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Thursday, March 3, 2011
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.
Monday, July 5, 2010
TCU will be missing a senior leader on the offensive side of the ball when they take the field this season. Starting running back Joseph Turner graduated this past year leaving a hole in the backfield. It doesn’t appear that it’s going to be a problem though. Lindy's 2010 College Football Preview ranks TCU as having the nation's fifth-best offensive backfield
From TCU Media Relations:
The TCU offense is led by four-year starter Andy Dalton, the nation's leader in wins (29) by an active quarterback. Dalton's 29 victories also tie him with Slingin' Sammy Baugh (1934-36) for the most in TCU history.
Also returning to the TCU backfield this season are sophomores Matthew Tucker and Ed Wesley who rushed for 676 and 638 yards, respectively, as freshmen in 2009. The TCU ground game will also be bolstered by Aundre Dean, Waymon James and Dwight Smith.
Dean, who sat out last season per NCAA transfer rules, was a prep teammate of Dalton at Katy High School. Dean was a Parade All-American and ranked as the sixth-best running back in the nation coming out of high school.
James, who redshirted last season, was rated by Rivals.com as the second-best running back in Texas and the 10th-best back in the nation out of Sherman High School.
Smith was the Texas 3A Player of the Year after rushing for a Carthage High School record 2,820 yards and 43 touchdowns his senior season.
We know that Andy Dalton will produce greatness, but I am interested to see what this group of running backs is going to do. That is a deep stable of talented players and I know it has to be tough trying to get all of them on the field. Matthew Tucker and Ed Wesley will continue to do what they do, but I think we could see an outstanding season from Aundre Dean.
Everyone including myself is high on Dwight Smith, but I just don’t know how much we will see him this year. He is a freshman coming off an injury in the spring game so I would expect them to be very cautious.
Now that the excitement that was TCU Baseball is over, and the World Cup winding down, my anxiety for Frog football continues to build by the day and September 4th can’t get here quick enough!
Lindy's Top 10 Offensive Backfields
1. Alabama
2. Virginia Tech
3. Texas A&M
4. Ohio State
5. TCU
6. Houston
7. Arkansas
8. Washington
9. Oklahoma
10. Nevada
Saturday, April 10, 2010
TCU held their annual purple vs. white spring game this afternoon at Amon G. Carter stadium. I noticed some positives and negatives from the practice, but overall I would say the defending Mountain West Conference Champions are looking pretty good. If this team continues to improve over the summer and in fall practice, The Frogs will be very dangerous once again in 2010. Let’s break it down…
Kicker Ross Evans missed two field goals that I remember. One was into the wind, but both were very makeable field goals in my opinion. I’m not panicking, but you never like seeing your kicker miss field goals.
TCU held their annual purple vs. white spring game this afternoon at Amon G. Carter stadium. I noticed some positives and negatives from the practice, but overall I would say the defending Mountain West Conference Champions are looking pretty good. If this team continues to improve over the summer and in fall practice, The Frogs will be very dangerous once again in 2010. Let’s break it down…
Kicker Ross Evans missed two field goals that I remember. One was into the wind, but both were very makeable field goals in my opinion. I’m not panicking, but you never like seeing your kicker miss field goals.
