Texas Tech football: What we want to see tonight vs. SFA

The backup QBs need to get some work

Once the season begins, it is tough to get your backup QBs some work.  The vast majority of the practice reps go to the starter and of course, in most games, the backup QB doesn’t see the field (unless something has gone terribly wrong).

But Texas Tech football fans are all too aware that the backup QB is just one snap away from being the man in charge of the offense.  In fact, in each of the past four years, Tech has had to have the backup QB start at least one game.

So tonight, the backups need to get some critical reps.  That would require Tech to jump out early and put this game away by at least the middle of the third quarter.

That’s because it isn’t second-string QB Henry Colombi that needs the work.  After all, he started a handful of games last year.

But there are a pair of young freshman QBs behind him who are chomping at the bit to get their first collegiate action.  And who knows, at some point this year, Tech may have to rely on one of them.

Neither redshirt freshman Donovan Smith nor true freshman Behren Morton has yet to take a snap in a college football game.  That should change tonight for at least one of them.

While it might not seem important for Tech to have a solid third-string QB, remember that recent program history suggests otherwise.  In both 2018 and 2019, Tech had to rely on third-string QB Jett Duffey to start multiple games due to injuries to and ineffectiveness from the players ahead of him on the depth chart.

So hopefully Colombi and either Smith or Morton see the field tonight because that will mean that the game is easily in hand.  And it’s crucial for those players to get live reps whenever possible because you simply never know when they will be called upon to play important snaps.