Joey McGuire says Texas Tech QB Behren Morton is “full tilt” for Iowa State

Despite missing the second half of last week’s loss at TCU with an injury to his left shoulder, Texas Tech starting quarterback Behren Morton will be a full-go against Iowa State on Saturday afternoon when the Red Raiders travel to Ames. That was revealed by head coach Joey McGuire on his weekly radio show Thursday night.

“Behren’s ready to go,” McGuire said on Red Raider Football with Joey McGuire by Learfield. “He practiced Tuesday, Wednesday, this morning. We have a fast Friday so he’ll be full-tilt. It’s his non-throwing shoulder.”

In Fort Worth, Morton played the first half of the game against the Horned Frogs completing 13 of 22 passes for 137 yards. However, late in the second quarter, he was tackled and landed on his left shoulder. Though he remained in the game for the rest of the first half, he did not return to the field after halftime. McGuire said on Thursday that the decision was as much precautionary as anything.

“We did not get a good X-ray on his shoulder,” McGuire said. “It was really sore, the non-throwing shoulder, so we were afraid it was a possible, you know, some kind of fracture in his collarbone because of where the pain was. And because we couldn’t get a good picture there at TCU, we were like ‘Hey, let’s hold him and let’s roll with Will [Hammond].'”

The true freshman, Hammond, was able to play well in Morton’s place completing 10 of 15 passes for 121 yards and a touchdown while also running for a TD. However, he was unable to lead Tech to a win thanks in large part to his late fourth-quarter fumble that prevented the Red Raiders from attempting what would have possibly been the game-winning field goal.

Now, it appears that Hammond will return to his backup role for the time being. That’s good news on a couple of fronts.

First of all, Tech needs to preserve Hammond’s ability to redshirt this year. He can play in only two more games in the regular season and still count this year as a redshirt. That is important for the long-term outlook of this program given that Hammond could still have four years of eligibility remaining after this season.

Second, though Hammond played well against TCU, it wouldn’t be ideal for the Red Raiders to have to ask a true freshman to go on the road and beat No. 11 Iowa State. The Cyclones play a complex “cloud” defensive scheme that can be tricky to master for any QB but especially for a player who is as inexperienced as Hammond.

There’s no telling if Morton will be able to solve the stingy ISU defense, which is second in the nation in passing yards allowed per game at 133.7. After all, this will be his first career appearance against the Cyclones, a team that Tech did not face last season.

However, when trying to go on the road and upset an undefeated top-15 team in the country, having a junior with 21 career starts under his belt to lead the offense is better than asking a true freshman to make his first collegiate start.

Will Hammond’s time as Texas Tech’s starting QB will come. He is the future of the position in Lubbock.

However, that time won’t come this week as Morton is ready to go after a close call against TCU. Hopefully, his veteran presence will be enough to help the Red Raiders spring the upset.