Behren Morton (born January 17, 2002) is an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

who currently plays for the

Texas Tech Red Raiders The Texas Tech Red Raiders and Lady Raiders are the athletic teams that represent Texas Tech University, located in Lubbock, Texas. The women's basketball team uses the name Lady Raiders, while the school's other women's teams use the "Red Raide ...

Early life and high school

Morton grew up in

Eastland, Texas Eastland is a city in Eastland County, Texas, United States. Its population was 3,960 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Eastland County. History During the 1920s, Eastland, like nearby Cisco, Texas, Cisco, Ranger, Texas, Ranger, and De ...

and attended Eastland High School, where his father is the head football coach. He became the starting quarterback for the Mavericks as a freshman. Morton was named the MVP of District 5-3A after he passed for 2,435 yards and 18 touchdowns with four interceptions and rushed for 146 yards and four touchdowns. He repeated as the District 5-3A MVP in his junior season after passing for 2,766 yards and 29 touchdowns. As a senior, Morton passed for 3,613 yards with 37 touchdowns against six interceptions and also rushed for 893 yards and 19 touchdowns and was named the District 5-3A MVP for a third straight season. Morton was rated a four-star recruit and committed to play college football at Texas Tech over offers from Baylor, SMU, TCU, and Texas A&M.

College career

Morton played in two games as a true freshman before redshirting the season. He entered his redshirt freshman season as the Red Raiders' third-string quarterback behind starter Tyler Shough and Donovan Smith. Morton saw playing time in four of the team's first five games before being named Texas Tech's starting quarterback after both Shough and Smith suffered injuries. He completed 39 of 62 passes for 379 yards and two touchdowns with one interception and rushed 16 times for 46 yards and one touchdown in his first career start, a 41–31 loss to seventh-ranked

Oklahoma State Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New M ...

. Morton started the team's following game against

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the Bur ...

. He finished the game with 325 passing yards and two touchdowns in the 48–10 win and was named the Big 12 Newcomer of the Week. Morton began the

2023 season 3 (three) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 2 and preceding 4, and is the smallest odd prime number and the only prime preceding a square number. It has religious or cultural significance in many societie ...

as the Red Raiders' backup, but became the team's starter after Shough fractured his fibula in week 4 against

. In week 6, against Baylor, Morton threw for a career-high three touchdown passes and rushed for another as Texas Tech won 39–14. In week 7, against

Kansas State Kansas State University (KSU, Kansas State, or K-State) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Manhattan, Kansas, United States. It was opened as the state's land-grant college in 1863 and was the first public instit ...

, Morton exited the game with an undisclosed injury. Morton, who took several big hits in the first half, had been dealing with a sprained AC joint in his throwing shoulder since taking over the starting QB position.

Statistics

References

External links

Texas Tech Red Raiders profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Morton, Behren Living people Players of American football from Texas American football quarterbacks Texas Tech Red Raiders football players 2002 births