Brenden Jordan, A.J. McCarty battle for Texas Tech football safety spot in spring ball

A.J. McCarty's already scored a touchdown in a Texas Tech football game at Jones A&T Stadium, intercepting Tyler Shough and running it in for a score.

It put an exclamation point on a 45-17 Baylor victory, Texas Tech's most lopsided loss of 2022.

"It was fun for me to get a pick-six. That was my first pick," McCarty said. "That was just exhilarating by itself. I hope I can do it again here in the next couple of years for this fan base," he said, gesturing for emphasis, "and not the other one."

Forgive and forget, right? After three years at Baylor, the 6-foot, 195-pound Brownwood graduate transferred to Texas Tech last summer. Because McCarty's name wasn't entered into the portal during an approved time window, he was ineligible during the 2023 regular season.

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Tech started spring practice last week, and there's a position battle under way at star, Tech's hybrid safety-outside linebacker position, between sophomore Brenden (B.J.) Jordan and McCarty.

"They're just going to have to butt heads for the spot," boundary safety Julien (C.J.) Baskerville said. "I think they're making each other better as we go, and they're going to be some pluses for the team."

Jordan was thrown into the fire last season, starting the first two games and three of the last five. The first two months of the season, he shared the star position with Baskerville.

"Seeing him grow from last spring to this spring, it's been a major jump," Baskerville said. "A.J.'s one of the most athletic guys on the field. Last year, when he wasn't able to play, we'd see him during practice or returning kicks and stuff like that. He's fast. He's quick. He's just very, very athletic."

McCarty, who has two seasons of eligibility left, says competing in five sports helped him develop as a football player. He won the 2019 Class 4A state championship in the triple jump with a mark of 47-6, and he credits playing soccer from age 3 with giving him good footwork.

Baskerville and Jordan came out of 2023 preseason practice as the one-two at star, but the week of the season opener Baskerville was dealing with turf toe, and then in the game, he suffered a broken wrist.

Jordan was already in the two-deep, but Baskerville's injuries made it real in a hurry.

"It was fun. It was crazy," Jordan said. "I didn't envision being that involved my first year, but every week I came into it as a normal week. I worked hard all spring ball, all fall camp, and they knew I could play at this level, at a high level, so I knew what I could do. I had my confidence in myself and my teammates."

Jordan, 6-foot and 210 pounds, and fellow freshman safeties Chapman Lewis and Jordan Sanford made a quick and favorable impression on Tech coaches after they came aboard in January 2023. Their maturity and appetite for post-practice videotape study stood out, and they all wound up playing in virtually every game last season.

"I just want to be smarter," Jordan said. "A lot of times last year ... there were plays where I could have made the play. It was me overthinking too much and not seeing the right formations or not seeing the right keys. I feel like that's a big step, because I see in the pros, a lot of them are real film junkies, and that's what I want to be.

"Rabbit (free safety) Dadrion Taylor-Demerson did a good job setting the standard for that, and I feel like if I took that to the next level, then the sky's the limit for me."

This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Brenden Jordan, A.J. McCarty battle for Texas Tech football safety spot