By Sam Khan Jr., Bruce Feldman and Justin Williams
Texas Tech continues to be a serious participant in faculty sports activities’ new period of participant compensation, with the newest proof coming within the type of a soccer recruiting coup.
The Crimson Raiders landed a dedication on Friday from five-star offensive deal with Felix Ojo, the No. 1 recruit in Texas and a high 10 nationwide recruit within the 2026 class, after the events agreed to a three-year, $2.3 million revenue-sharing contract, two faculty sources confirmed to The Athletic on Saturday.
Ojo, a 6-foot-6, 275-pound recruit from Lake Ridge Excessive in Mansfield, Texas, was one of the crucial closely recruited prospects within the nation, with 50 scholarship provides, in keeping with 247Sports. Along with Texas Tech, Ojo took official visits to Colorado, Florida, Michigan, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Ole Miss, Texas and Utah. If Ojo formally indicators with the Crimson Raiders through the December signing interval, he can be the highest-rated prospect Texas Tech has signed within the trendy recruiting period and the second five-star, becoming a member of 2024 receiver Micah Hudson. Ojo is the No. 7 recruit within the 247Sports Composite and No. 6 within the On3 Trade rankings.
It was a little bit of a shock on the recruiting path, as Ojo’s reported finalists have been Texas, Ohio State, Michigan and Florida, with the Longhorns and Buckeyes main the race within the dwelling stretch, in keeping with Rivals.com. However Texas Tech, which has proved to be one of many largest spenders in title, picture and likeness compensation within the final yr, remained firmly within the recruitment — even when not publicly — since Ojo’s official go to to Lubbock in April.
Throughout his dedication announcement on Friday, Ojo initially placed on a Longhorns hat earlier than switching to a Texas Tech hat.
Mansfield Lake Ridge 5-star offensive lineman Felix Ojo first places on a Texas hat, and the gang goes wild, then he pulls a shock and says he’s really committing to Texas Tech.#txhsfb @SportsDayHS @dctf @MISDathletics @247sports @TexasTechFB @TexasFootball @Rivals pic.twitter.com/WwbhCpjS3S
— Greg Riddle (@DMNGregRiddle) July 4, 2025
ESPN reported on Friday that Ojo was receiving a three-year deal value $5.1 million, in keeping with his agent, Derrick Shelby of Status Administration. Shelby confirmed these figures to The Athletic on Saturday, however three Texas Tech sources refuted that quantity, with two confirming that Ojo is scheduled to obtain an annual compensation of $775,000 per yr for 3 years from Tech’s revenue-sharing pool. Ojo’s deal, in keeping with a Tech supply, features a verbal settlement that may escalate the overall worth of the contract into the $5 million vary if there have been a big soar within the income sharing cap for faculties or if there’s minimal regulation of faculties’ adhering to the cap, in a lot the way in which there was minimal regulation of NIL since its establishment in 2021. Shelby declined to share a replica of the contract with The Athletic however stood by the initially reported numbers.
The information of Ojo’s dedication and contract settlement represents the continued altering tides of faculty recruiting. After the approval of the Home v. NCAA settlement and implementation of income sharing, schools can allocate as much as roughly $20.5 million to pay athletes throughout their sponsored sports activities. Colleges may start immediately paying gamers on their present roster on July 1. They’ll verbally negotiate offers with future recruits and ship official written scholarship provides and revenue-sharing contract provides starting Aug. 1 of the recruit’s senior yr of highschool, however these contracts can’t be signed till every respective sport’s signing interval begins, which is Dec. 3 for the FBS.
The nationwide letter of intent program, which used to bind a recruit to a college, was eradicated by the NCAA in October and changed by monetary support agreements that prohibited different faculties from recruiting a prospect as soon as signed.
Texas Tech has been aggressive within the NIL area in recent times and can proceed to be within the income sharing period. The Matador Membership, the varsity’s NIL collective, was one of many first to implement team-wide NIL contracts for soccer gamers in 2022. The Crimson Raiders made a splash in softball, signing former Stanford pitcher NiJaree Canady to a one-year deal value greater than $1 million final summer time (Canady led Tech to the Ladies’s Faculty World Collection last, the place the Crimson Raiders misplaced to Texas). In males’s basketball, the group retained second-team All-American JT Toppin to a deal of greater than $3 million in April.
Tech’s soccer group spent greater than $10 million on its switch portal class this offseason, touchdown a number of extremely coveted transfers, together with former North Carolina offensive deal with Howard Sampson, former Stanford edge rusher David Bailey and former Georgia Tech edge rusher Romello Peak. The Crimson Raiders’ portal signing class is ranked No. 1 by On3 and No. 2 by 247Sports.
Billionaire oil magnate Cody Campbell, a former Texas Tech offensive lineman, co-founder of the Matador Membership and chairman of the varsity’s board of regents, advised The Athletic final month that Tech would spend an estimated $55 million mixed in revenue-sharing {dollars} and NIL cash for gamers throughout the athletic division for the 2025-26 cycle. After the Home settlement approval, the Matador Membership merged with Texas Tech’s Crimson Raider Membership, the longtime donor arm of Texas Tech athletics.
Ojo’s dedication was a part of a profitable recruiting week for Texas Tech, as in addition they landed commitments from four-star operating again Ashton Rowden and four-star cornerback Donovan Webb. Ojo, Rowden and Webb are the three highest-rated commits in Tech’s 2026 class, which is presently No. 24 within the nation, in keeping with 247Sports. Texas Tech can also be thought-about to be in a robust place to land a dedication from Cooper Hackett, a five-star offensive deal with within the 2027 class from Fort Gibson, Okla. Each 247Sports and On3 have predicted Tech to land a dedication from Hackett.
If Texas Tech is ready to shut on Ojo and Hackett, that might make three five-star commits in 4 recruiting cycles for the Crimson Raiders, who didn’t signal a five-star highschool recruit from 2000 to 2023.
(Picture of Texas Tech head coach Joey McGuire: Justin Ford / Getty Pictures)
