College football recruiting: Top 2027 commits in the Big 12
· Yahoo Sports
The Big 12 can often be chaotic on the gridiron, but there’s zero question surrounding who the top school in the league is on the recruiting trail.
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Texas Tech continues to recruit like a blue blood in the 2027 cycle. The Red Raiders now have the No. 9 class in the nation, according to the Rivals Industry Team Recruiting Rankings. They are the only Big 12 team that currently totes a top-30 class.
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Looking at the Rivals Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all major recruiting media companies, a majority of the top-ranked Big 12 commits are locked in with the Red Raiders. Only one top-100 prospect is committed to a different Big 12 program.
Rivals breaks down the top commits in the conference, as of July 10:
Five-Star Plus+ DL Jalen Brewster — Texas Tech
Rivals Industry Ranking: No. 1 NATL.
School: Cedar Hill (Texas)
Committed Since: Oct. 4, 2025
The nation’s No. 1 prospect made an early commitment to Joey McGuire and the Red Raiders during his junior season. Brewster remains in the mix for Texas Tech ahead of his senior campaign, but his recruitment is still not over.
LSU is the program still working extremely hard to flip Brewster from TTU, and the Tigers have garnered some momentum — Rivals’ Sam Spiegelman has more on that here. Regardless, McGuire and Co. won’t be keen on letting him leave the Lone Star State.
“Right now we’re still committed to Tech,” Brewster’s father Robert told Rivals earlier this month. “Right now we’re focused on rehabbing and getting back and working out and getting ready for the season. That’s all we’re focused on right now.”
All eyes will be on the Brewster camp heading into the fall. For now, he’s still atop the TTU haul.
5-star EDGE Anthony Sweeney — Texas Tech
Rivals Industry Ranking: No. 14 NATL. (No. 2 EDGE)
School: St. Frances Academy (Md.)
Committed Since: April 13
Sweeney is a prime example of Texas Tech’s new recruiting pull. The No. 1 recruit in Maryland chose the Big 12 program after taking a spring trip to Lubbock, despite having plenty other powerhouse schools knocking on the door.
“The people were real,” Sweeney told Rivals’ Chad Simmons. “The environment was different. After being there, I just knew they came up for me. The people, how real they are, and the feeling I had around them changed how I felt about Texas Tech. It showed me a lot.“
“It was just different down there,” he added. “The weather, the people — everything. It is so much more than I ever expected. I can see myself fitting there. It felt like the one.”
Sweeney has transferred from Good Counsel (Md.) to St. Frances for his senior season. By all accounts, he remains rock-solid with the Red Raiders.
4-star WR Benny Easter Jr. — Texas Tech
Rivals Industry Ranking: No. 53 NATL. (No. 9 WR)
School: Summer Creek (Texas)
Committed Since: Nov. 20, 2025
After Brewster, Easter Jr. was one of the next big fall recruiting victories for Texas Tech. The No. 8 player in the Lone Star State, the elite pass-catcher made the call at the end of November after logging a game visit to campus.
Rivals’ Scouting and Rankings Team says Easter reminds them of star NFL wideout Brandon Aiyuk:
“Easter is a multi-level playmaker who can stretch the field vertically and move the sticks consistently with his pass-catching prowess,” Rivals’ National Scout Cody Bellaire wrote. “Strongly built body type with great proportions and length. Stands in at 6-foot, 200 pounds with a nearly 6-foot-5 wingspan. Needs a bit of a runway in order to hit top-end speed, but has the long speed to run by most defenders.”
4-star LB Jhadyn Nelson — Texas Tech
Rivals Industry Ranking: No. 58 NATL. (No. 4 LB)
School: Langham Creek (Texas)
Committed Since: March 18
Another one of the best in Texas that has his sights set on Lubbock, Nelson committed in March. Texas Tech was his first offer, and it also provided NIL opportunities that made a splash.
“They gave me a deal I couldn’t pass up,” Nelson told Rivals’ Sam Spiegelman.
“The people there get me excited to be a Red Raider,” he recently added. “The fanbase there is the base of a program I wanna play for. I’m just ready to see what the rest of this 2027 class and I can accomplish, and bring Texas Tech back to its old roots.”
The 6-foot-3, 215-pounder is the lone linebacker in the TTU class to date. He’s drawn comparisons to Arvell Reese from the Rivals team and looks to be one of many instant-impact players that could produce for McGuire in 2027.
4-star ATH Gideon Gash — Texas Tech
Rivals Industry Ranking: No. 67 NATL. (No. 2 ATH)
School: Detroit Catholic Central (Mich.)
Committed Since: June 6
Despite having family ties to both Michigan and Michigan State, Gash is forging his own path and it’s set to take him to Lubbock next year. He committed while on his official visit.
A true Swiss-Army knife prospect, Gash could play myriad positions at the college level. It’s cornerback that looks the most likely, however. Rivals’ Allen Trieu reported that TTU position coach Darcel McBath was instrumental in Gash’s decision this summer.
“I just see they were a super dominant defense this past year,” Gash previously told Rivals. “They just put David Bailey in the NFL, so you can see they’re developing players to the next level. And they have a plan for me. I think they’ll start me a corner and move me depending on my size, so they have a plan. Great campus, great school. It was really sweet being down there. You can see the coaches’ love and everything.”
4-star QB Kavian Bryant — Texas Tech
Rivals Industry Ranking: No. 69 NATL. (No. 6 QB)
School: Westwood (Texas)
Committed Since: Nov. 1, 2025
He may not be the No. 1 overall prospect in the cycle, but Bryant’s commitment to Texas Tech felt just as big, if not bigger than Brewster’s back in the fall. Previously in QB1 conversations for the class, Bryant remains one of the cycle’s top passers.
Bryant is one of the best athletes among the top QBs and that shines when he’s carrying his offense on Friday nights. He’s an elite playmaker and had a nice showing at the Elite 11 Finals this summer.
“Bryant may have been the biggest surprise on Day 2 at the Elite 11 Finals,” Charles Power wrote. “The Texas Tech commit rebounded from an up-and-down showing on Friday night and delivered a strong performance during his pro day workout. Bryant showed a live arm, delivering with noticeable velocity and was more accurate and in rhythm than we’ve seen from him at any time this off-season.”
4-star OT Jake Hildebrand — Arizona State
Rivals Industry Ranking: No. 99 NATL. (No. 8 OT)
School: Basha (Ariz.)
Committed Since: May 19
The quintessential Arizona State target, Hildebrand did not slip through the Sun Devils’ hands. The towering 6-foot-5.5, 311-pounder was trending toward Tempe for some time before locking in his pledge a couple of months ago.
“I picked Arizona State because of the culture that they have here in Tempe,” Hildebrand told Rivals’ Brandon Huffman. “Being able to help build a program has been a dream of mine for a while now.”
Hildebrand is the No. 3 player in Arizona and will hope to make an impact in year one for Kenny Dillingham and the ASU staff. He sits atop an ASU class that currently ranks just 59th in the Rivals Industry Team Recruiting Rankings.
4-star RB SaRod Baker — Texas Tech
Rivals Industry Ranking: No. 101 NATL. (No. 5 RB)
School: DeSoto (Texas)
Committed Since: April 27
Texas Tech’s class features a blue-chipper at just about every position and Baker was their top target at running back. Texas and Texas A&M were also after his pledge, but a spring trip to Lubbock helped create some separation in his process.
“I was sitting in the running back room, it actually made me seem like I was already at the school. So just them showing me that, I feel like that could be a place that I could be at,” Baker told Ben Golan of RedRaiderSports.com.
Baker is coming off a monstrous junior season. Playing for DeSoto, one of the top high school football programs in the nation, he rushed for over 3,000 yards and 41 touchdowns, threw for nearly 500 yards and four scores and also caught 18 passes for 242 yards and two scores.
4-star WR Julian Caldwell — Texas Tech
Rivals Industry Ranking: No. 105 NATL. (No. 20 WR)
School: Argyle (Texas)
Committed Since: May 9
Caldwell was another humongous recruiting win for Texas Tech, as it beat out Oregon and Texas for the coveted pass-catcher. He’s one of the best receivers in Texas and he’s had a keen eye on what’s being built in Lubbock under McGuire and that staff.
“Obviously, with a great quarterback, they have a lot of good things going. They’re definitely on the rise. They’re probably one of the hottest programs in college football right now, so it definitely gives me a lot of confidence knowing that I have a quarterback in KB (Kavian Bryant) and another receiver in Benny Easter, so a lot of good guys are going there,” Caldwell told Rivals’ Sam Spiegelman.
Caldwell is coming off a junior campaign that saw 94 catches, 1,737 yards and 20 touchdowns. He enters the fall as the No. 12 player in the Lone Star State.
4-star CB Daniel Yebit — TCU
Rivals Industry Ranking: No. 145 NATL. (No. 19 CB)
School: Yukon (Okla.)
Committed Since: June 17
Elsewhere in Texas, the biggest recruiting win of the cycle for TCU came last month as it landed Yebit, the No. 5 player in Oklahoma. He picked up offer from the Horned Frogs in May, took a trip to campus and locked in soon after.
“The visit went great, and it’s great down there,” Yebit told Rivals after taking his OV to Fort Worth. “You can’t really go wrong with TCU.”
Yebit tallied 37 total tackles and four interceptions on the defensive side of the ball while also adding 759 receiving yards and six touchdowns on offense as a junior for Yukon High. He headlines a class that currently checks in at No. 48 in the Rivals Industry Team Recruiting Rankings.