Christopher was his father's idea, Julien his mother's.

Sharon Baskerville wouldn't go for a Cecil IV, so her husband Skip came up with Christopher in keeping with the pattern of Christian and Chandler, their first two sons. Julien was spelled "Julian" on the birth certificate and legally changed two weeks later.

To many Texas Tech football fans, the Red Raiders' new starting safety is C.J. Baskerville.

You'll be doing him a favor, though, if you call him by his middle name.

"It would really warm my heart if people refer to me as Julien and my mom saw it in articles," Baskerville said. "On anything, if she saw Julien, she would really love it. Feel free to call me C.J. or Julien, but if you call me Julien, then you'll know you'll be making my mom happy."

Indulging the request seems a small thing to ask. Julien (C.J.) Baskerville always wants to please his mom. After all, she's the one who went through the difficult pregnancy before his premature birth.

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Texas Tech football's Julien (C.J.) Baskerville was no ordinary baby

Julien Baskerville was born Dec. 9, 2002, on his parents' wedding anniversary. That he was 6 pounds, 1 ounce, surprised his father, considering the baby came five weeks early.

"When he was born," Skip Baskerville said, "they had a bunch of specialists around and a bunch of interns. I was the first one to see him, because they wheeled him by in an incubator and I'm going to tell you, he was the biggest boy because they — I'm always worried about saying this, but they gave him a bunch of steroids to keep him strong, and it seems like he was the biggest of the babies."

The Baskervilles work in education. Skip is an associate superintendent in the Birdville ISD. Sharon is a special education teacher and cheerleader sponsor at North Richland Hills Richland, where Julien graduated. Julien moved to the Metroplex from Katy before his junior year in high school.

Approaching his 21st birthday, Baskerville is in the neighborhood of 6-foot-3 and 216 pounds, personable, good-natured and a finance major. For a party trick, he can wiggle his ears. His mom says he treats others with a big heart, in part perhaps because of her background in special ed.

No one would guess she spent about the last seven weeks before he was born in Houston's Park Plaza Hospital, the result of placenta previa, a complication in which the placenta totally or partially blocks the cervix. In September, doctors gave Sharon Baskerville steroids to speed the development of her baby's lungs, anticipating the possible need for an early delivery.

During a regular checkup in October, a doctor ordered her admitted immediately to a hospital. Immediately, as in, directly to the hospital with no stops in between.

"I'm like, 'What am I supposed to do? I have two boys who are at school. I have work,' " she said. "He said, 'You're at a point that, at any point if you start bleeding, it will cut off the oxygen.' "

From then until the delivery, Skip had to do the work of both parents. Christian, who goes by Trey and now coaches at Richland, was 6 at the time. Chandler was 3. They'd all spend weekends at the hospital. Then Monday through Friday, Skip would get the boys ready for school, feed them, do laundry and the rest of the household chores.

In early December, doctors decided the baby needed to be delivered.

"The evening before," Sharon said, "they noticed that there were two large blood clots that had formed, and they were very concerned as to still why these were showing up, so that was a big concern."

Christopher Julien arrived by C-section. He checked out healthy. Then he started growing. His mother jokes: You know how, with three boys, clothes can be handed down and passed around? Not with Julien. He outgrew his brothers and now wears a size 13 1/2 shoe.

"It was just amazing," his mother said. "He was early, so we thought he would probably weigh a little bit less. It seemed like within a month after he was born, he just kind of doubled in size."

Red Raiders' football player, father both pursue degree from Texas Tech

Baskerville had his name entered into the NCAA transfer portal last year on Dec. 1 and committed to Texas Tech two weeks later. Funny thing, even before Joey McGuire's staff reached out to Baskerville, his father had looked into and then applied to the Texas Tech distance learning program to pursue a doctorate in educational leadership. Father and son both started in January.

"It'd be nice if we graduated in the same year," Skip said. "I'm not scheduled to graduate until 2026. With all going well, hopefully he's '25, but I've thought about trying to kick in some extra classes so we can graduate on the same day."

Skip takes credit for most people calling his son C.J. That started when he was 3 years old. Christian and Chandler already were playing tackle in Katy youth football. Little Julien wanted to play, too. So the fall before his fourth birthday, they let him play junior flag with the 4-year-olds.

That's when the whole name thing started. That's when Skip started coaching his youngest son, something he'd keep doing until C.J. got to middle school.

"Mom wanted him to go by Julien," Skip said, "and I wanted him to have kind of a nickname that was easier to roll out than Julien. Not to say masculine, but a little bit catchy.

"So the deal was, when he was playing sports we would call him C.J. and when he was at home or around family, we'd call him Julien. Well, most of his friends came out of playing team sports so C.J. caught on quicker than Julien. But he's pretty proud of the Julien part."

No matter what anyone calls their youngest, the Baskervilles are proud of him. And there for him.

Mom and dad do their best to make every one of their son's games. When he took the job at Birdville, Skip would travel 4 1/2 hours every weekend back to Katy for C.J.'s games. That went on for two years. When C.J. spent the past two years playing for San Diego State, his parents made it to the Aztecs' games more often than not.

And aware their son would miss last week's game against Oregon with a broken wrist, the Baskervilles made the trip to Lubbock anyway. They had that discussion: C.J. would be on the sideline supporting his team. They needed to be in the stands supporting him.

Skip has always tried to wear some type of distinctive garment, making it easier for a son to spot him.

"I always send him a text with some type of Bible verse," Skip said, "and the most important thing I always tell him is I love him. Every time we get off the phone, I tell him I love him, and he tells it back to me. He's not ashamed of it, because if anything ever happens, the last words that we will have said to one another is, 'I love you.' "

College football

Who: Tarleton State at Texas Tech

When: 6 p.m. Saturday

Where: Jones AT&T Stadium

Online streaming: ESPN+

Records: Tarleton State 2-0; Texas Tech 0-2

Rankings: Both teams unranked.

Last game: Tarleton State 52, North Alabama 31; No. 13 Oregon 38, Texas Tech 30.

Last meeting: Never played.

Line: None.

Game guarantee: Texas Tech to pay Tarleton State $475,000.

This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Texas Tech football's Julien (C.J.) Baskerville was a preemie. That didn't hold him back in any area