Recruiting West Texas: WTAM Hosts Junior Day Friday

<p>Junior Day is one of the most important events on the annual recruiting calendar for many colleges.</p>   <p>Essentially, Junior Day provides coaches with the opportunity to showcase their program, facilities, academics and campus to eager prospects.</p>   <p>Friday, West Texas A&M in Canyon expects to have between 80 and 100 prospects on campus for Junior Day. A considerable percentage of those players will come from West Texas.</p>   <p>“Most of them will be from the Panhandle but we do have some players coming from Odessa and Dallas,” West Texas A&M coach Josh Lynn told Prep Redzone Texas. “Junior Day is a good way to start with many of the guys who are coming. Our coaches get to meet the players for the first time. It will give them a taste of what West Texas A&M has to offer, and hopefully spark interest. We're excited.”</p>   <p>West Texas A&M's stadium and adjoining facilities have been ranked among the best in Division II.</p>   <p>“I believe there are about 10 to 15 schools in Division II that have really good facilities and I consider West Texas A&M to be a part of that,” Lynn said. “Our stadium has been ranked as the best in the nation by some media outlets. Right now, we're building new coaches offices and meeting rooms.  It's nice to be able to recruit to those things. We're blessed.”</p>   <p>Lynn, hired as the Buffaloes' new head coach in December, believes West Texas A&M's overall facilities come close to those at some FCS programs. </p>   <p>WTAM extended dozens of Junior Day invitations to West Texas prospects, many of whom posted the coveted invitation on their Twitter feeds.</p>   <p>For Lynn, recruiting West Texas is a no-brainer considering the school's Canyon location and the amount of high school football talent in the region.</p>   <p>In fact, dating back to his days a decade ago on the Eastern New Mexico staff (2012-16), Lynn has made recruiting West Texas a high priority.</p>   <p>“First and foremost, this is our staple area,” Lynn said. “We'll start here and branch out. I'm going to recruit it personally with some help from graduate assistants. When I was recruiting West Texas at Eastern New Mexico, some of our best players there were West Texas kids.”</p>   <p>“They are hard-nosed players. They come from very good programs. We make sure we look at every West Texas player from the big programs in Amarillo and Lubbock to the smaller schools.”</p>   <p>Lynn says the passion for high school football in West Texas is high, making it easier to recruit the region.</p>   <p>“The great thing about West Texas players is they love football,” Lynn said. “They play different sports but when summer comes it's back to football. The coaches around the area make an effort to promote their kids. They are easy to talk to. They do a great job developing their kids. They are given the resources by their schools.”  </p>   <p>West Texas A&M signed more than a dozen West prospects in their 2023 signing class.</p>   <p>Junior Day is NOT an invitation only event. Every prospect is able to come and speak with the coaches and get the information they need to make an informed decision on where they want to play college football.</p>   <p>“Junior Day is a very integral part of getting the ball rolling in the recruiting process,” Lynn said. “We encourage every prospect to come.” </p>   <p> </p>   <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://twitter.com/CoachJoshLynn/status/1646190969224675328 </div></figure>   <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://twitter.com/WTAMUFootball/status/1641139515006779399 </div></figure>   <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://twitter.com/WTBuffNation/status/1602808054814330880 </div></figure>   <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://twitter.com/CoachWatkins91/status/1649177989400199170 </div></figure>   <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://twitter.com/CoachWatkins91/status/1646683243800846337 </div></figure>

Junior Day is one of the most important events on the annual recruiting calendar for many colleges.