LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) – While the No. 12 Texas Tech Red Raiders take the field against Abilene Christian tonight, they can finally shake off frustrations from their 2024 matchup, which ended as a 52-51 overtime win.
This game is also the first game back for quarterback Will Hammond, who will be the Red Raiders’ lead signal-caller this season. It also comes 315 days after he suffered a season-ending ACL tear against Oklahoma State.
“It feels great! It feels great to be 100 percent. It feels great to be back out there with the guys and not worried about any of the offseason things and just being able to go out there and play. We’re excited!,” he said. “This is a dream of mine, and I was thinking back last night to year one, week one, year two, week one, and just kind of the excitement leading up to each of those games and the excitement that we have this week leading up to this game, and it’s just a special opportunity to be the starting quarterback for Texas Tech University.”
The running back room is also one of the team’s most-important features, since Quentin Joyner will be joining veterans Cameron Dickey and J’Koby Williams.
“It’s going to be awesome. Keep coming back, it’s going to be a three-headed monster, I’d say all three of us are going to be out there, and whenever our name is called, we’re going to be fresh, ready to go, and it’s going to be hard to stop!,” said Cameron Dickey, who was named to the Maxwell Award preseason watch list on Monday.
Last year, Joyner was unable to play after he suffered a torn ACL in fall camp. Offensive coordinator Mack Leftwich says “Q” will be ready to go for this year, and that he’s already put in the work this offseason.
“Man, he looked good! He looked really good. I think that running back room gets you fired up. I would put ours up against anybody in the country with him, J’Koby and Cam,” he said. “We’ll definitely lean on those guys, but I feel like Q’s going to step in and kind of challenge Cam and Jack. I feel really good about any of those guys whenever they’re in the game.”
Tech’s linebacking corps has reloaded this offseason. Kansas State-transfer Austin Romaine will be replacing Jacob Rodriguez at middle LB and is joining John Curry and Ben Roberts. Trey White is still recovering from a preseason injury.
Two years after their initial meeting, both teams will take the field with rosters heavily revamped. In the last two seasons, Tech has turned in one of the top transfer classes in the nation (No. 1 in 2025, No. 6 in 2026), and much like the ’24 season opener, ACU will make the 2 and ½ hour trip over to Lubbock with a Red Raider influence.
The Wildcats are led by head coach Keith Patterson, who served as defensive coordinator for Matt Wells 2019-21. Tech legend Graham Harrell, who was inducted into the Texas Tech Ring of Honor last year, is now the offensive coordinator at ACU. Joel Filani, who was a wide receiver at Tech from 2004-08, now coaches the Wildcat receivers. He will also be inducted into the Texas Tech Hall of Fame later this year.
Tight ends coach Stanton Keane also played as a Red Raider fullback 2014-15.
“We’re really excited about Saturday, and it’s going to be fun seeing some familiar faces and one of the greatest Red Raiders of all time. Graham Harrell is one of my favorite people in the world. I love his dad (Texas high school coaching legend Sam Harrell). As you all know, he’s one of my mentors and it’s going to be good to see Joel and Joseph Plunk, who played for us, so I’m excited that they’re coming into Galaxy Stadium and I’m excited to get this season started!,” said Texas Tech head football coach Joey McGuire.
Plunk, son of Tascosa head coach Ken Plunk, was a Tech safety from 2020-24.
As for the players suiting up, that list includes defensive lineman Tanner Allen, offensive lineman Kaden Carr, defensive lineman Isiah Crawford (former Post Antelope), cornerback Deante Lindsey, defensive back Javeon Wilcox, and tight end Jayden York.
Unlike most season-openers, where both teams kick off their year, Abilene Christian’s season has already started. Last Saturday, the Wildcats opened the season with a 21-14 loss at Lamar. Quarterback John David Black completed 15 of 25 passes for 142 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions. With 19 seconds remaining in the game, ACU had a chance to tie the game 21-21, but Black was stopped out of bounds, and the ball went over on downs on the Cardinals’ 4-yard-line.
ACU receivers Romelo Boykin and Cristian Driver accounted for the two Wildcat scores in that game and combined for 110 yards. Tech’s second-year defensive coordinator Shiel Wood says his defensive is already preparing for any upcoming challenges, especially in their passing game.
“They’ve got similar skill sets, I think they both throw the ball pretty well and can run around, extend plays and scramble,” he said. “So whichever one of them is in the game, I expect them to run their offense, and we’ll be prepared to defend the schemes that they’re going to throw at us hopefully based off of our prep.”
Coach McGuire knows this will be the biggest regular season game for the Wildcats, their only FBS contest this year.
“I expect Abilene Christian to make a big jump and play really well. I also think they were a lot like most teams in game one. You’re trying to figure out exactly who you are and what you do well, and you feel like you’re in a good spot against each other, but until you play somebody else, you don’t know exactly what that’s going to look like,” he said. “They do, so they have an advantage coming into the game that they’ve already played a game, but it also helps for us. We know exactly who we’re playing and, we’ve got some good, game film to where we’re looking at what they do on defense. ”
Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. at newly-renamed Galaxy Stadium. The game will air on FS1.
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