Freshman Receiver Sterling Galban Tears ACL

Texas Tech true freshman inside receiver Sterling Galban has suffered a torn ACL in his knee and is expected to miss significant time.

The Texas Tech football team was unable to make it through the spring completely healthy.  True freshman slot receiver Sterling Galban tore a knee ligament while at practice effectively ending any hopes he had of earning a spot in the crowded Texas Tech receiver rotation this fall.

However, it was expected that the Burnet, Texas native was likely to redshirt this season and now that will be a certainty as he will miss up to nine months recovering from the injury.  If Galban was going to impact the 2018 Texas Tech football team, his best shot was likely to be as a punt and kickoff returner where he worked in the spring as Texas Tech looks to replace Keke Coutee and Cam Batson who handled those duties last season.

Galban was a three-star signee in the 2018 recruiting class who enrolled early in order to participate in spring practice.  The two sport (football and track) star caught a combined 166 passes for 1,939 yards and 19 touchdowns in his past three seasons of high school football.

The 5-foot-10, 175-pound receiver was originally committed to Iowa State.  He also held offers from Illinois, Bowling Green, Nevada, Southern Mississippi and TCU.

One concern moving forward is whether Galban will lose any of his speed as a result of this injury.  Galban’s game is built on his ability to blow past defenders and if he loses a step following his ACL tear, it might be hard for him to adjust his game.

247Sports.com had the following scouting report on Galban after he committed to Iowa State last summer.

"“Galban is your twitchy slot receiver with an excellent burst in and out of breaks and off the line of scrimmage. He’s got extremely reliable hands and is a productive player for Burnet. He can get separation underneath with his quickness and sudden burst as a slot receiver. If Galban has a crease after the catch he can take it for a touchdown. We also really like Galban’s ability to work in open spaces without the football when the quarterback escapes the pocket. He does a nice job keeping a correlation with the quarterback when the play breaks down.”"

The silver lining for Texas Tech is that Sterling Gablan was not expected to be a big part of the offense this fall.  There are a number of more experienced options at slot receiver such as seniors Jojo Robinson, Zach Austin and De’Quan Bowman and juniors Antione Wesley and Donta Thompson.

One other note of interest on Galban is that his brother, one of the top junior quarterback recruits in Texas, was in Lubbock for the spring game.  Chandler Galban, a 2020 recruit posted video to Twitter of him working out with Jett Duffey in the indoor practice facility.

Next: Texas Tech Adds Oregon State Receiver

Should Sterling Galban return to form after his injury and Chandler Galban follow his brother to Texas Tech, this is a family name Red Raider fans should become very familiar with.