USC transfer Quinten Joyner suffers season-ending ACL injury at Texas Tech

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A promising Texas Tech football player will have to wait until 2026 to get back on the field.

Quinten Joyner, who transferred to the Red Raiders after two years at USC, suffered a non-contact injury during the team’s scrimmage on Saturday. Texas tech head coach Joey McGuire confirmed on his podcast what the team feared – Joyner tore his ACL.

Texas Tech, ranked No. 23 this preseason, will now be without the man expected to work the lion’s share of carries in the backfield this year.

Joyner was a four-star recruit who went out to California instead of staying in his native Texas, where he had some offers. He tallied 478 rushing yards with four total touchdowns last season for the Trojans, where he mainly backed up Woody Marks.

Heading over to Texas Tech offered him a better opportunity to get playing time, while also returning closer to home.

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But now McGuire is going to have to focus on Cameron Dickey and J’Koby Williams, the other two running backs on the depth chart who need to step up in place of Joyner.

“I hate it so much for him, just because of how well he has done in the spring, summer and camp,” McGuire said about 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.”

Given how much of a factor Joyner was expected to be in the Red Raiders’ offense, it will be interesting to see how they are ranked with one week before the season is set to begin.

Texas Tech is looking to improve on its 8-5 record from a year ago under McGuire. The Big 12 doesn’t have a pre-determined winner, with Arizona State (No. 11), Kansas State (No. 17) and Iowa State (No. 21) alongside Texas Tech in terms of teams in the top 25.

But injuries are a cruel reality for football, and McGuire’s squad will have to have a next-man-up mentality after losing Joyner for the year.