Quinten Joyner’s first season with the Red Raiders will have to wait.
Joyner tore his ACL after he went down with a noncontact knee injury in the team’s scrimmage on Saturday, head coach Joey McGuire confirmed on his podcast on Monday, via ESPN. No. 23 Texas Tech will now be without the running back for the entire 2025 season.
Advertisement
Joyner transferred into Texas Tech this past offseason after spending his first two years at USC. He racked up 478 rushing yards and had four total touchdowns while averaging 7.6 yards per carry with the Trojans last season while largely backing up Woody Marks.
[Join or create a Yahoo Fantasy Football league for the 2025 NFL season]
Joyner, who was a four-star Rivals.com recruit out of the Austin area in Texas, then opted to move back to the state and join the Red Raiders. He was expected to start and be a key piece to their offense this season. The team will now likely have to lean on Cameron Dickey and J’Koby Williams in his place. Both players are returning from last season, though neither ran for more than 250 yards.
“I hate it so much for him, just because of how well he has done in the spring, summer and camp,” McGuire said of Joyner. “He has really come in here and been a pro, and we’ve asked him to do a lot of stuff that he hasn’t done before. … He’s really taken to it, so it’s unfortunate.”
Texas Tech is entering the season coming off an 8-5 campaign under head coach Joey McGuire last fall. The Red Raiders sit in a pretty wide-open Big 12 conference, with No. 11 Arizona State, No. 17 Kansas State and No. 21 Iowa State also in the mix. Texas Tech will officially open the season on Aug. 30 when it hosts Arkansas-Pine Bluff.
Advertisement
While the Red Raiders can still make a run in the Big 12 this fall, it’s undoubtedly going to be much more difficult without Joyner available.
