During Texas Tech football players’ weekly Monday session with the media, cornerback Jamar Wall was asked about the highlight-film hit he put on Kansas running back Jake Sharp in the Red Raiders’ last game.

“It’s something you go for. It’s a great shot. It’s something you love to get,” Wall acknowledged, but the senior cornerback’s eyes didn’t exactly light up as he spoke.

“Play the next play,” Wall quickly added, is a Tech mantra, handed down to the players from head coach Mike Leach through the assistants.

“If I’m not mistaken,” Wall said, “we got a turnover the next play.”

Indeed, right after Wall blew up Sharp on a swing pass, cornerback LaRon Moore caused a fumble that safety Franklin Mitchem recovered. The next time the Tech defense took the field, Moore picked up a fumble four plays later and ran it in for a touchdown in the 42-21 Tech victory.

Tech’s pass defense in general and the cornerbacks in particular have been on top of their games for much of the season. The eight touchdown passes allowed by the Red Raiders ties for second-fewest in the Big 12 Conference. In pass defense, which is based on yards allowed through the air, Tech ranks sixth in the league, but third in Big 12 games only.

“I think each and every week they’ve progressed mentally and physically,” cornerbacks coach Brian Mitchell said Wednesday. “We’ve been lucky. We’ve been healthy. We lost LaRon for a little bit, but D.J. (Johnson) has done a great job in learning and getting his body ready to play every Saturday.”

The Raiders have been breaking up more passes – 53 through nine games compared to 55 for the entire 13-game schedule last year. Where they’ve been lacking is in interceptions – they had 18 last year and only five this season.

Darcel McBath and Daniel Charbonnet provided 13 of the 18 in 2008, their senior seasons. Their successors, Cody Davis and Franklin Mitchem, have tackled well but have only one interception between them.

“They’ve come along,” safeties coach Carlos Mainord said. “It was a shame that both of them missed playing time, missed two or three weeks apiece, and got back in. They’re getting better and the more they play, the better they feel and the more natural they are out there. I’m pleased with what they’re doing right now, but they’ve still got a long way to go.”

But since getting scorched for 435 passing yards by Houston and 316 by New Mexico at the end of non-conference play, the play on the back end coupled with the pass rush up front has given the Raiders a chance to win most Saturdays.

Moore’s emergence on the corner opposite Wall has helped. The 5-foot-9, 200-pound junior has been a physical tackler and a playmaker.

“Sometimes you’ve just got to mature into it,” Mitchell said of Moore, a former blue-chip recruit who’s just become a full-time starter this year. “It’s not going to be one of those deals where you can just fall into it because you can run, you can jump and you’re smart. You’ve got to have a presence out there, and you’ve got to be able to listen and you’ve got to be able to translate what you’re getting in the meeting room on to the field.”

Tech’s pass defense figures to get a boost Saturday since some recently injured members of the secondary are back. Nickel back Will Ford, who missed the last two games, and extra safety Brett Dewhurst, who missed the Kansas game, returned to workouts beginning last Saturday.

While Ford was out, fellow true freshman D.J. Johnson covered for him. Johnson is tied for the team lead in passes defended with seven and has handled the demands of, in effect, playing more than one position – cornerback in base defense and slot-receiver coverage in sub packages.

“He’s a kid that’s very mature for his age,” Mitchell said. “I couldn’t ask for more from a freshman than what he’s given this year.”

College football

• Who: Texas Tech at No. 17 Oklahoma State

• When: 7 p.m. Saturday

• Where: Boone Pickens Stadium, Stillwater, Okla.

• Records: Tech 6-3, 3-2 in the Big 12; Oklahoma State 7-2, 4-1

• Last game: Tech 42, Kansas 21; Oklahoma State 34, Iowa State 8

• Last meeting: Tech 56, Oklahoma State 20 last year in Lubbock

• TV: ABC (channel 28; Suddenlink Cable channel 8)

• Line: Oklahoma State by 4

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