Impossible as it may have seemed just two years ago much of the optimism revolving around Red Raider football this offseason is due to the defense. That’s right, Texas Tech’s defense is a reason for optimism.

Though not to be confused with the Dallas Cowboys’ old Doomsday Defense or the ‘85 Bears, the Red Raiders return 10 starters and several more from the two-deep of a defense which made huge strides last season. Three of those returning starters--senior linebacker Dakota Allen, senior safety Jah'Shawn Johnson and junior defensive back Justus Parker were preseason All-Big 12 selections, giving the Red Raiders the most all conference defensive selections in the Big 12.

“Obviously, it's preseason so you take everything with a grain of salt,” said Texas Tech head coach Kliff Kingsbury. “But I’m excited for Coach Gibbs and that defensive staff and those defensive players. When Coach Gibbs took the job four years ago he kind of had to redo it all. He had a vision, knew what he wanted to do but had to go through two tough years. To his credit, he stuck to his guns, with his philosophy and his recruiting and now we're making strides on that side of the football. So have to credit him a ton with sticking it out and just having continuity on that side of the ball to develop a culture and identity that those defensive players and staff are taking a lot of pride in now.”

Tech especially thrived in the turnover department last season as the Red Raiders produced 29 takeaways which was tops in the Big 12 and No. 6 in the nation.

“Well, first and foremost, we start EVERY practice with turnover drills,” said Jah'Shawn Johnson. “Whether it’s going against the scout team, punching the ball out going against our offense. There’s not a day where you won’t see us going out there and punching and stripping at the ball. You might see guys getting in fights because they’re so annoyed with the way the defense is punching at the ball and kind of throwing them down at bad angles. That’s what Coach Gibbs does and if you don’t punch the ball out or at least attempt to punch the ball out every play then you won’t be out there at practice. You’ll get your reps cut for that.”

The Red Raiders also made great strides against the run last season. Tech, which has struggled to stop the run for years, gave up 77 yards less on the ground last season than in 2016 which moved the national ranking in that department from No. 116 to No. 61 a jump of some 55 spots.

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Where the defense could use some improvement is in pass defense as the Red Raiders gave up 282.2 yards per game through the air last season which ranked No. 122 in the country. Still, overall Texas Tech gave up 11 points less last season (32.2) than the year before (43.5 ) and the thought is with so many veteran players returning the Red Raiders could be even better in 2018.

“We have good enough players to compete with everybody and at some point Kliff’s deal is finish,” said Texas Tech defensive coordinator David Gibbs. “Obviously, we didn’t finish enough games this past year. We were competitive and we fought and we played more physical, and we played better defense and we gave our offense a chance to win ball games, which I have said since I’ve been here is my goal. Obviously, with a young quarterback, or maybe not a young quarterback but a newcomer quarterback, we gotta play better defense and we have to somehow find a way to win games that aren’t high scoring games.

“I’m excited about the kids. The culture here has changed. Y’all have seen it. The players believe in what we’re doing and they’re all back.”