Promising young Texas Tech edge rusher to miss 2024 season with injury

The one thing that every team in America wants to avoid in fall camp is the catastrophic injury. Unfortunately, one of the talented young Texas Tech defensive players was unable to do that in the first week of fall camp this year.

"Dylan Spencer, we lost him for the year," Texas Tech head coach Joey McGuire said following Saturday's first scrimmage of fall camp. "Knee...Practice No. 1, maybe practice No. 2. Non-pads, non-contact so he's going to be out for the year.

"Bad step, kinda overextended. Man, it's kinda scary when it's non-contact, guys."

This is obviously disappointing news for the Red Raiders. After all, Spencer (who is a true sophomore) is one of the players on the roster who was a highly-rated prospect when he signed with Tech.

In the class of 2023, the Houston native was listed as a 4-star signee according to the 247Sports.com composite rankings. He was the No. 43 defensive lineman in the nation and the No. 58 player in Texas.

Spencer held an impressive offer list as a recruit. In addition to Tech, he was recruited by Arizona, State, Baylor, Houston, LSU, SMU, Texas A&M, and USC. What's more, at one point in his recruitment, he was committed to the Texas Longhorns.

Thus, plenty has been expected of Spencer since the moment he arrived. Last season, the outside linebacker played in eight games. He was the No. 2 option at edge rusher behind senior Myles Cole and he registered four tackles while being credited with 84 snaps.

This season, it was expected that the 6-foot-5, 245-pounder would push for more playing time. He was battling with a number of teammates for snaps as a pass rusher as Tech looks for options to fill that critical role. Now, however, it will be at least a year until we see him get after the quarterback again.