard and director of scouting Cody Bellaire were able to hole up in an office inside Jones AT&T Stadium and focus mostly on recruiting upon their arrival. Offers started going out rapidly to 2022, 2023 and 2024 prospects. One of them was to Hudson, though he didn’t reciprocate much interest at first.

That changed the following spring. Bellaire left Texas Tech in April 2022 to join On3 as a scouting and rankings assistant. His successor? Nance, Hudson’s champion at Baylor.

Two weeks after Nance’s hiring was announced, Hudson made an unofficial visit to Texas Tech. Hudson watched a spring practice, took photos, met with McGuire and others.

But it was clear with whom his strongest connection was.

“At Texas Tech I talk to Coach Nance,” he told RedRaiderSports.com after the April visit. “I built up a great relationship with him when he was at Baylor and we usually talk at least twice a week. I can trust him and he can trust me, so I think that’s a good relationship.”

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Tech was legitimately in the picture, but so were plenty of others. One school Hudson made several visits to in 2022: Texas. He visited the Forty Acres in June, then went to Austin for the Alabama and West Virginia games in September. It was clear the Longhorns were making an impression.

As Hudson’s profile rose and schools tried to woo him, those who knew him knew what he’d value most in the recruiting process: relationships.

“He’s not really worried about all that other stuff,” Cope said. “Who’s gonna be authentic, not generic? He just wants to know how much you care.”

#REALationships

— 🥷 Brian Nance 🌵 (@BnanceTTU) September 12, 2023

Nance, who was named Tech’s director of player personnel in August — Blanchard was elevated to general manager last month — has been Texas Tech’s ace-in-the-hole in the recruitment. But the pursuit of Hudson turned into a staff-wide effort.

When Hudson took his official visit to Texas Tech on June 16, the Red Raiders tried to make his experience as normal as the other recruits’ visits. Cope said Hudson “isn’t into the limelight. He just wants to show up and go to work.”

Friday of a typical Texas Tech official visit includes lunch (they took Hudson to Dirk’s Chicken for chicken tenders and steak tenders), presentations from McGuire and athletic director Kirby Hocutt, a campus tour, positional meetings with coaches, a scavenger hunt and dinner at Evie Mae’s Pit Barbecue in Wolfforth, Texas, a Texas Monthly magazine top-10 barbecue joint in the state.

Saturdays include other standard official visit fare: panels with current Texas Tech players, presentations on academics, nutrition and name, image and likeness. But the main event that day is at McGuire’s home, where recruits and their families can swim in his pool, play video games and socialize with each other and Tech staff members.

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On Sunday, recruits have breakfast and a one-on-one meeting with McGuire before departing.

Over time, Hudson has built a bond with current Tech players, including receivers Jerand Bradley, Myles Price, offensive lineman Caleb Rogers, defensive backs Rayshad Williams and Malik Dunlap, as well as several members of Tech’s 2023 signing class.

Those close to the recruitment contend that NIL hasn’t been a primary topic of conversation for Hudson. But Tech has a structure in place to compete on that front. Texas Tech currently has a team-wide NIL setup, funded by the Matador Club, the exclusive collective for Texas Tech athletics. Last year, the collective offered $25,000 annual, renewable NIL deals to 105 football players. The program expanded this year to 120 players, to include a total of 35 walk-ons. Tech athletics, with the backing of wealthy boosters, doesn’t lack for resources, and has invested heavily in infrastructure and NIL.

There’s also a familial connection. Hudson’s father, Desmond Royal, was a defensive lineman at Texas Tech from 1985 to ’88.

Receivers coach Justin Johnson, nicknamed “Juice,” played in an Air Raid offense at Houston at the same position Hudson likely will. That experience is invaluable, as Johnson can hone in on the finer points of playing in the system, but the pair have connected on a personal level, too.

Coordinator Zach Kittley provided Hudson a clear vision of how he would fit into his offense. Hudson’s body control, route-running ability, instincts in space, speed and build all point toward a future star and centerpiece of the Texas Tech attack. Whether it’s with Behren Morton — the Tech sophomore is the highest-ranked quarterback recruit the program has ever signed — or Will Hammond, a 2024 four-star prospect and Elite 11 Finalist who committed in December, Hudson could be part of a dynamic duo.

And the affable McGuire has taken a hands-on approach, as he consistently does in recruiting. Speculation intensified following Hudson’s July official visit that a commitment was imminent, and the staff anticipated one on the heels of his trip to Lubbock. Months went by before it came.

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McGuire maintained constant contact with Hudson and never wavered in his confidence that the Red Raiders would land him.

Now comes the bigger challenge for Tech: playing defense for the next three months.

The early signing period begins on Dec. 21, and just because the Red Raiders secured Hudson’s commitment in September doesn’t mean that other programs are going to back off. Typically, battles for five-star recruits aren’t a done deal until a letter of intent is signed.

Tech’s approach will be to keep doing what it has been: maintaining communication with Hudson and strengthening the personal bond without pressuring him.

Conventional wisdom suggested that the team’s 0-2 start, with losses to Wyoming and Oregon to open the season, cracked the door open for other contenders. But the fact that he committed after those setbacks lends credence to the staff’s optimism that it will close on him.

If Hudson officially signs in December, the Red Raiders are free to dream of heights not reached since the Michael Crabtree era.

(Photo courtesy of Lake Belton High School)

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