Jackson Knotts has been starting deep snapper for the Texas Tech football team since the first game of his freshman year.
The senior from Plant City, Florida, has never redshirted, and it might not come to that as he continues recovery from a major knee injury he suffered in last year's regular-season finale.
Knotts, a 38-game starter, underwent surgery to repair three ligament tears. Tech coach Joey McGuire listed him first on the post-spring depth chart. The Red Raiders brought in freshman Rylan Vagana, a well-regarded deep snapper, as a preferred walk-on.
"We feel like Jackson Knotts will be back, especially for Big 12 play," McGuire said this month, "but we feel like he's going to be back game one. So he'll be the deep snapper, but Rylan is really good if Jackson's not ready game one."
Here are more updates on players coming off injury.
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Anticipated return in August
■ LB Mike Dingle: Dingle played in four games and stayed in the redshirt window last year as a freshman, but he's been withheld from live contact ever since because of a shoulder issue.
McGuire said if spring scrimmages were real games, Dingle could have played in April.
"He had a shoulder, and he was having continuous stingers," McGuire said, "so the farther we push out from them, the better chance that he's fine. The doctor that we sent him to feels great about the direction he's in, but we didn't want to put him in any full contact.
"It's like why (tight end) Mason (Tharp) was in a yellow jersey last year. You're trying to spread out as much full contact as possible to just heal."
Dingle has another checkup in July. If that goes well, the expectation is he'll be cleared for practice in August.
Anticipated return in July
■ TE Jalin Conyers: The Arizona State transfer missed spring practice with a broken foot. He's one of several players expected to resume workouts when Tech's second summer session begins July 1.
■ DT James Hansen: The Nevada transfer missed spring practice with a calf strain.
■ WR Micah Hudson: The highly regarded freshman underwent arthroscopic knee surgery over the winter and missed spring ball while rehabbing.
■ QB Behren Morton: The Red Raiders' starting quarterback went to Jacksonville, Florida, last week to work with a physical therapist and sports performance coach who's recently trained quarterbacks Brock Purdy, Caleb Williams and Anthony Richardson.
The goal: Giving Morton protocols to take care of his throwing shoulder and be biomechanically efficient. He's been dealing with a grade-3 AC joint sprain for eight months, but McGuire and Eastland coach James Morton, Behren Morton's father, said orthopedic doctors did not recommend surgery.
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Anticipated return in June
■ S Chapman Lewis: The Red Raiders' starting free safety suffered a strained medial collateral ligament coming down with an interception in a 7-on-7. That happened in the fifth session of spring practice, and the sophom*ore from Burleson Centennial missed the last 10 workouts.
McGuire hoped to get Lewis back on field during the last week of spring ball, but said head athletic trainer Michael Ramirez advised otherwise.
"Mike (said) it doesn't make any sense to do it," McGuire said, "so he'll be back full speed when we start in June."
Fully released
■ DE Joseph Adedire: The junior from Mansfield Summit missed spring practice for the second year in a row, both times after having a shoulder surgery. He got hurt in the second game of the season against Oregon and played the rest of the year. He's first-team at boundary end going into the summer.
■ DE Isaac Smith: After his promising breakout in late 2022, Smith missed spring practice in 2023 following hip surgery and missed the season and 2024 spring practice after knee surgery. He's first-team at field end going into the summer.
■ ILB Trent Low: Low played snaps on defense in the 2023 opener at Wyoming, then missed the rest of the season with a knee injury. He's listed behind Jacob Rodriguez and Bryce Ramirez coming out of spring.
Returned in spring practice
■ OG Nick Fattig: He underwent shoulder surgery last season and returned for about two-thirds of spring practice, McGuire said, including the spring game. The 6-foot-4, 288-pound redshirt freshman from League City Clear Springs is the third left guard.
"Nick Fattig was really impressive in the spring, really impressive," McGuire said. "He's going to be really good. He's still young."
■ OT Dalton Merryman: The 6-8, 305-pound junior from Montgomery transferred in from Blinn College and missed last season after shoulder surgery. He returned for all but two workouts in spring practice and could be a top backup at either tackle.
■ ILB Wesley Smith: A back injury sidelined Smith for all but three games last season. Pre-injury, he was a key player on special teams and a contender for playing time.
