There has never been as much hype surrounding a Texas Tech football freshman as there is surrounding 2024 recruit Micah Hudson. He is the first five-star high school recruit to ever sign with the Red Raiders, and he has been the talk of the program for nearly a year.
With Hudson missing the spring recovering from offseason knee surgery, Red Raiders fans are still clamoring to get a glimpse of the young phenom. On Thursday, Hudson met with the media for the first time since arriving in Lubbock, and the maturity he brings, a trait the coaching staff has repeatedly touted as one of his best qualities, was immediately apparent.
Hudson began by talking about his transition to college sports, saying he is learning from his early mistakes.
“It’s really just a matter of the speed of the game,” he said. “I’m just learning the ropes. I’m taking it one day at a time and recognizing my mistakes and learning from them. I’m just being mature about it and learning from everything I do wrong.”
Next, he talked about why he wanted to be a Red Raider, since he had offers from virtually every major program in the country.
“Every time I came here,” he said, “it was just the nice feeling of being around the coaches, being around the players, learning little things behind the scenes. Just witnessing everything that really goes on and being able to be there with them during the season, and I feel like I was part of that team back then, and that’s what made me pull the trigger and come here.”
Hudson is aware of the hype surrounding his arrival and explained the steps he is taking to keep it all under the radar.
“I just grow up, like I said,” he said, “and block out all media or whatever. I really don’t have any social media. I mean, I have two phones, but the other phone is Instagram and then if I need to post the brand offers or whatever, I do that. But my regular phone, I don’t have anything on it. I just talk to my guys, study my playbook when I go home and things like that. I just stay grown up so when I’m training, I know exactly what I need to do, do my job and then really have a good workout.”
Recently, quarterback Behren Morton spoke about the complexity of the Red Raiders’ offense. Hudson said his high school coaches helped him prepare for the college strategy.
“My high school coaches have prepared me really well with their movements,” he said, “because I was always either in the slot, outside or running back or even quarterback when I was younger. But I just have to prepare properly, get used to little things like that and just go out there and know that I can do it. I just have to have good confidence and know that my preparation is really helping me.”
Hudson then said that he has primarily played at the “Z” outside receiver position, but that there are packages that require him to move. “Wherever they need me, I just try to help the team,” he added.
Hudson attributed his maturity, which seems unusual for his age, to God and his family.
“Just God, really,” he said. “I just think about God and football. God and football, that’s all I say every day, God and football, God and football. And that’s really what gave me a good structure. And I also just learned from my mother and father and my family at home how to behave and do everything right.”
Hudson’s maturity was also evident when he spoke about his relationship with Morton. He said he wanted to be guided and challenged by Morton.
“I mean, it’s been great,” he said. “I need to hear the different calls and stuff like that. I need to know that stuff. Just hearing him and seeing the passion that he’s giving me, like, ‘Hey man, we need to know,’ I know that stuff.
“That really helps me because I’m not a pity guy, ‘Oh, hey Mike, you’ve got to get this done,’ you know what I mean? I like to hear the bad stuff. I like to hear the hard stuff because I feel like that’s what drives me and just knowing that he really cares about me, he’s going to come to me and say, ‘Hey, we’ve got to get this done.’ So just knowing that I have people around me that really care about me and good teammates.”
Finally, Hudson was asked what his best trait on the field was, and instead of talking about anything athletic, he discussed the mental aspect of his game.
“I would say my best attribute is my mentality,” he said. “I say my drive. I’m always excited, I mean, even when I’m frustrated, it’s just with myself. I know what I need to work on and stuff like that. And I know I can’t show it and stuff like that. But really, my drive is just to push the people around me, to lift people up and just be a leader, just because God designed me to be that.”
Hudson seems like an old soul, and that’s great to see, as a player his young age could easily get caught up in all the hype. He seems to have the mindset to excel, and Texas Tech fans can’t wait to see that translate into success on the field in just a few weeks.
