The Texas Tech football team’s two-deep at the start of the 2023 season figures to bear more than a passing resemblance to the one at the end of the 2022 season.

The number of this year’s Tech seniors planning to return next season on the Covid-bonus year is now up to 12.

A Tech athletics spokesman said this week six more previously unannounced players have told the coaching staff they’re coming back, offensive lineman Dennis Wilburn chief among them. Wilburn, who came to Tech as a walk-on, seized the center job in spring practice and has started every game this season.

The Tech staff plans to move Wilburn to guard for next season. On Thursday, Tech announced the addition of Western Kentucky center Rusty Staats as a transfer. Staats was the starting center on back-to-back 9-5 bowl-winning teams for the Hilltoppers.

Also planning to return in 2023 are center Cade Briggs, defensive lineman Myles Cole, linebacker Tyrique Matthews, cornerback Cameron Watts and safety Tyler Owens.

Matthews and Owens could contend for starting jobs next season. Defensive coordinator Tim DeRuyter showed a lot of confidence in Matthews this season, using him regardless of the game situation in a regular rotation with leading tackler Krishon Merriweather at field-side linebacker. Matthews has 16 tackles and 3 1/2 tackles for loss.

Owens is the top backup at boundary safety, a regular on special teams and started Tech’s game at Oklahoma State. He has 13 tackles and two pass breakups.

Cole has been a regular in the defensive-line rotation, getting credit for 10 tackles and three quarterback hurries. His versatility to play both end and tackle increases his value, and he’s played in pass-rush packages.

Tech has 23 seniors who have the option to return on the extra year granted by the NCAA to all athletes on rosters during the Covid-disrupted 2020 season. Of Tech’s 12 now on the “return” list, seven are regular starters — five on defense, two on offense — and three are top backups.

The only players among the 23 yet to make a decision, at least publicly, are quarterback Tyler Shough, tight end Henry Teeter, safety Cam White and punter Austin McNamara.

Of course, things can change. The NCAA transfer portal, open for a 45-day period that started Dec. 5 and open again from May 1-15, commonly leads to roster shakeups.

As it currently stands, left guard is the only position on offense at which Tech won’t return starting experience next season. Weston Wright, the 42-game starter there, has said he’ll bypass the extra year and train for a shot at the NFL.

During early practices for next week’s Texas Bowl, offensive linemen Caleb Rogers and Wilburn have been alternating days between their regular positions and others. One day, Rogers works at left tackle and Wilburn at center, as usual. The next, Rogers works at center and Wilburn at guard, and they go back and forth doing that.

When spring practice starts, Wilburn will be at guard.

Staats, listed by WKU at 6-foot-4 and 310 pounds, started 13 games at center each of the past two seasons. The Hilltoppers won nine games each year, beating Appalachian State last year in the Boca Raton Bowl and beating South Alabama on Wednesday in the New Orleans Bowl.