Texas Tech is entering the 2024 season with several voids to fill that were once occupied by veteran cornerstones of the program.

No shoes left empty are perhaps as big as the ones left behind by Dadrion Taylor-Demerson. After spelling “Rabbit” in several critical moments a season ago, sophomore Chapman Lewis appears to have been given the keys at free safety.

“Coming in as a freshman, being a two behind Rabbit last year, I feel like that was the best position I could have been in,” Lewis said a week ago. “Being behind a vet who is playing in the NFL right now, which is where I want to be. Rabbit definitely took me under his wing, you know what I’m saying, and I appreciate that so much. I still keep in contact with him now, but just on a daily, just watching how he went by his day, being a pro, in the training room, with the playbook, stuff like that.

As a freshman, I knew I had big shoes to fill when he left. Coming in now, now it’s my job and trying to do the same thing he did.”

Lewis, a Burleson (TX) Centennial graduate, is one of the fabled “Triplets,” a trio of 2023 defensive backs that included BJ Jordan and Jordan Sanford. By pure snap counts (208), Lewis played the second-most among the three, gaining valuable experience in the process.

When Taylor-Demerson went down with injuries against Houston and UCF, the Red Raiders turned to Lewis to cover in his place.

“Getting reps as a freshman, that was pretty good for me,” Lewis said. “Seeing him go down, it’s like you either go in ready to go or be timid. I just made that choice to go in and just lean on my preparation, not be scared. When Rab came off to the sideline, we had a talk, face-to-face, and (he said) ‘Just do what you know you can do.’ That’s what I did.”

In Lewis’ case, it helps having an eventual-fourth round draft pick to learn from, particularly at a position that is vital to the overall synergy of the defense.

While Taylor-Demerson will get most of the plaudits for being a direct mentor to Lewis at free safety, the trio of defensive backs all leaned on each other a great deal as they pursued various opportunities on defense and special teams.

“Brendan Jordan and Jordan Sanford, you know, we all come from the same area,” Lewis said. “I lived like 20 minutes away from them, they lived a little closer to each other. But we all came in and we all stayed together in the same apartment and got really close.

We all got playing time as freshmen and we just wanted to be the best players we could possibly be. We put in that extra time, we knew we had big roles to fill at young ages. We got real tight on the field, off the field.”

Lewis is the son of a pair of educators– assistant principals– and his mother never envisioned Lewis' future to be in football, he said. His mother, Equila Lockridge, maintains a keen eye on his academics so Lewis can stay sharp in school and violent on the football field.

He has established himself as one of the team’s best tacklers in practice, a credit to his immense physicality despite weighing less than 200 pounds.

“I feel sorry for people whenever he gets to 190-something, 200 because he’s a contact guy,” is what head coach Joey McGuire had to say about Lewis just after fall camp got underway.

“Chap is a guy that is smart. His parents are educators, he knows the game well. He plays fast, he plays real fast and he’s naturally physical,” added defensive backs coach Marcel Yates when he spoke to the media recently.

It speaks volumes to what Lewis has been able to accomplish since he arrived as a mid-year freshman in 2023 that he has essentially been a shoe-in as the starter at free safety.

With the torch fully in his hands, Lewis is not only coming into his own at his position, but leading the next generation of Red Raider defensive backs into the coming seasons.

“(We’re) big on communication,” Lewis said. “I feel like if we’re all on the same page, we’re all communicating, we’re gonna be a great defense. That is key. We fly to the ball, we got fast players, physical players and we can cover. I’m just excited to see what we can do during the season.”