Saturday night into Sunday morning, the Texas Tech football team won a wild game against West Virginia to move to 8-1 on the season. Unfortunately, a number of Texas Tech offensive stars were banged up in the victory.
The biggest hit the team took was the loss of Coy Eakin. After the game, head coach Joey McGuire revealed that the senior receiver will be out indefinitely.
"We'll lose Coy for a few weeks," McGuire said. "He broke his hand tonight."
Eakin exited the game in the first quarter after making a catch for 22 yards to move the chains. After that, he went to the locker room and returned to the sidelines in street clothes.
This loss is significant for a Texas Tech offense that is starting to find its footing under new starting quarterback Thomas Castellanos. Eakin, a Stephenville native, is second on the team in receiving yards with 285 and tied for third in receptions with 24.
Throughout his career, Eakin has been a tremendous option on third down. His ability to maneuver over the middle of the field and come up with tough catches in congested areas is uncanny. Now, the Red Raiders will hope that a true freshman can fill his shoes.
Texas Tech now turns to true freshman Chase Campbell
With Eakin on the shelf for perhaps the remainder of the regular season, the Red Raiders will ask true freshman Chase Campbell to step up. This season, the Frienship High School product has caught only five passes for 81 yards.
However, against West Virginia, he made a couple of catches that helped his team prevail. Most notably, he came down with a jump ball that he took away from a defensive back for a 43-yard completion late in the second quarter. That play helped set up a Texas Tech touchdown that staked the home team to a 41-27 halftime lead.
Campbell arrived on campus with quite a bit of hype. The Wolforth native was a 4-star signee in the 2026 recruiting class.
According to 247Sports.com, he was the No. 103 overall player and No. 16 wide receiver in America. He picked Tech over offers from Utah, North Carolina, Arkansas, Oklahoma State, Ole Miss, Tennessee, TCU, Missouri, and others.
The fact that he's already moved into a prominent position on the depth chart shows that he has adjusted to the college game in short order. Now, though, he will be asked to make an impact on a weekly basis until Eakin returns.
Texas Tech dodges a bullet with two other injuries
Two other important offensive players who were injured against West Virginia were running backs Cam Dickey and Quinten Joyner. Fortunately, McGuire felt confident that both avoided a major setback.
"Cam, he kinda tweaked that ankle," McGuire said, "so we feel like he should be OK. We'll see how he looks tomorrow and Monday. The same way, Q, tweaked his ankle, so we'll see how he looks."
With those two running backs down, Tech had to rely heavily on J'Koby Williams to close out the game. He ended the night with 19 rushes (the third-most he's had in a game in his college career) and three receptions.
Though he is Tech's best playmaker, there is a point of diminishing returns for the 5-foot-10, 180-pounder, and we might have seen that against West Virginia. Williams was dynamic in the first half, but as the game wore on, he appeared to lose some of his explosiveness, and the yards didn't come as easily for him as they often do.
Hopefully Dickey and Joyner will be ready to go next week in Stillwater, because that could be another wild shootout. If that's the case, the Red Raiders will need all hands on deck.
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