It's been eight long months since Behren Morton and the Texas Tech football team took the field for a game. To Morton, it's felt like years have passed between the Independence Bowl win over Cal and Saturday's 2024 season opener against Abilene Christian.

Perhaps Morton feels this way because, in the time between contests, he, head coach Joey McGuire and offensive coordinator Zach Kittley have had to field question after question about the quarterback. Not whether or not Morton would be QB1 when the Red Raiders take the field in Jones AT&T Stadium for the 6:30 p.m. kickoff. No, the hot topic belongs to the health of Morton's throwing shoulder.

Morton was inserted into the West Virginia game four weeks into the 2023 season after Tyler Shough suffered what wound up being a season-ending break of his fibula. The Eastland native didn't make it out of Morgantown before he was dealing with an injury of his own, which turned into a grade-3 sprain of his AC joint.

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He missed about a game and a half before returning late in the season. Still hampered by the shoulder, Morton barely practiced between games, but closed with a three-touchdown performance against the Golden Bears.

Concern arose again when Texas Tech shut Morton down for the remainder of spring about halfway through the team's camp schedule. Since then, Morton has continued rehabbing, visiting specialists in Jacksonville, managing a "pitch count" in some lighter drills during preseason camp.

Morton swears up and down that he's 100% ready to go, but he's not too concerned about silencing the noise around his right arm.

"I'm not trying to throw for 400 yards," Morton said Tuesday. "I just want to win the game. Whatever it takes. If we win 14-7, we win the game. If we win 56-7, we win the game. Just going out there, executing and doing our job."

Part of Morton's job this year is to remain healthy, which requires a change in how he plays. A hard-nosed runner by nature dating back to his high school days, Morton has had to retool his playing style this season, relying on his skilled teammates like running back Tahj Brooks rather than trying to everything himself.

"That's a big thing of what I've taken this offseason, this camp, to understand if there's nothing open in the middle of the field, there's always Tahj on the check down and that guy's hard to bring down," Morton said. "He's a lot harder to bring down than I am, and I've learned that kind of the hard way this last year.

"Keying this camp just to learning how to check the ball down when nothing's there, and if nothing's there, throw the ball out of bounds. If you can pick up four yards and get down, do that, but there's no need when it's second down to try to reach and get that extra 15 yards because we have playmakers that can do that."

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McGuire joked on Monday that the three main keys to Texas Tech's 2024 season were all the same: keeping Behren Morton healthy. To do that, Morton will have to rely on his playmakers.

In addition to bell cow running back Brooks — who needs 1,168 yards to become the program's all-time leading rusher — the Red Raiders have three NFL-caliber tight ends in Mason Tharp, Jalin Conyers and Johncarlos Miller. On the outside, Morton has a variety of weapons, mostly new faces like Josh Kelly, Caleb Douglas and Micah Hudson as well as returners Drae McCray, Coy Eakin and Jordan Brown.

Morton knows he has the options to throw to, and said he's excited for the fans to get to see what those weapons can do together.

"Now to have a whole new roster," Morton said, "to get to see Josh Kelly and those kind of guys go out there and showcase what they can do for the Red Raiders is gonna be really cool."

This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: behren-morton-texas-tech-football-shoulder-injury-healed-2024-rehab