Fireworks going off in Lubbock this Independence Day are probably for the latest recruit to the Texas Tech football team’s latest 2026 recruiting win.
Five-star, blue-chip prospect Felix Ojo out of Mansfield Lake Ridge stunned the nation when he announced his commitment to the Red Raiders on Friday. Texas Tech was not among Ojo’s announced final four choices, which included Florida, Texas, Michigan, and Ohio State.
ESPN’s Eli Lederman reported shorted after Ojo’s commitment that the Mansfield native will join Texas Tech “on a fully guaranteed, 3-year, $5.1 million revenue sharing contract, believed to be one of the largest guaranteed deals in (college football) history.”
The source of Lederman’s information, which he shared on social media, is Ojo’s agent, Derrick Shelby of Prestige Management Group. Shelby is also the manager for Texas Tech softball star NiJaree Canady. He helped break multiple seven-figure name, image, and likeness deals between Canady and Texas Tech’s NIL collective, The Matador Club.
More than 1,300 people joined Ojo’s Instagram livestream to watch his commitment. 247Sports logged a prediction for Ojo to select Texas as his college destination, though took its prediction off sometime Friday. Late Thursday, Rivals predicted Ojo would select Texas Tech, which came to fruition.
Ojo is a 6-foot-6, 275-pound prospect who 247Sports ranks fifth in the nation and second in the state of Texas. His composite rating of 0.9964 makes Ojo Texas Tech’s highest-rated recruit in the 247Sports era, which spans about 20 years. He supplants former five-star recruit Micah Hudson — who transferred out and has since returned to Texas Tech — whose composite rating was 0.9934.
Ojo is Texas Tech’s third commitment of the week and 18th pledge overall for the 2026 recruiting class. The Red Raider earned a pair of commitments from four-star prospects earlier this week in New Boston running back Ashton Rowden and Frisco Panther Creek safety Donovan Webb.
2026 Texas Tech football recruiting class commitments
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Texas Tech football lands 5-star lineman Felix Ojo behind reported massive revenue-sharing deal
Reporting by Nathan Giese, Lubbock Avalanche-Journal / Lubbock Avalanche-Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
