Recruiting on the South Plains | LB Ryan Flannigan

by Seth C on Jul 5, 2011 8:32 AM CDT in Texas Tech Football Recruiting 2012

We're almost done with the Houston-Five, which are the five players that committed immediately after the Houston camp (C Jared Kaster, DT Anthony Smith, WR Dominique Wheeler, LB Ryan Flannigan, and OL Trey Keenan). I know Keenan's not from the Houston area, but just go with it. Focusing on Flannigan, he was originally committed to Baylor and switched his commitment to Texas Tech after the Houston camp. Again, those camps around DFW and Houston have proven to be a boon for recruiting. Let's get to it.

DTN FanPost and/or FanShot: Hat-tip to RedRaid13!

The Measurables:

RYAN FLANNIGAN
Position: LB
DTN Profile
Video: Clip 1 | Clip 2
Rivals 5.6
Scout
ESPN 79
24/7 Sports 86
Ht: 6'1" | Wt: 200 lbs | Forty: 4.56
High School: Marshall (Missouri City, TX)

The Player Speaks: LAJ's Don Williams spoke with Flannigan after his commitment and he talked about a teammate having an influence on his commitment:

"I have a teammate up here, and I really liked the school," Flannigan said. "I can see myself playing here, and I can see myself being at this school and being involved, so I just decided I want to be here."

I'm thinking that this teammate is RB DeAndre Washington, who was at Marshall last year and is currently on campus. Good job on Washington. Flannigan also talked about what he brings to the football field:

"I think what stands out about me the most is my speed and my ability to get to the ball and make plays and get to the ball in the open field," Flannigan said.

Texas Tech now holds commitments from three linebackers that all have similar traits, i.e. around 6-1/200 and run a 4.5 to 4.6. Flannigan fits that mold and although Texas Tech has similar players to Flannigan in Michah Awe and Kris Williams, the staff thought that a third linebacker would be good. Given their size, I think they could all flip-flop between that linebacker or safety spot.

Offers and Rankings: A pretty lengthy list of offers, including Arizona, Arizona St., Baylor, Boise St., Kansas, Houston, Minnesota, Oregon St., San Diego St., West Virginia, etc. There are more offers than I've listed, but I think that Flannigan was a player that was well-thought of by a lot of coaching staffs. Didn't have offers from the big boys, but still an impressive list. Rivals has Flannigan as the 54th best linebacker, while Scout has him as the 42nd, and ESPN as the 39th best linebacker. 24/7 Sports doesn't rank Flannigan as a linebacker.

More after the jump.

The Video: Film don't lie.

Scouting Report: Like a lot of prospects' films, Flannigan is fast and he definitely makes plays all over the field. Really nice instincts and seems to find the ball fairly quickly. You like to have a linebacker that can make quick decisions. I also really appreciated the Rivals video where Flannigan is pitted against running backs and displays some nice moves. He's bigger than most of the backs he faces, but still displays some excellent quickness. Not a lot of film of Flannigan fighting off offensive linemen and that's something that I think his quickness takes care of while at the high school level. He'll have plenty of time to figure that out as he matures.

Ryan, welcome to Texas Tech and Git Your Guns Up!

The 2012 Class:

Position	Commitment	Ht/Wt	School/State	Rivals	Rivals Rating	Scout	ESPN	ESPN Grade	24/7	24/7 Grade
QB	CLAYTON NICHOLAS	6-3/205	Cooper (Abilene, TX)	3	5.7	2	4	79	3	88
RB
WR	REGINALD DAVIS	6-1/185	Tenaha (Tenaha, TX)	4	5.8	4	4	81	4	91
WR	MARCUS JOHNSON	6-1/180	Clear Spring (League City, TX)	3	5.6	3	3	78	3	89
WR	DOMINIQUE WHEELER	6-2/178	Crockett (Crockett, TX)	4	5.9	5	4	82	4	95
TE
OL	CHRISTIAN OKAFOR	6-6/320	Westbury (Houston, TX)	3	5.6	4	4	79	3	88
OL	HALAPOULIVAATI VAITAI	6-5/260	Haltom (Haltom City, TX)	3	5.7	4	3	78	3	89
C	JARED KASTER	6-4/268	Rice (Altair, TX)	3	5.6	2	3	78	3	87
DL	J.J. BYNUM	6-3/275	A&M Consolidated (College Station, TX)	3	5.6	3	3	79	-	-
DL	MICHAEL STARTS	6-5/285	La Vega (Waco, TX)	4	5.8	4	4	80	4	94
DL	ANTHONY SMITH	6-0/291	Westfield (Houston, TX)	3	5.6	3	3	76	3	86
LB	MICAH AWE	6-0/210	Mansfield Summit (Mansfield, TX)	-	-	2	3	78	-	-
LB	KRIS WILLIAMS	6-2/200	Bryan Adams (Dallas, TX)	-	-	2	-	-	-	-
LB	RYAN FLANNIGAN	6-1/200	Marshall (Missouri City, TX)	3	5.6	3	3	79	3	86
DB	LA'DARIUS NEWBOLD	6-1/180	Lancaster (Lancaster, TX)	3	5.7	3	3	75	-	-
ATH	KEENON WARD	5-9/176	Snyder (Snyder, TX)	3	5.5	3	3	78	-	-
Averages				2.80	4.91	3.13	3.13	73.33	2.40	65.27

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Comments

"Given their size, I think they could all flip-flop between that linebacker or safety spot."

That certainly may happen. We are also going to enjoy big safties and cb’s coming in who look like they could manage one of the safety spots.

What stays in the back of my mind it the articles Seth published about TCU’s weight program…not that we are doing just that but it looked to me when I read it that it matched what we are doing…bringing in good football players with good potential and growing them into what ever postion they grow into.

Regardless of the stars and rankings, I tend to look at the three we have verbals as three of a kind they do look pretty similar on paper, and perhaps in their athleticism and style of play as playmaking football players.

Living large in Texas...Texas forever.

by TallMike on Jul 5, 2011 12:38 PM CDT reply actions

I think 230 is the ideal weight for a college LB

I think you want to bring in LBs who are 205-215 and build them up. You have to love focusing on speed. Bring in 3 LBs who are over 6 feet tall, weight 205+ and run legit 4.7s every year and eventually you will have a very good LB corps.

I heard good things about Flannigan. Good pickup for y’all IMO.

by miketag on Jul 5, 2011 12:52 PM CDT reply actions