The first year transition in college football is often the highest hurdle that any player - whether coming from high school or junior college - has to get over in order to find real success. Just ask Texas Tech senior wideout Derrick Willies, who added a handful of injuries that lingered throughout the season to that mix.

The former JUCO All-American just flat out didn't have the kind of junior season that he or anyone else in Lubbock had envisioned for him. The good news is he'll get another crack at it this fall.

Willies finally feels at-ease inside of the Tech offense, often spread out wide and left in his X receiver role. He's had a full year to get the system under his belt, and now he's trying to diversify himself even more by learning the inside H and Y positions, too.

"I really felt a lot more comfortable in this offense after the spring, really just with knowing what I was doing. Over the summer I've really been trying to learn the other receivers positions to move around a little bit. I just feel a lot more comfortable now in this offense."

So, more comfortable and finally healthy? Check and check.

And while Willies is obviously glad to finally be back on track himself, he was equally happy with how this summer went for the team as a whole. From his perspective, this team is a very different group than the one he joined a year ago.

"The summer was great. Workouts were good, and everybody competed. Where we were as a team last year at this time is at a whole 'nother level now. There's a lot more guys now who are confident in what we can do."

Willies hasn't been the only Red Raider to share that thought, either. Many of his teammates have said the same thing here early on in fall camp, so I asked him: Why? Why is this team different than last year's was at this time?

"I think ever since Coach Whitt got here, he's gotten a lot of the negative guys out. He really weeded through those guys and stuff. Everybody has bought into what we're doing, so I think that's where a lot of the changes come from."

One of his teammates who certainly seems to be bought in is outside receiver running mate Dylan Cantrell. While Willies mans the X position, Cantrell will man the Z, and the duo have become pretty close over the last year. In fact, they're now roommates.

"Me and Dylan are pretty good friends now, which is surprising, because when I first got here, I didn't really talk to him or hang out with him or anything like that. We definitely have a lot better relationship now, are moving in together, and it's kind of funny how that happened."

Circumstances can bring people together in strange ways sometimes, and for Willies and Cantrell, it just so happened to be a pairing of romantic pursuits.

"It happened because we were talking to these two girls who were friends with each other, so we would go and hang out with them, and that's kind of how we ended up being friends."

Now, the two go back and forth on the field each and every day with some friendly - but legitimate - competition.

"Competing against each other - basically, when me or him does something, the other one has to try and top it in the weight room or on the field. So, we're always competing, always trying to one up each other."

And while Willies and Cantrell are certainly trying to out-do each other every day, they know to reach their goals as a receiving corps, it's about working in harmony and making it about the unit, not the individual. Willies feels both the inside and outside receiver units understand that if they want to have an outstanding season as a group, they have to lean on each other.

"It's just about playing for each other, really. It's about going out and executing the play, even if we aren't getting the ball. Whether we're blocking or trying to limit the mental errors of guys behind us so that when we step out there isn't a drop off, we're trying to make sure we all keep going."

But as far as the competition at his own position with Quan Shorts and Antoine Wesley, the senior receiver is worried about taking care of his own business instead of who's trying to chase him down.

"This might sound cocky, but I don't feel like there's any competition. I'm really just competing with myself. I don't worry about who's behind me or in front of me. I just go out there and try to do what I can do and better myself. I'm not worried about what the other guys are doing."