BIG 12 MEDIA DAYS: Texas Tech’s Kingsbury discusses Burnet’s Sterling Galban, sidelined due to injury
Texas Tech University head football coach Kliff Kingsbury (right) shared his thoughts on Burnet High School graduate Sterling Galban, who is now a Red Raider, during Big 12 Media Days in Frisco on July 16. Staff photos by Jennifer Fierro
STAFF WRITER JENNIFER FIERRO
FRISCO — A torn ACL will sideline Texas Tech University freshman receiver Sterling Galban for the entire 2018 football season, according to Red Raiders head coach Kliff Kingsbury.
Kingsbury spoke July 16 during Big 12 Media Days in The Ford Center at The Star in Frisco.
Galban graduated from Burnet High School in December 2017 to enroll at Texas Tech for the 2018 spring semester so he could compete for a starting returner/receiver position during spring drills. Instead, Galban will take a redshirt season due to his injury.
Still, Kingsbury was pleased by what he saw from Galban on the field before the injury.
“He’s a guy we followed in summer camps, and he got better,” the coach said. “He was a good fit for us.”
The former Bulldog was recruited by the Red Raiders as a returner and an inside receiver. At his signing, Galban said coaches recruited him for his speed and his ability to turn short passes into big plays.
Kingsbury was happy to hear that Galban arrived on campus with the mindset of winning a starting job in his first year of wearing the red and black.
“That’s the attitude you want him to have coming in,” he said.
In two years at Burnet, Galban caught 121 passes for 1,488 yards and 14 touchdowns. Those numbers convinced Kingsbury to offer the Bulldog a scholarship.
The receiver wrote on his social media that he suffered the injury on “a freak accident in practice” in April. But he intends to “treat rehab as his No. 1 priority in order to get back on the field as fast as possible.”