FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — Texas Tech quarterback Behren Morton injured his left non-throwing shoulder and didn’t play in the second half of the Red Raiders’ 35-34 loss at TCU on Saturday.
Morton was sacked for a 5-yard loss on a third-down play with 36 seconds left in the first half. The junior was replaced by true freshman Will Hammond in the second half.
“It’s not something that is major, but there is something there,” coach Joey McGuire said of Morton’s injury.
X-rays taken at the stadium were inconclusive, though McGuire indicated that it could be a collarbone injury. Morton was in a sling, and was going to be re-evaluated when the team got home.
“The X-ray was not to where we could see anything, but he was really sore, and so we felt like we couldn’t put him back in at that point,” McGuire said.
Morton completed 13 of 22 passes for 137 yards before halftime, when Tech led 17-14.
Hammond threw a touchdown and ran for another on the first two drives after halftime when he took over, upping the Red Raiders lead to 31-14, though the Horned Frogs came back in the fourth quarter. Hammond lost a fumble on a third-down run at the TCU 27 with 1:38 left after a crushing hit from 320-pound nose tackle Hakeem Ajijolaiya when Tech (5-3, 3-2 Big 12) was trying to set up a go-ahead field goal.
Hammond was 10-of-15 passing for 121 yards.
“Everybody’s going to talk about the last play,” McGuire said. “But up until that point, there were a couple of plays in there that you’d like to have back, but he played really well, and it didn’t surprise me at all.”
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