Will Hammond starts, leads Texas Tech to victory in opener

LUBBOCK, Texas -- Will Hammond endured injury and an offseason of intrigue before leading Texas Tech to a 33-10 win over Abilene Christian on Saturday in his first game as the full-time starter for the Red Raiders.

Hammond, a 6-foot-2, 210-pound junior, was thrust into the starting role after Texas Tech and offseason portal acquisition Brendan Sorsby parted ways following a gambling scandal and subsequent showdown with the Big 12 over his eligibility. Sorsby acknowledged placing more than 9,000 wagers totaling at least $90,000 on professional and college sports over four years.

Meanwhile, Hammond was coming off surgery to fix a torn ACL suffered in October against Oklahoma State, when he was filling in for injured starter Behren Morton. Coach Joey McGuire said this offseason that he would not have sought out a quarterback in the portal if Hammond had not been injured.

With the starting job in hand, Hammond got off to a hot start on a scorching day in front of 60,229 fans at the newly renamed Galaxy Stadium.

Hammond started 14-for-14 until his 15th pass was intercepted. He finished 26-of-33 for 298 yards and a touchdown, and McGuire said he was proud of the way Hammond handled the moment in his fourth career start.

"I said, 'First, be Will Hammond and take a deep breath,' because you've got to imagine how just geeked up that kid was to play tonight," McGuire said. "To be the starting quarterback for Texas Tech and to go through everything he's gone through in his rehab and everything, he was really geeked up. I thought he did a really good job controlling his emotions."

Hammond wore a knee brace, which he said was not limiting or entirely necessary though he felt safer with it on and will continue wearing it. A dual threat who ran for more than 1,000 yards his senior year in high school, Hammond rushed just twice for 11 yards, and McGuire noted that his interception came on a play where he could have run for a first down but instead forced the throw.

"I'd prefer not to run at times," Hammond said. "That keeps me healthy, but I'm going to tuck my head when I need to and I'm going to slide when I need to. And I'm going to, especially in the red zone, if yards are there to scramble and even get in the end zone myself, I'm going to do that. So I'm not going to shy away from it."

He said that on the plays when he did move around, the knee felt good.

McGuire said he was frustrated with several sloppy mistakes the offense made, including three red zone trips that ended in field goals, which he attributed to "impatience."

Hammond said he had open receivers on those drives and could clean up his mistakes.

"All those drives that ended in field goals, those are all touchdown drives," Hammond said. "So it really starts with me in the red zone. It's just up to me to go out there and deliver."