Texas Tech football: Is Behren Morton ready for this opportunity?

When Morton is bad, it’s been very ugly for Texas Tech

Consistency is something that coaches crave from their QBs.  But because Morton has never been a full-time starter, he’s never had a chance to get into a multi-week rhythm and as a result, he’s been rather inconsistent, as one might expect of an inexperienced QB.

What’s more, when Morton has been bad, he’s been very…very bad.  For instance, this past weekend he was truly dreadful against West Virginia.

Maybe it was the wet conditions in Morgantown, perhaps it was the adrenaline of having to come into the game for an injured starter for the first time in his career, or perhaps it was just a bad day but what Morton showed against the Mountaineers was uninspiring at best.

Now, there were some drops that impacted his final stat line but still, completing just 13-37 passes (35.1%) for only 158  yards in over three quarters of action is not going to get the job done.

Repeatedly, Morton bounced passes to his receivers or threw so off the mark that he gave his teammates no shot at making a play.  What’s more, his lack of experience showed in his pocket awareness, which was not great.

Many times he seemed uncomfortable in the pocket and often, he rolled out when there wasn’t really a reason to do so.  That’s the sign of a player who hasn’t been in the fray very much in his career.

However, Morton did not turn the football over, something that has been an issue with seven career INTs on just 222 attempts.  That was a problem in his worst showing thus far, 2022’s most disappointing loss.

On a night when Pat Mahomes was in the house to have his name placed in the Ring of Honor, Morton was just 11-34 passing for 152 yards, one TD, and three picks in a 45-17 loss.  That day, he was completely befuddled by the defensive scheme of Baylor head coach Dave Aranda (while his offensive line didn’t help him much either) and he looked every bit the part of a redshirt freshman making just his third career start.

When Morton has been off his game, it’s been ugly.  That’s why everyone knows that he has a high ceiling but an extremely low floor.  That’s what you get with a gunslinger and that’s why the coaches may have been hesitant to turn the keys over to Morton full-time. But now, they have no choice but to live with the highs and lows.