After just one game into the season, it was clear that this Texas Tech team is different from past ones, specifically in terms of size. Although plenty of mistakes were made on Saturday against Arkansas-Pine Bluff, head coach Joey McGuire feels good about the improvements that need to be made and identifies the main points to address.

Now heading into Week 2, Tech will host Kent State this Saturday, following the Golden Flashes’ 21-17 win over Merrimack this past weekend. McGuire met with the media on Monday to discuss the team’s first win of the season, improvements for the entire team, and more.

Behren Morton status

Senior quarterback Behren Morton left the game during the second quarter after suffering from a lower leg injury, which, according to coach McGuire, was a hyperextended knee injury. However, Morton came back out before halftime, which is always a good sign, and didn’t return to the game for the rest of the night.

“He’s really sore, but the X rays and MRI, they came back negative. So it’s more muscle soreness. He got hit right outside, so all the muscle calf and the shin area. So it’s really not where his shin is sore, just all the muscles around it, you know, we’ll play it day by day,” McGuire said. “We’ll see what he looks like tomorrow, probably gearing back a little bit, if he doesn’t feel 100% maybe get some seven on seven and stuff like that, and just play it day by day of what we’re going to do with him on Saturday. You know, if he feels great, is ready to go, then we plan on playing him.

One thing I don’t want to do, I think we all saw. One, you’ve got good quarterback room. But two, he’s really on point right now. He and Mack (Leftwich) are as aligned as a quarterback and a coordinator can be. And so we don’t want to disrupt that, because we’re going to play Saturday and the next Saturday, and we saw Utah has a really good football team against UCLA. We want to make sure our quarterback’s in rhythm. Want to make sure he’s healthy, but we also want to make sure he’s in rhythm.”

Future at STAR

With the uncertainty surrounding Miquel Dingle’s injury on Saturday, one of the players listed at the STAR position is eliminated, leaving only John Curry and AJ McCarty as the main two for that position. However, there are chances that players will be moved around, as well as some returning from injury.

“I hate that for him (Dingle), because he was just really getting back these last, you know, two and a half weeks is where he’s been full speed. You know, it works out from the standpoint of being able to play John Curry so much, we’ll continue to do that. And then AJ McCarty is fully back, so that was a position that he started last year. So we feel like we’ve got good depth there,” McGuire said. “We’re probably a week away, hopefully for Marcus Ramon-Edwards to be cleared. So that adds that third STAR if we need it… Oliver Miles has played STAR in practice. BJ Jordan has started games at STAR, so we can play Peyton (Morgan) and Oliver at the strong safety, the high safety. So we feel like we got a lot of depth. That’s one thing, another spot, secondary wise, the deepest part is the safety room.”

McGuire’s thoughts looking forward

With any team, there are always areas for improvement. McGuire has always emphasized the importance of his players playing with maximum effort and minimizing mistakes, especially during Week 1 when they are adjusting to the speed of a real game. Looking ahead to Kent State, McGuire and his staff have specific goals in mind as they head into this weekend.

“We continue to emphasize eliminate bad football like that was one thing that I was really proud because we did play a really clean game for the first game,” McGuire said. “This is a very old, mature team, so they’re going to they’re going to make sure they’re prepared… One thing I want these guys to understand is, is it’s okay to mess up like they’re we’re going to mess up. This is not an individual sport. There’s 10 other guys on the field that are going to have their backs, but one thing that is not acceptable is not to play with unmatched effort.

You know that what you should see from this team is how hard these guys play, because they love the game, love the University and love each other, and so we’re going to come out and we’re going to play really hard on Saturday, and we’ll be prepared.”