🗣 @JoeyMcGuireTTU on naming QB1 https://t.co/4fQz2xY9ij pic.twitter.com/POLKqhEx9N

— Texas Tech Football (@TexasTechFB) August 21, 2022

Texas Tech head coach Joey McGuire named senior Tyler Shough (6-5/230) as the starting quarterback:

I first want to praise all three of our quarterbacks as this was an unbelievable competition. Tyler has played well and put our offense in position to be effective consistently throughout camp, which has earned him the right to be our starting quarterback. Tyler has a great football IQ and has really captured what we want this offense to look like with the type of responsibility we put on the quarterback. As I’ve said all along, though, we fully intend for Red Raider fans to see all three of these QBs throughout the season. This is as gifted as a room as I’ve ever seen, and I’m wiling to put the depth of our quarterback position against anyone else in the country. I know both Donovan (Smith) and Behren (Morton) will be ready when called upon as they have certainly earned the respect of myself and their teammates.

Shough beats out sophomore Donovan Smith (6-5/230) and freshman Behren Morton (6-2/210) for the starting nod, but there is no doubt that all 3 will play against Murray State and I think we’ll see from there.

Shough played 4 games last year before an injury in the Texas game. For the injury-shortened season, Shough completed 69% of his passes for 872 yards, 9.5 yards per attempt, 6 touchdowns and 3 interceptions.

I pretty well thought that Shough would start because he had the experience and given that Zach Kittley’s offense requires so much from the quarterback to make decisions, I wasn’t sure if Smith or Morton were quite ready. I don’t even have to read the comments to know that people will think that McGuire should have chosen either Smith or Morton and I don’t know who will ultimately be correct, but it is not abnormal for fans to think that whoever the back-up is would be a better option (and sometimes fans are correct). Regardless, I would also advise Smith and Morton to live it up until they are starters and fans see their flaws and similar fans are calling for Jake Strong to start. It is the way.