Longhorns star Reese Atwood denies report of tampering by Texas Tech

The Texas Tech softball program has been making waves nationally. They came up just short of winning the College Softball World Series, then took that momentum to the recruiting trail. Since their heartbreaking loss to rival Texas, head coach Gerry Glasco has aggressively pursued the transfer portal.

Glasco and company have secured commitments from four of the top ten rated players in the portal, and their fifth is rated inside the top 30. Leading the reloading efforts is sophomore pitcher Kaitlyn Terry, who went 20-5 with a 2.64 ERA for UCLA. Taylor Pannell is an All-American third baseman from Tennessee. Last year, she batted .398 with 16 home runs and 65 RBIs. Next, the Red Raiders secured a Buckeye, catcher Jasmyn Burns, who was fourth in the country last year with 25 home runs. To round out their top four, Tech brought in another All-American in Mia Williams, formerly a Florida Gator. She had 19 homers and 44 RBIs last season.

Reese Atwood, ex-coach deny report connecting them to Texas Tech, NIL in SI report https://t.co/m1fztN9Qld
— Austin Statesman (@statesman) June 14, 2025

Any time a team goes on a recruiting run like Tech just did, rumors of tampering are sure to arise. With reports that Tech is spending over $55 million in NIL and revenue sharing across all its sports this year alone, it certainly doesn't help to mitigate the rumor mill.

Recently, Softball On SI reported that Texas Tech's collective, The Matador Club, along with coach Nathan Nelson of Hotshots Fastpitch, a travel organization based in Texas, had been involved in actively recruiting players on other rosters. The On SI report suggested that Texas Tech was using third parties like the Matador Club and Nelson as a loophole to recruit players who had not yet entered the transfer portal, something that would violate NCAA rules. The report indicated that Texas Longhorn Slugger Reese Atwood was one of those players who was contacted by a third party representing Texas Tech, but Atwood pushed back on that report.

"I was never contacted by Nathan Nelson regarding anything related to playing softball at Texas Tech... I won't be responding to any further comments about a false article," Atwood said via text to the Austin American-Statesman.

Although Atwood denies the report, Softball On SI says it also spoke to the parent of a player who says they were contacted by Nelson and offered a six-figure deal to transfer to Texas Tech.

“I know for 100 percent fact that there were kids in April, and even earlier than that, signed. Nathan Nelson told me before April 7, they were signing kids from other schools while they were playing with other teams to go to Texas Tech in 2026.”

While the denial from Atwood contradicts at least part of what was reported by Softball On SI, that denial has done little to change the minds of the critics. Over the last two weeks, social media has been flooded with folks who believe Texas Tech is crossing the line of what's acceptable in collegiate recruiting. Others say that Texas Tech is only doing what other programs have been doing for decades. And while the rumors and accusations continue to fly, Texas Tech remains aggressive in its pursuit of championship talent.

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