Hello Celebritys

TCU football is back…At least for a couple of weeks. The Horned Frogs begin their march towards another Mountain West Conference title as spring practice gets underway today. The Horned Frogs return 11 starters (six defensive, five offensive) from its 2010 squad that posted a 13-0 record. There are a lot of questions for this team that need to be answered this spring, here are my biggest concerns.

QB: Who is going to step up and fill Andy Dalton’s shoes? Is the quarterback job open, or is it Casey Pachall’s to lose? The spring prospectus lists Casey as #1 on the depth chart. I personally think Casey will be a quality QB for the Frogs, but watch out for Matt Brown.

Leadership: The biggest leaders from last year’s team are gone. Dalton, Kirkpatrick, Johnson, etc… have all moved on. Who are the guys that will step up? The Frogs have Tank Carder returning and we all know what he is about. I think Tanner Brock and Ed Wesley could be leaders, but do they want to assume that roll?

Defensive Secondary: TCU has to replace Tejay Johnson, Alex Ibiloye, Colin Jones, and Jason Teague. Those four players had a combined 85 career starts for the Frogs. That is A LOT to replace. It looks like it will be on sophomores Trenton Thomas and Travaras Battle and seniors Johnny Fobbs and Tekkerrein Cuba to get the job done. Those four players combine for a total of 9 career starts…All 9 coming from Cuba.

Dwight Smith: The legend of Dwight Smith is that he CAN be a great player. That is yet to be seen though. Smith had a good spring last year before injuring his knee in the spring game, but he is fully healthy and I am anxious to see what he can do. Can he show enough at running back to earn playing time in a deep TCU backfield?

Offensive Line: Like the secondary, the Frogs have big holes that need to be filled. TCU has to replace 4 of their 5 starters from last season. Can this new group form a cohesive unit and keep Casey Pachall off the ground?

Those are pretty big concerns, but I don’t think it will be as rough as it appears. Yes TCU has to break in a new QB, but a steady dose of the running game with the Frogs experienced backfield should take some of the pressure off. I worry every offseason about the team rebuilding, but Gary Patterson continually finds the right players to fill in the holes. I have no doubt the holes will be filled once again this spring.