What's next for Texas Tech football after freshman QB pressed into service?

Texas Tech football coaches played three quarterbacks last season largely because they wanted to. They've played three quarterbacks this season because they had no choice.

True freshman Jake Strong, in his college debut, was forced to play the entire second half Saturday in a 38-21 loss to Kansas State after the Wildcats aggravated Behren Morton's sprained AC joint in his throwing shoulder that he had played through the previous two weeks.

"He was pretty emotional when he came in at halftime," Tech coach Joey McGuire said of Morton, "because he didn't want to let anybody down. But in a situation like that, you want to protect your guy and make sure he can protect himself. We just didn't feel like he could."

Strong completed 16 of 28 passes for 173 yards and a touchdown, but Kansas State intercepted him three times, two by safety Kobe Savage. Morton was 14 of 21 for 125 yards in the first half and scored on a quarterback sneak.

Morton suffered the shoulder injury during the Red Raiders' Sept. 23 loss at West Virginia. Throwing little in practice to save his arm for game days, Morton played full games the past two weeks in a 49-28 victory against Houston and a 39-14 triumph at Baylor.

Even with the setback, McGuire didn't rule out Morton for the Red Raiders' next game, at 6 p.m. CDT Saturday at Brigham Young.

"I would think there's a really good chance Behren starts," he said. "We'll see tomorrow whenever he comes in and see how he goes during the week. Either way, we'll get Jake ready to play; we'll get Behren ready to play."

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In the first half, Morton took a shot in the pocket from defensive end Nate Matlack and, on another play, was driven into the turf by 290-pound defensive tackle Jevon Banks. Those were just a couple of several hard hits he took.

"I think it was an accumulation," McGuire said.

Morton is Tech's second quarterback and Strong its third. Tyler Shough, who won the starting job each of the past three seasons, suffered a broken fibula in the West Virginia game and underwent surgery three days later. The time frame for Shough's return is at least six to eight weeks.

Strong, from Justin Northwest, joined the team in January. He gave the Red Raiders a spark and energized the Jones AT&T Stadium crowd on his second series when he took an option keeper 54 yards to the Kansas State 8-yard line and lofted a touchdown pass to Jerand Bradley three plays later.

He put the Red Raiders ahead 21-17, and then he was intercepted on each of the next three series.

"He throws a good deep ball, had some good passes on that," McGuire said. "He has a good connection with the receivers, just because he's been with the ones (first team) and the twos (top backups). The week we were going into Houston, he took the majority of the reps because Behren didn't throw any.

"He took a lot of the reps this week. Behren didn't throw until Friday. And so I see a lot. The kid is young and was put in a tough situation coming in instead of starting the game."

Redshirt freshman Coy Eakin caught five passes for 102 yards, both career highs. Strong and Eakin connected on passes of 43, 12 and 12 yards.

Bradley, targeted 10 times, finished with five receptions for 46 yards.

Last year, Shough, Donovan Smith and Morton started about one-third of the games apiece. Injuries prompted the changes, but offensive coordinator Zach Kittley used all three, in part to incorporate Smith's running ability.

This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: What's next for Texas Tech football after freshman QB forced into action?