The Tech secondary made some significant strides in the first year under defensive coordinator Tim DeRuyter in 2022 and is returning much of that group in 2023.

Highlighted by the addition of CJ Baskerville who will play in the STAR position, a position that Marquis Waters excelled in for the Red Raiders last season, Tech will return both starting corners in Rayshad Williams and Malik Dunlap.

Baskerville had some struggles in the early spring at times with the STAR position, but he made some excellent growth in his abilities at the position during the rest of the spring and through the summer.

“I think I've developed an immense amount since when I first got here, all I really knew was being in the post over at San Diego State,” Baskerville said. “Going through the offseason and going through the spring and now summer training, like I've gotten my weight up. That's how I've gotten faster, bigger, stronger, and my techniques have gotten a lot better since the very first practice of when we got here. I think I've improved greatly, and I can't wait to see what I do this fall camp.”

Baskerville continued to echo his lack of experience with some of the things that the staff is asking him to do at the STAR position, like some of the fitting in the box and learning the Tech defense.

“Whenever we started in spring, I did some good things I did some not so good things,” Baskerville said. “Improving on where my fits are, knowing what's going on around me in the box is super important for me to grasp.”

Baskerville said that he and the whole secondary are coming together, something that was echoed by the entire secondary in other interviews.

“It's a beautiful thing, especially when we talk about on the on the statute side,” Baskerville said. “I mean we are a big group and being in the Big 12 there's a lot of big receivers, so we should be able to lock people up.”

With the expectations on the 2023 Texas Tech team, Baskerville said that he’s not worried about that at all and is more than ready to take them head on.

“I don't think it should be any other way,” Baskerville said. “I mean, being a Texas Tech Red Raider, it has a lot of weight to the name and the standard we hold ourselves to and others. We wouldn't want to you know the way it is. It is a great deal of a standard but you have to train it.”

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