Texas Tech RB Quinten Joyner suffered a season-ending knee injury in a weekend scrimmage
The USC transfer was part of a top-rated Texas Tech transfer class
Texas Tech is the No. 24 team in the preseason US LBM Coaches Poll and is among the favorites to win the Big 12
Two weeks before its 2025 season opener, Texas Tech football has lost a player who was expected to be one of its top offensive players.
Red Raiders sophomore running back Quintaelyn ‘Quinten’ Joyner, a USC transfer, will miss the season due to a knee injury he suffered on Aug. 16 during the team’s second preseason scrimmage, the university confirmed to the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, a part of the USA TODAY Network, on Aug. 18.
Last season at USC, Joyner rushed for 478 yards and three touchdowns while averaging 7.6 yards per carry. He was rated by 247Sports’ composite rankings as the No. 145 overall player and the No. 9 running back in the transfer portal last offseason.
Joyner entered fall training camp atop the team’s depth chart at running back. While he’s sidelined, the No. 24 Red Raiders will turn to sophomores J’Koby Williams and Cameron Dickey. Last season, Williams and Dickey each had 41 carries, with Williams rushing for 236 yards and two touchdowns and Dickey running for 225 yards and one touchdown. Williams rushed for 123 yards and a touchdown on just 15 carries in the team’s Liberty Bowl loss to Arkansas.
An Austin, Texas native, Joyner was a part of a 22-player Texas Tech transfer class that 247Sports ranked second among all FBS programs, behind only LSU. Joyner was one of 13 players in the class rated as a four-star transfer.
The Red Raiders have enjoyed a sharp rise in spending on name, image and likeness deals for athletes in recent years, buoyed largely by mega-donors Cody Campbell and John Sellers, the co-founders of the school’s Matador Club collective.
Softball pitcher NiJaree Canady transferred to the school from Stanford and earned a record-setting seven-figure deal before leading Texas Tech to the championship series of the Women’s College World Series. All-American men’s basketball forward JT Toppin was lured back to the school with a deal worth more than $3 million. In all, Red Raiders athletes will reportedly earn a combined $55 million during the 2025-26 academic year.
Texas Tech opens its 2025 season on August 30 against Arkansas-Pine Bluff. Though the league didn’t conduct an official preseason poll, the Red Raiders are widely viewed as one of the favorites to win the Big 12 and earn an automatic berth to the College Football Playoff.