Joey McGuire Provides Positive Injury Update on Texas Tech Running Back
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The Texas Tech Red Raiders had one of the best seasons in school history in 2025, but like every other football program across the country, they had to deal with their fair share of player injuries and find a way to adapt and overcome.
However, head coach Joey McGuire had good news Wednesday morning, and said that running back Quinten Joyner would be available to return for summer camp on June 1.
Joyner, a sophomore out of Austin who transferred to Tech from USC before the season, missed all of the historic 2025 campaign after suffering a torn ACL during a preseason scrimmage.
Joey McGuire Hypes Up "Exciting" Texas Tech Running Back Room
The Texas Tech head coach was well aware of the skill of his running back room before the year when Joyner originally went down, and it seems that nothing has changed seven months later.
"We're lucky that we have the room that we have," McGuire said back in August. "With Q [Joyner] going down, we're really going to dig into special teams. You're losing a three-headed monster, and you're fortunate with your depth."
Now, with Joyner back, McGuire has all of the optimism in the world in the position, and could barely contain his excitement for the future.
"He's (Joyner) running and cutting," said McGuire. "As long as we stay healthy, you talk about an exciting room with Cam Dickey, J'Koby Williams coming back, and you add Joyner back into that room, it's a really, really good room."
Playing as a backup to Woody Marks with the Trojans, Joyner recorded 478 yards and three touchdowns on the ground in addition to 12 catches for 89 yards and an additional touchdown through the air during the 2024 season.
As we all know, Cameron Dickey was the star of the show in Texas Tech's backfield during 2025, carrying the rock 209 times for 1,124 yards and 14 touchdowns during his first-team All-Big 12 campaign, which included a 263-yard, two-score performance in Tech's 42-17 win over the Kansas Jayhawks in Week 6.
The Red Raiders offense overall should still be firing on all cylinders with new quarterback Brendan Sorsby, who crosses the Big 12 from Cincinnati to Texas Tech, looking to repeat or even improve on the 278.5 passing yards per game last year that the Red Raiders ranked 17th in the nation in during their College Football Playoff run.
Joyner, Sorsby, and the rest of the Tech team open their 2026 season with a hosting of the Abilene Christian Wildcats on September 5.
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Aaron Raley is a writer covering the Texas Tech On SI. Born and raised in Northeast Texas, Aaron earned a degree from Texas A&M University in journalism, with minors in history and sports management. Aaron’s writing abilities are driven by his love and passion for various sports, both at the collegiate and professional levels, as well as his experience in playing sports, especially baseball and football.
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