Texas Tech football could be down to 4th-string QB vs. Baylor

This week, the Texas Tech football team is facing the very real possibility of having to start 4th-string quarterback Colt Garrett against Baylor.

In what would be an unprecedented run of bad luck, there is a legitimate possibility that the Texas Tech football team could have to start 4th-string quarterback Colt Garrett this weekend against Baylor. Speaking to reporters for the weekly Big 12 media teleconference, Kliff Kingsbury said that all three of the quarterbacks that have started games this year (Alan Bowman, Jett Duffey and McLane Carter) are dealing with varying levels of injures meaning the team would have to get Garrett ready to see action.

"“We’re still trying to figure it out with Alan [Bowman] and then the other two guys are banged up as well,” Kingsbury said. “We’ll have [Colt Garrett] ready to go in case these guys can’t do it on Saturday.”"

Of course, every Texas Tech fan is aware that Bowman continues to work his way back from his second collapsed lung of the season suffered against Oklahoma on November 3rd. In his place, Jett Duffey has made the last two starts but he was clearly limited against Kansas State on Saturday thanks to a knee injury suffered against Texas. In fact, some unconfirmed media reports out of Lubbock have claimed that Duffey has been on crutches this week.

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Meanwhile, Carter is still not 100% healthy thanks to a high ankle sprain that he suffered against Ole Miss in week one of the season and which was aggravated against TCU in October. Carter did play in the 4th quarter against KSU but he looked woefully unprepared as the effects of nearly a full season with little-to-no practice time were evident.

That brings us to Colt Garrett. In the offseason, who would have though that Texas Tech would have to even think about relying on the walk-on to earn bowl eligibility?

The product of Roosevelt High School in tiny Acuff, just a few miles east of Lubbock, has primarily been the team’s scout-team quarterback during his time on campus. But he did get into a Big 12 game last year when he was tasked with running out the clock in the Red Raiders’ 65-19 win at Kansas. However, handing the ball off three times and taking a knee twice does not count for much other than being able to say that you took snaps in a college football game.

This year, Garrett did a bit more than that in Tech’s 77-0 week-two win over Lamar. In the 4th quarter, he connected with freshman receiver Erik Ezukanma for a 44-yard touchdown on a beautifully thrown fade route. Thus far, that stands as his only collegiate pass but at least he can say that he’s got a perfect passer rating.

The 6-foot-1, 195-pounder received virtually no interest from major colleges coming out of high school after the 2015 season despite throwing for 2,491 yards and 28 touchdowns as a senior. So he decided to chase his dream and walk-on for his hometown team. Now, it could be up to him to save that team’s season.

Texas Tech must beat Baylor Saturday to reach bowl eligibility. If it does not, it will mark the third time in the six years of the Kliff Kingsbury era that Tech has failed to reach the postseason and would almost certainly be the final nail in the embattled head coach’s coffin.

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If Garrett is called upon to start or play meaningful snaps this Saturday, it would read just like a script from the Friday Night Lights television show. A small-town walk-on from West Texas could be thrust into the biggest moment of his life in the home of the Dallas Cowboys with his head coach’s job on the line. But you will have to forgive Texas Tech fans for not trusting that this story would have a Hollywood ending.

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