Week two has begun for Texas Tech spring practice and the Red Raiders continue to improve on a variety of areas daily. Following Tuesday’s practice, defensive backs coach Marcel Yates, along with CJ Baskerville, Rayshad Williams and Nate Floyd spoke to the media. Here are the takeaways:
Coach Marcel Yates
Initial impression on CJ Baskerville at the STAR position:
“He’s played before so he’s got a good feel for space, he knows how to play the ball. What he’s doing now based on what he was doing at his last place, there’s a couple of things that we’re doing the same, but for him it’s different too… His body type, he’s long, he has good weight, I think he’s about 212 right now. He’s always in the film room because he’s always trying to improve.”
On what the group needs to improve on the most:
“We had too many missed assignments last year. What I mean by that, if the offensive player makes a great play, then that’s on me. If you’re in a position to make a play, and you don’t make the play, I’ll put that on me, the coach. But if guys are wide open, because they weren’t covered or things like that, those are things that we need to fix. Don’t just give them stuff, make it harder, that's the thing… Last year all this stuff was new to them, the verbiage and everything. So now, they know the verbiage, so we need to get better with our technique.”
On Nate Floyd taking more reps in practice with Tyler Owens out:
“If there’s ever a day where I say that we had a great day or he did, then I need to stop, because we’re always going to find something to improve on or something we could have done better. He’s a guy who’s learning the system. He went through spring ball last year and moved to offense so he doesn’t know the system quite as well as the other guys who played it. He’s got the learning curve, he has some stuff to pick up on but he’s doing a good job, he’s working hard and he’s learning the system.”
CJ Baskerville
On learning from Marquis “Muddy” Waters:
“He’s been in training for the Pro Day. During lunch we’ve been sitting together, he’s been telling me the tendencies of the STAR, once you know the position and the plays we’re going to make them. He’s been giving me tips on how to do it, just saying like ‘You have big shoes to fill’, but he said I can absolutely do it. Just got to be smart enough and have enough confidence to be able to do so.”
On his recruitment to Tech:
“Coach (James) Blanchard, about a week in, it was a Monday night, he hit my phone on Twitter. He was like ‘What’s up big man?’, I had seen Texas Tech, it was kind of a big deal for me because I watched Texas Tech a little bit as a kid… coach Blanchard hit me up, we got to talking immediately, and coach McGuire actually hit up my former high school coach, Ged Cates. (McGuire) was like ‘Hey, I’m excited to have the opportunity to be able to get your kid… The next day coach McGuire gave me a call and that’s when I kind of shut my recruitment down right then and there.”
Rayshad Williams
On biggest improvement in his game since last season:
“Probably being more physical on the field, being able to play when the ball’s not coming my way. Making those tackles and fixing my tackling technique. Those were some of the biggest things I heard. Improving my size too, those are just being taken into account now.”
On what went into the decision to come back for his super-senior season:
“My biggest decision was definitely coming back and working on the things I needed to work on. Also to further my education, because I did want to get my master’s degree, as well. But more so boosting my stock, right? Of course, always trying to make more money but also bettering myself on the field and being a leader and things like that.”
Nate Floyd
On what started the transition back to defense:
“Going into the bowl game we had some DBs leave and those spots were vacant. I started being a scout team player for the defensive side. So I was helping out during the bowl game and after the bowl game, coach McGuire gave me a call and he was like ‘Hey, we’re going to go ahead and move you back to defense, so just come in and be ready to come and help on the defensive side.’.”
On how being a scout team quarterback helped him defensively:
“Me being a safety, is kind of like the quarterback of the defense, so me being a scout team quarterback, I’m reading everything. I’m looking out and going through keys and stuff like that, seeing what our first team defense was seeing out of quarterbacks that we were going to get that week. Now I’m just taking it all in and moving from there.”
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