Morton, Eakin talk Kent State win, young wideouts and defense
After the win, Coy Eakin and Behren Morton spoke to the media about Tech’s performance against Kent State, touching on the defense and the progress of the wide receiver room. Eakin discussed how rewarding it’s been to see younger receivers step in and contribute, crediting the leadership within the group for guiding them through fall camp and into game action. Morton echoed that point, praising the freshmen for their potential and adding that Tech’s defense gives the offense confidence to keep attacking. Both highlighted growth and depth as positive takeaways moving forward.
Morton on overall health
Quarterback Behren Morton had a scare late in the second quarter against the UAPB Golden Lions. After the game, he was asked how he felt and said:
“I feel really good. I just want to give a lot of praise to our medical staff, our strength staff, and the facilities we have here. It’s truly one of a kind. The way I was able to get my body back right — it was all muscular, just soreness. I didn’t get to practice much on Tuesday, got through Wednesday, the walk-through on Thursday, and then tried to rip it Friday. But I felt good. Coach Leftwich had a great game plan, and I think we did a good job executing it. Obviously, there are some things to clean up for sure, but it was a good start to the season.”
Rhythm of Tech offense
After scoring 45-plus points in the first half of each of the first two games, Morton was asked how he felt about the rhythm of the Texas Tech offense.
Morton said: “Yeah, it’s a big confidence booster for our program and for what we do on offense. We like to go fast, we like to score a lot of points, and to have two back-to-back wins like that is huge. It’s going to set us up well for later in the season.”
Tech tempo offense and finding defensive weakness
When asked what tempo does for the Texas Tech offense, Morton responded:
“Oh yeah, for sure. That’s part of the tempo. I’ve been in a tempo system my whole career. This is my fourth offensive coordinator, and each time we’ve gone fast. It’s a big factor for our offense. We’re the most conditioned team on the field, and that’s why we can get a step on our opponents.”
Personal improvements after Kent State win
Behren and Coy were both asked where they could improve moving forward after Saturday’s win.
Coy said: “For the receiver room, for sure, it looks good on TV — a lot of touchdowns being scored — but we leave a lot out there. Just little details. We’re often half a man or half a step away from a big play. Most of the time it’s just one guy making one small mistake, and the play doesn’t work. If we clean up those little things, we can go from being good to being great. That’s where the receiver room has to go.”
Morton followed with his response: “I think offensively it’s just about staying on the gas the whole game. If we’re putting up points, let’s keep putting up points. We’ve got a really good defense, so the ball is going to get back to us quick. That means we can’t sit on the bench — which is a nice problem to have. At the end of the day, it’s about executing for the entire game.”
Specifics on injury scare against UAPB
Quarterback Behren Morton on the extent of injury sustained against UAPB. Morton said: “Just the outside part of my calf. It was just got hit differently. There’s a lot of stress through it. Couldn’t put much weight on it. It was just a really frustrating kind of injury. It’s something that you know is not really preventable. But at the same time, you know, I’m happy to be back. Felt really good today. O line did a great job keeping me clean all day.”
Morton on his performance vs Kent State
Morton also spoke on his personal performance of how the game went and elaborated a little bit more on how he felt playing after injury last week. Morton said: “Yeah, I thought we executed fine. You know, there was a couple plays where I could have got us to a better protection so I can have myself safe down in the low red I thought we ran the ball well. I thought Kent State had a good game plan. You know, I thought they were a much physical team. I thought they had some good players up front, and I think our O line did good job executing. But at the end day, I’m just proud of the way we moved the ball
offensively.”
Importance of playing for Morton
In the days leading up to the game against Kent State, head coach Joey McGuire had been asked about the health and status of Behren Morton, siting that if Morton was able to play he was going to play, not to disrupt the rhythm and the flow of the quarterback, when asked about the importance of playing this is how Morton responded: “I told him, I’m playing. This is, this is a minor thing that I’ve played through. I played with a lot of worst things. So I’m just happy to, you know, have a strong shoulder. I’m happy to be out there again, you know, practice, not Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, but you know when, when the ball is put down on the field, you know, just go execute.”
Thoughts on Tech QB room
During the postgame presser, Behren was asked what he thought of the guys behind him in the quarterback room and to give his own assessment of how the group has played over the last two weeks.
Morton said:
“Yeah, no, it’s been awesome to get some young guys some reps. It’s awesome to see the way Will and Mitch prepare themselves for games, too. It helps me out a ton. Throughout the week, if I’m not practicing, they’ll see something on the field and say, ‘Hey, look for this pre-snap,’ or, ‘We saw this post-snap.’ That quarterback room has been awesome. Coach Leftwich and Coach Lindsey do a great job with us, with the backs too. You get to see Adam Hill—I got to play him in high school. That was small 3A football, and he was probably 2A ball with Albany. But just to see a small-town kid come out here at a high level and play football, it’s awesome.”
Eakin and Morton speak on young wideouts
After the first two football games, Tech has been able to get some of its younger receivers a significant amount of playing time. Eakin and Morton shared their thoughts on the youth in the wide receiver room.
Eakin said:
“That fires me up. It’s like, you know, when they come in, they don’t really know what’s going on. And you help them throughout. They kind of assign one of us to take the younger guys under our wing. So my dude was Leyton, CD had Bryson Jones, and Reggie had his guy, too. Seeing them go through what we went through—dealing with the mental aspect, going through fall camp—and then having success on the field, it just makes you happy. You know they’re working hard and actually getting rewarded on the back end of it.”
Morton followed with:
“Yeah, it’s been really fun to watch those young guys. That freshman receiver group we brought in is going to be really special. For them to get to learn from guys who’ve played a lot of football—it’s really going to help them out in the long run.”
