Hammond named starter as Texas Tech opens vs Abilene Christian
Will Hammond will start his first game since the ACL that ended his 2025 season, and Thomas Castellanos will be available too after the NCAA lost its bid to keep him off the field for the opener.
Hammond is officially QB1 again, with Castellanos cleared but stuck behind him
Will Hammond is not just full-go in practice anymore — he's officially the starter for tonight's opener. Hammond told KCBD he's finally "100 percent" healthy, more than 10 months removed from the ACL tear that ended his 2025 season early against Oklahoma State, and ESPN reports his surgeon cleared him roughly 3 weeks ago, though it's Texas Tech's own training staff that has final say. That's likely why Covers' injury table still lists him Questionable for a knee both he and Joey McGuire have stopped hedging about publicly. Tonight will be his 4th career start, and his first since the injury.
The other quarterback in the news this week got his own headline: Thomas Castellanos Cleared To Play In Texas Tech's Opener Saturday after the NCAA was denied emergency relief in its bid to keep the Florida State transfer off the field, per Pete Nakos. Castellanos arrives with 6,449 career passing yards and 48 touchdowns across 3 schools, but he lands third on the depth chart behind Hammond and Tulsa transfer Kirk Francis — a backup, not a battle. McGuire has said carrying 6 scholarship quarterbacks was the plan since December, calling Castellanos a player who "can come in and help us win games, if needed."
Cody Campbell's promise: keep throwing it up 40 in the 4th quarter
Last season closed with the best run this program has had. Texas Tech beat BYU 29-7 on November 8, blew out UCF 48-9 the following week, hung 49 unanswered on West Virginia on the road, then beat BYU again 34-7 on December 6 to close the regular slate — delivering the school's first Big 12 championship. Then came Oregon, which shut Tech out 23-0 on January 1 in a College Football Playoff quarterfinal, the result that follows this program into tonight's opener whether anyone brings it up or not.
Somebody is bringing it up. Cody Campbell, in a new Texas Tech documentary, told Chris Vannini: "We're not going to forget about that, and I don't think they'll forget about it either when we're up by 40 and still throwing the ball in the fourth quarter. That's where the retribution will come." Yahoo Sports and The Big Lead both reported the program has leaned into that framing all offseason, running toward a villain role rather than away from it, with the Oregon shutout as the fuel McGuire has used through fall camp.
Galaxy Stadium sells out for a rematch with real Lubbock DNA
Abilene Christian arrives 0-1, having opened its own season ranked in the FCS top 20 before falling 21-14 at Lamar on August 29 after failing to convert fourth-and-3 from the Lamar 7 in the final moments. Defensive coordinator Shiel Wood has spent the week scouting exactly the problem head coach Keith Patterson set up beforehand — a rotation of 2 quarterbacks who can "run around, extend plays and scramble," Wood told Fox 34. Former Red Raiders quarterback Graham Harrell runs ACU's offense, and receivers coach Joel Filani also played at Tech, familiar enough that McGuire opened his own press conference talking about "seeing some familiar faces."
The last meeting between these two was a shootout, not a mismatch — Texas Tech needed a blocked two-point conversion in overtime to escape with a 52-51 win 2 years ago, with Behren Morton throwing for 378 yards and 5 touchdowns while ACU's Maverick McIvor answered with 506 yards of his own. Tonight's game will be broadcast nationally on FS1, and Texas Tech has sold out its primary ticket inventory for the opener, riding an 8-game home winning streak and 25 straight wins in the series since 1991. "We've got some really tough people in West Texas that love their football," McGuire told Vannini. "They're gonna show up no matter what the weather's like."
Next stop: Corvallis, where the number hasn't dropped yet
Win or lose tonight, Texas Tech is right back on a plane — the Red Raiders play on September 12 at Oregon State at Reser Stadium in Corvallis, their first true road trip of the season. The Beavers are still 0-0 this year after finishing last season with a 32-8 loss at Washington, so both sides will be reading first-week film on each other rather than a body of current-season tape.
There's no line posted on this one yet — DraftKings will be the book once it drops, but for now Oregon State is an unpriced blank on the board. That leaves tonight's number as the only real signal on the schedule: Texas Tech opened as heavy favorites at home, and how convincingly that number holds up against Abilene Christian may end up telling us more about the Beavers matchup than anything filed this week.