Don WilliamsLubbock Avalanche-Journal
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Joey McGuire had no choice but to start three quarterbacks in each of his first two seasons as Texas Tech football coach. No other way around it, thanks to injuries.
And when Tyler Shough and Behren Morton both were sidelined two years in a row, it merely extended a pattern. The last season in which the Red Raiders didn't have a starting quarterback miss a game because of injury was 2017. The last Tech quarterback to start every game was Patrick Mahomes II in 2016.
Some might take that as a sign to avoid running the quarterback at all costs. McGuire says he doesn't much want to use Morton in a quarterback-run game next season, but that doesn't mean he's shelving the quarterback-run game. Not by a long shot. He recruited West Georgia transfer Cameran Brown for the express purpose of keeping that element in the playbook.
McGuire credited senior offensive analyst Kirk Bryant with putting together scouting information for Bryant and offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Zach Kittley to review.
"The one thing I wanted whenever I asked them to look is a true dual-threat quarterback," McGuire said recently, "because it was going to be hard to recruit a guy knowing that Behren was the number-one guy. Part of the sales pitch to him coming to Texas Tech is that, 'We're going to be able to play you in different situations, so it's not like you're just coming to be a backup.' "
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Brown, listed at 6-foot-2 and 230 pounds, was named the No. 2 quarterback at the end of spring practice, ahead of recent scholarship signees Jake Strong and Will Hammond. A graduate of Warner Robins (Ga.) Northside, he was named the Division II Gulf South Conference offensive freshman of the year last season after passing for 914 yards and 10 touchdowns and rushing for 478 yards and six TDs.
He arrived at Tech in January via the NCAA transfer portal.
McGuire reiterated in May what he said after the spring game in April: The way Kansas State quarterback Avery Johnson terrorized the Red Raiders, rushing for five touchdowns in a Wildcats 38-21 win last year at Jones AT&T Stadium, solidified in his mind the need to have a running quarterback.
The Red Raiders were boxed into a corner last season, he said, when Shough was out for the season and Morton was out for the Oct. 21 game at Brigham Young, which ended up a 27-14 Cougars victory. Tech went into it with a true freshman Strong starting and wide receiver Brady Boyd as the No. 2 quarterback.
"I felt like we could have beat BYU," McGuire said, "number one if we'd have had another quarterback where we could have either run Jake more, or if we'd had a guy to even split time with two guys that could run the football, we could have game planned enough to win the game."
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Part of the attraction in Brown's recruitment, McGuire said, is that Brown knows who he is and what he does well.
"A lot of quarterbacks are dual-threat guys," McGuire said, "but they're not going to use their feet as much, because people have gotten in their ear saying, 'You need to be able to throw the ball if you're going to get to the (next level).
"Cameran, he really knows who he is, so he's going to pull it down (and run) if he feels pressure. He's 230-something pounds. He wants to run the ball just as much as he wants to throw it."
Shough suffered a season-ending broken fibula on Sept. 23 at West Virginia. In the same game, Morton suffered a grade-3 AC joint sprain for which he's still doing rehabilitation.
With Brown, McGuire says, the Red Raiders can keep challenging opposing defenses with a QB who can throw or run, somewhat like Donovan Smith in 2021 and 2022.
"That also takes a lot of hits off Behren," McGuire said, "(so) we're not using Behren that way."
Tech special teams coordinator Kenny Perry remarked during spring practice that Brown could play special teams.
"He's a little bit different than what we've had here," McGuire said. "He's different from Donovan. He's got a big arm and everything, but he's a really good athlete."
Tech knows how much damage a running quarterback can do. Johnson came off the bench last year in Lubbock and ran 13 times for 90 yards, including touchdowns of 2, 5, 30, 11 and 3 yards.
"We've got some really good designed plays," McGuire said, "almost going back to that K-State game and what they did with number 5 (Johnson), who's now going to be their starter — being able to do that with Cameran, too."
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