From Inside the Red Raiders
Texas Tech head coach Matt Wells confirmed Monday during his game week press conference that three Red Raiders had opted out of the 2020 season due to concerns over the novel coronavirus. Wells declined to name who the three players were and added he would let them announce it publicly if they wanted to.
The first of the three to do so is redshirt freshman cornerback Dequan Watts, who announced via Twitter on Tuesday night he was opting out.
“Due to circumstances of me recovering I will be opting out this year and will return in 2021. Wish everyone the best this year and stay safe.”
Wells mentioned in one of his early fall camp post practice media sessions in August that Watts was home in Atlanta recovering from COVID-19 with family, but that as far as he knew then Watts was expected to return at some point.
The 6-foot-2, 165-pound Atlanta, GA native did not appear in a game last season as a true freshman and redshirted. Perhaps because he is opting out and not been participating in practice, Watts was not on Texas Tech’s three-deep depth chart released Monday.
The former three-star recruit signed with Texas Tech in 2019 out of Maynard Jackson High School. He was rated as an 85 prospect, the No. 921 overall recruit in the nation, No. 64 athlete in the country and No. 92 overall player in Georgia for the 2019 class according to the 247Sports Composite, an average of the major recruiting rankings services. He also held reported offers from Georgia Tech, Indiana, Louisville, Ole Miss, Oregon, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, South Carolina, South Florida, UCF, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest, West Virginia.
Texas Tech is scheduled to kick off the season against Houston Baptist (0-1) 7 p.m. (CT) Saturday at Jones AT&T Stadium in Lubbock, TX.
