Optimism among Texas Tech football fans is soaring as we prepare for the 2025 season. That's what bringing in the nation's top transfer class will do for a program and a fandom desperate to return to prominence after nearly two decades of irrelevance.
However, for many Red Raiders, there seems to be one area of concern looming over the upcoming season. That is the ability of QB Behren Morton.
On one hand, it is easy to see why some are unsure about Morton as a top-flight quarterback. He's only thrown for 3,000 yards once in his career (2024), and he's never completed more than 63.3% of his passes in a season.
What's more, he simply hasn't delivered the type of signature moments that some of the great Texas Tech quarterbacks in years past have. In fact, given that he's played his entire career next to the program's all-time leading rusher, Tahj Brooks, he has never even been the focal point of the offense.
Then, there is the fact that Morton has been banged up for the majority of his time as a collegiate. Whether it was the 2022 high ankle sprain or the shoulder injury that has plagued him for most of the past two years, injuries have prevented us from seeing the best version of the former 4-star signee.
Thus, there is a significant portion of the Red Raider populace that is leery about whether Morton is the man capable of leading this program to a Big 12 title and a playoff spot. However, recent history suggests that Morton won't have to be the next coming of Graham Harrell or Patrick Mahomes II for his team to win big in 2025.
Texas Tech may not need Morton to be a Heisman candidate this fall
The reality is that the world of college football has changed. We aren't living in the 2010s when the only way to win the Big 12 was to have an offense capable of putting up 50 points per week. Instead, the game is now more about balance on offense and quality defense.
Last season, Arizona State won the Big 12 title with Sam Leavitt at quarterback. Throwing for only 2,855 yards and 24 TDs, he completed just 61.7% of his passes last fall. Yet, for some reason, he is considered by many to be in a different tier than Morton when it comes to Big 12 passers.
Meanwhile, the other QB who led his team to the Big 12 Championship Game last season, Iowa State's Rocco Becht, had numbers similar to Morton's. He threw for 3,505 yards and 25 TDs despite playing in 14 games (two more than Morton played in). What's more, he completed only 59.4% of his passes. Morton threw for 3,335 yards and 27 TDs last season and almost certainly would have surpassed Becht's numbers if he had played in the Red Raiders' bowl game.
Even the top teams in the country got to the top of the college football mountain last season without dominant quarterback play. Ohio State won the National Championship with Will Howard throwing for only 250.6 yards per game. That was about 17 yards per game less than Morton threw for last fall.
Meanwhile, national runner-up, Notre Dame, got to the title game with QB Riley Leonard passing for only 2,861 yards and 21 TDs despite playing 16 games, four more than Morton. On the other hand, Heisman Trophy winner Cam Ward, who threw for 4,313 yards and 39 TDs, couldn't even get his Miami team into the College Football Playoff.
As for the player who led the FBS in passing last season, Syracuse's Kyle McCord, he could only get his team to a fourth-place finish in the mediocre ACC despite throwing for 4,779 yards and 34 TDs.
In fact, it has been quite some time since a truly elite quarterback led his team to the National Championship. The 2024 National Champions, Michigan, saw starting QB J.J. McCarthy pass for merely 2,991 yards and 22 TDs.
In 2023, Georgia won it all despite seeing QB Stetson Bennett throw for just 275.2 yards per game. The year before that, the Bulldogs took home the crown with Bennett passing for just 2,862 yards in 14 games played.
The last QB to take his team to glory nationally while putting up massive numbers with his arm was Mac Jones of Alabama. In 2021, his team took home the National Championship thanks in large part to his passing. That year (the 2020 season), he threw for 346.1 yards per game and 41 TDs despite playing a regular-season schedule abbreviated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Since then, though, the champion has been the most well-rounded team, not the one with the best quarterback statistics. That's good news for Texas Tech.
This year, the Red Raiders believe they will have their most balanced and complete roster since 2008. Therefore, Morton won't have to play the role of Superman every week.
Yes, there will be times when he has to make plays in key situations to win close games. That's the nature of the position.
However, to suggest that everything that happens in 2025 hinges solely on Morton's surgically repaired shoulder is a bit of a stretch. Rather, he simply has to play within his capabilities and trust his teammates to do the same.
While we would all love to see Morton be the next great Texas Tech gun slinger, that's not necessarily what will be asked of him this fall. Rather, if he can just be solid and dependable, that could be more than enough for this overhauled Red Raider team to make it to the College Football Playoff.