On a night when arguably the greatest quarterback in Texas Tech history, Graham Harrell, was roaming the opposing sidelines, the next era in Red Raider quarterback play began as Will Hammond made his first start as the full-time leader of the offense. Though Hammond's performance wasn't epic by any stretch of the imagination, he showed enough promise and talent that fans in scarlet and black should be encouraged about what he could eventually become.
The junior from Hutto, Texas, was an efficient 26-of-33 passing for 298 yards and a touchdown. Unfortunately, he also had an interception in the first half, a play that fans seem to be harping on more than any of the good plays he made.
That's natural given the nature of fans. The good news, though, is that his lone critical mistake on the evening should be easily corrected.
Only Hammond will know for certain, but it seemed as if his second-quarter pick was a result of him overthinking things as he tried to play it safe with his reconstructed right knee in his first action since tearing a ligament in that joint last October. A fully healthy and confident Hammond would have run for the first down on that play, but because he was instructed by his coaches to limit his scrambling, he tried to do too much with his arm, and it cost his team a possession.
Outside of that play, though, Hammond was as solid as anyone could have hoped for. His head coach, Joey McGuire, was pleased with what he saw from his signal caller.
"I thought he did a really good job," McGuire said in his postgame press conference. "...I think that's his fourth start of his career...but I was really proud of him. I thought he did a good job."
Texas Tech fans must remember that Hammond doesn't have to be Super Man
While Texas Tech fans believe it is our birthright to watch elite quarterback play after being spoiled by years of the "Air Raid" offense, the fact is that Hammond doesn't need to be the second coming of Patrick Mahomes II for this team to be effective. He simply needs to execute the offense and take what the defense gives him while allowing his playmakers to do what they do best. That's what he did on Saturday night.
Early in the game, he was content to check the ball down to running back J'Koby Williams or take underneath routes. In fact, he began the night by completing his first 14 passes prior to the interception.
In all, he completed 78.8% of his throws while averaging over nine yards per attempt. That type of showing will earn this team plenty of wins.
Sure, Hammond was playing against an FCS opponent. But for him to be that under control in his return to the field is impressive.
"You gotta imagine just how geeked up that kid was to play, tonight" McGuire said. "To be the starting quarterback for Texas Tech, and to go through everything he's gone through in his rehab and everything, he was really geeked up. I thought he did a really good job controlling his emotions."
Now, he must improve in the red zone, as is the case with the entire offense. On five red-zone possessions, he was just 4-9 passing for nine yards and no TDs.
"I think we can be a lot cleaner in the red zone," Hammond said after the game. "It really starts with me. Micah [Hudson] was open on the back end line; Kenny [Johnson] was open on the back end line on the same play. Coy [Eakin] ended up popping open on the play where I checked it down to Cam Dickey, so all those drives where we ended with field goals, yeah, those are all touchdown drives."
With that said, to get nearly a 300-yard passing performance from a QB making his first start after rehabbing a blown-out knee is about all Tech fans should ask for. That's also true in this case given that Hammon missed all of spring practice while recovering from that injury. So to say that he was likely rusty should be a given.
There is certainly room to grow for Tech's newest QB1, but he showed enough in game one to prove that he has all the tools needed to lead this team where it wants to go. Once Hammond gets back into the flow of playing football instead of working on recovering from his injury, he'll take off and perhaps become the next great Red Raider QB.
Add us as a preferred source on Google