- - Behren Morton leading Texas Tech's improbable CFP run amid unreal injury journey

Matt Hayes, USA TODAYDecember 31, 2025 at 5:08 AM

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MIAMI GARDENS, FL — They’re everywhere in West Texas. Can’t swing a cowboy hat without hitting one.

But here’s the thing about pump jacks that paint the flat landscape of the oil-rich state: The damn things never stop pumping. For anything.

“That’s what I think of when you say West Texas,” says Texas Tech All-America linebacker Jacob Rodriguez. “What I think of when you say Behren Morton.”

And that’s the story of this magical Texas Tech season. Not big money benefactors swinging a big stick in the transfer portal era, not a former high school coach managing all those egos and somehow making it work.

But an overlooked and undervalued senior quarterback who has beaten significant injury odds, year after year, by gutting and grinding it out — and not stopping for anything or anyone.

Texas Tech quarterback Behren Morton (2) throws a pass against Iowa State during their game at Jack Trice Stadium.

This season, this time around, it’s a hairline fracture in his right leg. Or as medical professionals call it, a broken leg.

For two years prior — two years, and two full seasons — Morton played with a Grade 3 AC joint sprain of his throwing shoulder, an injury so severe, it involved a complete tear of ligaments connecting the collarbone and shoulder blade.

That’s three seasons of playing with significant injuries that would be season-ending for most players. But not this guy.

Not this West Texas soul born and raised in Lubbock, Texas, where life is spent bending and lifting and working nonstop like those pump jacks. You just keep going. Day after day, year after year in the hardscrabble island of the Texas hinterlands.

They’re not stopping, why should he?

“It’s just not how I was raised,” Morton said. “I’m going to do everything possible to get on that field.”

So he did, and wouldn’t you know it, the one thing that makes the $25 million dollar Texas Tech roster go, the one home-grown indispensable on a team of high-dollar, single-season mercenaries of the transfer portal era, is the pounding and persevering heart of West Texas.

The first Big 12 title in school history. The first 12-win season in school history. The first appearance in the College Football Playoff in school history, beginning Thursday in the Orange Bowl quarterfinal against Oregon.

Morton’s not missing this ride, he’s leading it.

It should come as no surprise that the one time Texas Tech stumbled in 2025, the one loss in an otherwise spotless season of winning every game by at least 22 points, was a game Morton didn’t play at Arizona State. Not because he didn’t want to, but because Texas Tech coach Joey McGuire told him it wasn’t going to happen.

He couldn’t be on the field if he couldn’t protect himself.

“He’ll fight you, now,” McGuire said. “He wants on that field.”

Look, Morton understands the risk of playing with a broken leg. Just like he understood the risk of playing with a Grade 3 AC joint sprain — until he finally relented and had surgery this past offseason.

After months of rehab and getting his body in perfect shape for his final season, and eager to show off his rehabbed strong arm, a typical tackle on a typical hit in the season opener — against Arkansas-Pine Bluff, for the love of god — changed everything. He has been hobbling around campus with that flippin’ boot since.

“Not a good look,” Morton said. "But what alternative do I have?"

It’s the boot and rehab, or it’s surgery and the end of the season. Just like it was stabilizing tape and rehab on his shoulder, or surgery and the end of the season previously.

Think about this: Not only has Morton accounted for 69 touchdowns - five of them rushing - over the last three years of playing with what would have been season-ending injuries for most quarterbacks, he had a career season in 2025 — while every single move on the field aggravated the fracture and increased the pain in his leg.

He completed 67 percent of his passes, had a touchdown/interception ratio of 22/4, and averaged 8.8 yards per attempt. All career bests.

All after not practicing a majority of the season.

“Honestly, I don’t know how he made it out there some Saturdays,” said Texas Tech backup quarterback Mitch Griffis. “I’m taking first-team reps (in practice), and he’s standing there in a boot. Then he goes out and plays, and plays at a high level. Unbelievable.”

Morton could’ve left when McGuire arrived in 2022, could’ve walked away from a coach who didn’t recruit him and found somewhere to start over. But that would’ve meant walking away from Lubbock.

That’s not how it works in West Texas.

“Never even thought about it,” Morton said. “That would be like walking away from family.”

The night before the Big 12 championship game, Morton’s dad, James, called McGuire and asked for two things. After 30-plus years of bending and lifting and working as a legendary high school football coach in the state of Texas, James Morton wanted a Big 12 title. He needed that Big 12 title.

And he wanted a picture of Behren and McGuire walking off the field together.

“We walked off together guns high,” McGuire said.

They’re not stopping now. Not for anything.

Matt Hayes is the senior national college football writer for USA TODAY Sports Network. Follow him on X at @MattHayesCFB.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Texas Tech's Behren Morton path to CFP is improbable injury journey

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