Texas Tech football injury update: Tahj Brooks will not play vs. Washington State

All week, we've known that Texas Tech running back Tahj Brooks would be a game-time decision to play against Washington State. Now we know that he is in fact going to miss the Red Raiders' week two game due to an arm injury.

When Brooks appeared on Monday's injury report, it was a surprise to Red Raider fans. That's because he wasn't shown leaving the field in pain during the Abilene Christian game.

What's more, he racked up 153 yards and a TD on 27 carries in the week-one OT win. During that game, there were no indications that he had sustained any injuries so to be without him this week is certainly a huge blow to the Red Raider's hopes of beating the Cougars on the road.

There is no question that Tech wants to run the football tonight. That's the best way to protect a suspect defense that gave up over 600 yards to Abilene Christian last week.

Without Brooks, players such as junior Cam'Ron Valdez and freshmen Cam Dickey and J'Koby Williams will have to shoulder the load. Between them, they have just 482 yards rushing with all but five of those belonging to Valdez.

The Rockdale, Texas native has been a seldomly-used backup to Brooks. Last year, when Brooks had 290 carries, Valdez earned only 52 carries on which he picked up 286 yards and one TD.

Almost half of his 2023 season rushing total came in one game. When the Red Raiders beat Houston 49-28 in Lubbock last fall, Valdez racked up 111 yards and a TD on just six carries showing that he had big-play potential.

However, that's been the only game of impact for his career. His next-best game has been a 71-yard effort on just three carries against TCU in 2022.

Now, it is fair to question whether Valdez can carry the load as a featured running back. He's never had more than 12 rushes in a game and for his career, he's had only two games with more than nine carries.

Behind him will be Dickey and Williams. Both were three-star recruits in the class of 2024 but neither was able to get any experience against Abilene Christian because of how close that game was.

That will change tonight against Washington State with Brooks sidelined. Here's hoping that the Red Raiders' backup running backs will be able to pick up the slack.