They say that the most popular player on any football team is the backup quarterback. Well, those Texas Tech fans who are fascinated with backup QB Will Hammond are going to get to see him run the show in the Red Raiders' Liberty Bowl matchup with Arkansas. That's because starting quarterback Behren Morton will miss the game after having elective shoulder surgery.
That news was announced by Texas Tech in an official statement released to the media on Saturday. The full statement can be seen below.
In the statement, we learn that Morton had the procedure on Tuesday of this week in Los Angeles. The statement says that Morton will resume throwing in the spring and will be able to resume full activities sometime in the summer.
That's not ideal news given that Morton will not be a full participant in the spring football workouts. Those practices will be crucial for the Red Raider offense this year given that new offensive coordinator Mack Leftwich will be installing his scheme in preparation for his first season in Lubbock.
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Morton's throwing shoulder has troubled him for the past two seasons, though he's been able to play through the injury. He hurt his shoulder in week four of the 2023 season when he landed on it after a tackle in a road game at West Virginia.
At the time, the injury was labeled a sprain. It limited Morton's ability to push the ball down the field for the remainder of the season and even caused him to miss the game at BYU later in the season. Still, last year Morton threw for 1,757 yards, 15 TDs, and 8 picks in 10 games as a redshirt sophomore.
This season, most thought (or at least hoped) that Morton was back to 100%, especially after he worked with biomechanics expert Tom Gormely and his team in Florida. The goal of that work was to help Morton find a way to throw the ball freely and without hindrance
This season, Morton started all 12 games of the regular season making him the first Texas Tech QB to do so since Patrick Mahomes II in 2016. However, he did tweak his shoulder against TCU causing him to miss the second half of that game. In his place, Hammond played well throwing for 121 yards and a TD while completing 11 of 15 passes. He also ran for 16 yards and another TD. Now, it is fair to wonder if that incident in Forth Worth led to Morton's medical procedure.
Morton threw for 3,335 yards with 27 touchdowns and 8 picks. Those numbers were the best of his career and given that he was obviously playing through an injury for at least part of the season, they are rather impressive.
Hopefully, Morton will be able to finally play at full health after getting his shoulder cleaned up. However, this development does open the door for Hammond to show what he can do in the Liberty Bowl and in the spring. Thus, it is fair to wonder if there will be a true QB competition to monitor in Lubbock over the offseason.