The one thing every team in America wants to avoid during fall camp is a catastrophic injury, and unfortunately that didn’t happen for one of Texas Tech’s talented young defensive players during the first week of this year’s fall camp.

“We lost Dylan Spencer for the year,” Texas Tech head coach Joey McGuire said after the first practice game of fall camp on Saturday. “Knee… practice No. 1, maybe practice No. 2. No padding, no physical contact, so he’s out for the year.”

“Wrong step, kind of overstretched. Man, it’s kind of creepy when there’s no contact, guys.”

This is obviously disappointing news for the Red Raiders. After all, Spencer (a true sophomore) is one of the players on the roster who was considered a highly rated talent when he signed with Tech.

In the class of 2023, the Houston native was listed as a 4-star signee according to 247Sports.com’s composite rankings. He was the No. 43 defensive player in the nation and the No. 58 player in Texas.

Spencer had an impressive offer list as a recruit. In addition to Tech, he was recruited by Arizona, State, Baylor, Houston, LSU, SMU, Texas A&M and USC. He was also committed to the Texas Longhorns during his recruitment.

So a lot has been expected of Spencer since his arrival. Last season, the outside linebacker played in eight games. He was the No. 2 edge rusher behind senior Myles Cole and recorded four tackles in 84 snaps.

This season, the 6-foot-5, 225-pound player was expected to push for more playing time, battling with a number of teammates for snaps as a pass rusher as Tech looks for options to fill that important role. Now, however, it will be at least a year before we see him go after the quarterback again.