One of the questions the 2024 Texas Tech football team must answer concerns the secondary, where 2023 starters Dadrion Taylor Demerson, Tyler Owens, Rayshad Williams and Malik Dunlap have all graduated, leaving a number of holes to fill.
One player the Red Raiders will look to for leadership and experience in the secondary is super senior Bralyn Lux, and in fact, he could be one of the most important players on defense this season.
Last year, in his first year as a Red Raiser, he was essentially the third starting cornerback, appearing in 12 games and starting eight of them.
His 40 total tackles ranked him seventh on the Red Raiser defense, plus he led the team with nine interceptions.
But this year, he faces a bigger challenge: As Tech’s No. 1 cornerback, he may have to go up against the opposition’s best wide receivers every Saturday.
Of course, the Big 12 is filled with great pass-catching players, so Lux will need to perform at his best this season.
That’s because the team’s remaining cornerbacks lack the experience of someone like him, who played in 39 games while at Tech and Fresno State.
Other cornerbacks who could see significant playing time this season are Jaron Peoples and Maurion Horn, both sophomores who have played just 13 games between them at the collegiate level.
That’s why Lux has to be someone Tech can rely on. Now, it’s fair to wonder if he’s up to the task.
Last season, he didn’t always see his opponent’s best weapon on every down, and when he did, he struggled at times, especially against speedy receivers.
The most notable example of that came in the second game of the year against Oregon, when in a 38-30 loss, Lux was easily outplayed by the Ducks’ top wide receiver, Troy Franklin, who then outran Lux for a 72-yard touchdown in the first quarter.
Fortunately, such plays were a rarity for Lux, but they were still a reminder that he’s far from a shutdown corner.
Asking Lux to play in the top corner is a lot to ask of a player who has never played that role before, and he is expected to perform better than his CV would suggest.
At 5-foot-11 and weighing 175 pounds, he was an under-rated recruit coming out of California High School in the Class of 2019. In fact, Fresno State was the only school he had an offer from.
He recorded 89 tackles at Fresno and also had 15 passes defended in his three seasons at the school.
Lux had his best season yet as a Red Lazer last year, and while he was an afterthought for fans going into the offseason, by the time the season started he had cracked into the cornerback rotation.
It was a big step forward for Lux, who proved he has the grit and acumen to compete in the Big 12. More will be asked of him in 2024. Whether he can become a top-tier cornerback for the Red Raiders will be one of the biggest questions Joey McGuire’s defense must answer.
