Texas Tech is currently putting an old theory to the test.

It's often said in football that if you have two, or in this case three, quarterbacks then well you don't have one.

That couldn’t be further from the truth for the Red Raiders when it comes to the trio of Behren Morton, Donovan Smith and Tyler Shough as each have proven more than capable.

The season opening starter Shough has been out since the opener with a collarbone issue but is nearing a return, while his backup Donovan Smith dealt with an AC joint sprain but his soreness has subsided.

Smith started games two through five for Texas Tech including leading the Red Raiders to a win over Texas until he was forced to miss the road game at Oklahoma State.

There Morton took over where he piled up 423 yards and had a hand in three touchdowns for the offense in his first collegiate start. While the redshirt freshman played the second half of that game with a sprained ankle, Morton appears to be healthy and moving well heading into this weekend.

It’s unknown which of the signal callers will get the start but regardless of who gets the call it isn’t going to change how the offense is ran and what the Red Raiders want to do.

“All three of those kids are good players,” head coach Neal Brown said.

The Red Raiders have plenty of skill around the quarterback spot but the offense has little to no changes on how it is operated depending on who is at the helm. The one difference is that Smith has more designed runs in short yardage situations due to his size but that isn’t much.

There is obvious trust in all three options, which makes preparing for them difficult in some ways but in others it allows the coaches to know that they’re going to see many of the same things. That trust from not only the coaches but the skill players is obvious when watching the offense on tape.

“A lot of it is you feel good about those guys and you plug them in and you run what you normally would,” Brown said. “My assumption is they knew they had three really good quarterbacks and they worked in fall camp to get all three of them reps.”

Brown compares it to his own quarterback room in some respects, although admittedly not as proven as what the Red Raiders have shown to date. Still, internally there is trust in each of the options for the Mountaineers and belief that they are very talented as well.

It seems unlikely that Shough draws the start as he hasn’t played since the first game, but between the other two defensive coordinator Jordan Lesley sees plenty to be concerned about.

Still, regardless of who is tabbed the starter he isn’t going to dive deep down into the rabbit hole to try to discern the differences between the two. Because the Red Raiders are going to do what they do.

“Both players have unique skill sets, both can run, both are athletic, both have big arms and both can locate the ball,” Lesley said. “But it’s all the same.”

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