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Eakin, 2,000-yard receiver on state champion, commits to Tech
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- Eakin, 2,000-yard receiver on state champion, commits to Tech
College football recruiting services paid little attention to Coy Eakin, much less gave him a state top-100 ranking. It's hard to imagine, though, that anyone on the recruiting lists had a better senior year than the Stephenville wide receiver.
Eakin caught 93 passes for 2,140 yards and 31 touchdowns, leading the Yellowjackets to the Class 4A Division I state championship with a 16-0 record. Stephenville capped the perfect season with a 38-21 title-game victory over Austin LBJ, during which Eakin caught nine passes for 187 yards and three touchdowns, ran for a TD and caused a fumble that led directly to another.
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Late Saturday, Eakin announced he's committed to Texas Tech. The 6-foot-3, 190-pound senior can make his pledge official during the national signing period that begins Wednesday.
Eakin has gotten scholarship offers from 15 mostly smaller programs. But Washington State, via offensive coordinator Eric Morris, offered him a scholarship right after Christmas, and TCU and Tech did so in the past week.
A bunch of non-power-five schools in the Lone Star state were hoping Eakin would slip to them. Abilene Christian, Incarnate Word, North Texas, Sam Houston State, Tarleton State, Texas A&M-Commerce and Texas State were among his suitors.
In addition to his pass-catching prowess, Eakin rushed for 213 yards and four touchdowns. He finished the season with 2,662 all-purpose yards.
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The Red Raiders signed 16 recruits during the December early signing period.
Tech hosted a junior day on Saturday, and Burleson Centennial safety Chapman Lewis subsequently announced his commitment to the Red Raiders.
Lewis, 6-1 and 170 pounds, helped his team go 5-7 this season and reach the area round of the Class 5A Division I playoffs, where the Spartans lost to Amarillo Tascosa. He is the seventh high-school junior to commit to Tech for the 2023 class.
Lewis was named co-defensive player of the year on the all-Johnson County team published by the Cleburne Times-Review. He was credited with 138 tackles, including 116 solo stops and 12 tackles for loss. He had two interceptions.
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"About midway through the year, we started calling 'Chap' our 'eraser,'" Centennial coach Kyle Geller told the Times-Review. "Things could go bad up in front of him and he just comes down and erases things. He's that kind of guy. We really ended up designing our entire defense around him so he's freed up to go make plays. When we did that, we became much much better as a defense.
"To me he's the all-around player: He has good ball skills, he can cover people and he'll come up and hit you and tackle well. As a safety, if you have those three qualities that's pretty hard to beat. Not to mention that he's extremely intelligent. People talk about football IQ and he has that."
Tech was the first school to offer Lewis a scholarship, according to recruiting services.
He made first-team all-District 4-5A Division I as a sophomore at the end of the 2020 season. At the time, Geller told the Cleburne Times-Review that Lewis was "going to be one of the best to come through here."
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"I wouldn't say that about every kid," Geller said, "but Chapman has my trust 100 percent. If I said that about some kids in the past, they might let that get to their head and maybe not work as hard or think they're above others. That's not Chap. I could say those things about Chap and it won't make a difference about him. That's the best thing about Chapman Lewis."
Texas Tech recruiting class
College football's traditional national signing period begins Wednesday and continues through Feb. 1. The following players are Texas Tech recruits for the 2022 class.
December signees: Bryson Donnell, 5-10, 204, RB, Tyler Lee; Tyler King, 5-10, 175, IR, Alief Taylor; Seth Martin, 6-3, 300, OG-C, Everman; Kaden Weatherby, 6-6, 295, OT, Centennial (Colo.) Eaglecrest; Sheridan Wilson, 6-5, 275, OT, Argyle; Joseph Adedire, 6-2, 250, DE, Mansfield Summit; Harvey Dyson, 6-3, 250, DE, Cedar Hill; Syncere Massey, 6-5, 290, DT, Cedar Hill; Trevon McAlpine, 6-3, 280, DT, Saraland, Ala.; Tavares "B.J." Elston, 6-0, 205, LB, Gulf Shores, Ala.; Ty Kana, 6-2, 225, LB, Katy; Ben Roberts, 6-3, 215, LB, Fort Worth Eaton; Maurion Horn, 6-0, 170, CB, Broken Arrow, Okla.; Jalon Peoples, 6-0, 175, CB, Cedar Hill; Hut Graham, 6-1, 175, S, Gunter; Landon Hullaby, 6-0, 195, S, Mansfield Timberview.
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Non-binding commitments: Coy Eakin, 6-3, 190, WR, Stephenville; Gavin Freeman, 5-9, 172, WR, Oklahoma City Heritage Hall; Erik Gray, 6-2, 280, C-OG, Amarillo.
Tech 2023 commitments
The following high-school juniors have made oral commitments to Texas Tech for the Red Raiders' 2023 class. Oral commitments are non-binding until a player signs a letter of intent.
Jake Strong, 6-2, 200, QB, Justin Northwest; Kaden Carr, 6-5, 300, OT, Amarillo; Daniel Sill, 6-5, 260, OT, College Station; Isaiah Crawford, 6-4, 210, OLB, Post; John Curry, 6-3, 187, ILB, Coronado; Chapman Lewis, 6-1, 170, S, Burleson Centennial; Calvin Simpson-Hunt, 6-0, 175, DB, Waxahachie.
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: College football: Coy Eakin, 2,000-yard receiver, commits to Texas Tech
