With the Texas Tech basketball season fast approaching, it only makes sense that fans and the national media alike are wondering about the status of superstar forward JT Toppin, who is working his way back from a torn knee ligament sustained in a February game at Arizona State. Tuesday, head coach Grant McCasland was on Jon Rothstein's podcast, and he gave the latest update.
"I'll tell you two things, and I haven't spoken about this publicly," he said, "but one is, I do think he's ahead of schedule. And maybe, if you're just looking at timelines of how people respond leg strength-wise, diameter, explosiveness, those things that matter, and he does do some individual work with skill development. So it's not all just; he's doing some skills stuff. We aren't doing any kind of live anything.
"I mean, he's still trying to progress to a point where he can get to where he can practice, and we're not going to practice him in a short amount of time and play him. We're really going to ramp him up slow in practices, and we're not even close to him practicing right now. So I would say, you know, everybody wants to ask a timeline; I really can't say one, but I can say that he's progressed at a rate that we feel like he can make an impact on this team significantly, and that's kind of where he stands."
While McCasland's remarks put to rest any thought of an early-season return for Texas Tech's best player, they do give fans hope that Toppin will be a factor at some point in 2026-27. That's all one could ask for given when his injury occurred.
What's the latest with JT Toppin's return for Texas Tech?https://t.co/37P3IN7QoQ (Apple) https://t.co/sNq3sf1Q9E (Spotify)https://t.co/werysZF60P (YouTube) pic.twitter.com/QBHMQSfPPq
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) October 20, 2026
Toppin went down in a heap while driving the ball to the basket against Arizona State on February 17, a game the Red Raiders lost 72-67. He didn't have surgery on his knee until late March. Initially, there was a concern that he could miss all of 2026-27, given that most ligament tears often take somewhere close to a year to heal.
Fortunately, it sounds as if Toppin is ahead of schedule in his rehab, and he'll make his return to action sometime this season. When that will be, McCasland won't say. In fact, he won't even say when Toppin might be cleared to start practicing in full.
"We have not put a time on that," he said, "because we're trying to get his leg strength to where we feel it's at an adequate level so that he can practice, and we don't have a timetable on that."
Of course, Toppin's absence will be felt by his teammates. That's especially true given Tech's brutal non-conference schedule, which includes games against at least four teams ranked in the preseason A.P. poll and possibly more depending on how the matchups shake out at the Players Era Sixteen event in Las Vegas in late November.
On the other hand, playing without Toppin could fortify the Red Raiders. It will give other players a chance to develop as they log more minutes, and it will force Tech to be a more well-rounded team since Toppin won't be there as a security blanket early in the season.
Still, for this team to reach the Final Four, Toppin will have to be part of the equation. Fortunately, McCasland sounds confident that his superstar will be ready to go in time to help this year's team in its push through the Big 12 and into March Madness. That is the best news fans can hope for at this point.
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