Hello Celebritys

From TCU Media Relations: TCU linebacker Tank Carder has been named a second-team preseason All-American, while 10 Horned Frogs have received All-Mountain West Conference accolades from Athlon Sports.

Additionally, Athlon ranks TCU's duo of Carder and Tanner Brock as the sixth-best linebacker unit in the nation with the Horned Frogs holding the No. 15 position in the preseason poll.

Joining Carder as first-team preseason All-MWC picks are wide receiver Josh Boyce, offensive guard Kyle Dooley and defensive end Stansly Maponga. Representing TCU on the second team are Brock, safety Tekerrein Cuba, placekicker Ross Evans, cornerback Greg McCoy, tailback Ed Wesley and defensive tackle D.J. Yendrey.

A senior from Sweeny, Texas, Carder was a first-team All-American last season and the Defensive Most Valuable Player in TCU's 21-19 Rose Bowl win over Wisconsin. He has been instrumental in TCU leading the nation in total defense each of the last three seasons.

Carder posted 60 tackles last year, including 9 1/2 for loss. He totaled 3 1/2 sacks, five pass breakups and an interception.

In the 21-19 Rose Bowl victory over Wisconsin, Carder broke up the Badgers' potential game-tying 2-point pass with exactly two minutes to play. He totaled six tackles in the contest, including three for loss with a sack.

Brock led TCU with 106 tackles, 26 more than the next-closest Horned Frog. He was a first-team All-Mountain West Conference selection and third-team All-American in 2010.

The junior from Copperas Cove, Texas, recorded a career-high 12 tackles and an interception in TCU's 47-7 win at Utah. He added nine stops in the Rose Bowl victory over Wisconsin.

Here are a couple of TCU football quick hitters for you today.

We start with an update on Josh Boyce. Boyce sustained an ankle injury last week and was held out of practice on Monday according to the Star-Telegram.

Also, Stephen Spiewak of CBSMaxPreps.com tweeted this yesterday.

Apparently April 22^nd is Gray’s birthday. It is something to keep your eyes on…

Day two of TCU spring practice is in the books. Coach Patterson was pleased with what he has seen in these last two practices and said there has been “lots of energy.” It is early though and this team hasn’t put on the pads yet. Here are my observations and a few minutes of audio from Coach Patterson from this afternoon.

- I thought Casey Pachall looked good. He was making the right reads and putting the ball in the right places. Pachall took all the first team reps while Matt Brown worked with the second group. More on that below.

- Tight ends Logan Brock and Corey Fuller were both making nice catches. Not just regular catches, but catches with guys in their face. Hopefully TCU will utilize the tight end position more this season.

- Josh Boyce and Skye Dawson looked sharp in their routes and catching. With those two and Antoine Hicks, I think this receiving core will be just fine come September.

- Speaking of the receiving core, Coach Patterson mentioned that they have changed the way they call plays a little bit to make it easier for the new WR’s coming in this fall. They changed it two years ago, but did not change it last season due to so many returning starters. Does this mean Patterson hopes to get Brandon Carter and/or LaDarius Brown on the field this season as true freshmen? Or it could be they just wanted to simplify things…Stay tuned…

- Redshirt freshman Sam Carter could be a star in the making at strong safety. He looked good today and others have said he looked sharp yesterday also. “We’ve only taught two days but really it’s amazing, he is a very smart player” Patterson said after practice when asked about how quickly Carter was picking up the position.

- This team is young, but Coach Patterson said he’s been very happy with all of the redshirt freshman and sophomores. He also noted that he has “really enjoyed up to this point the level of enthusiasm of trying to get better, communicating, and listening that this group has done to this point.”

- For your Dwight Smith update, he looked good and is fully healthy from all I know.

- Remember how people were making a big fuss about the new Nike cleats TCU wore in the Rose Bowl? Well, they must not have been that bad because there were players wearing them in practice today…

Here are the post practice questions I got in with Coach Patterson. To listen to Patterson’s comments, the .mp3 is posted below.

Angry Trey: Is this spring different than last year’s since the team is younger?

Coach Patterson: No. For the last 14 years we’ve taught it the same way. Same coverage got taught 14 years ago that just got taught today. The same blitz package got taught the same way. Yesterday we taught the tackling drill without pads on. It was younger so it wasn’t as good as what last years was but you have to have a starting point. You got to see how much a team can grow in 15 days because we teach spring ball just like it’s part of two-a-days. You get 29 practices in the fall and 15 in the spring. This is the growing up stage of our part of it. We are very physical in the spring, we are very demanding in the spring, we believe we have to get stronger in the spring, and academically we have to get ourselves in the right position so you can clear your mind come summer time so you can handle the grind when you get in the fall.

Angry Trey: I know you are looking for players and talent but is this the point when leaders start to emerge?

Coach Patterson: I don’t know, right now in the teaching phase everyone is trying to hang on. We’ll get through 5 days of teaching and then we start over and were not teaching anything new. The same thing happens in the fall. You go through 5 days of teaching and then you go into an evaluation stage, then you go into a getting better stage, so right now just like all of us, we will only be as good as our weakest link. So if one guy isn’t getting it done, it affects all of us.

Angry Trey: Is the QB job Casey’s to lose or is it an open battle?

Coach Patterson: No, right now he is just the next guy. Somebody asked me yesterday if this is the lowest amount of quarterbacks we'll have in the fall and the answer is no. We had to go in Andy Dalton’s freshman year, he was the starter, Marcus Jackson was the backup, and then Yogi Gallegos came in as a true freshman which is what we will start the fall with this year too.

Coach Patterson was asked other questions also, the full media session is below. It’s around six minutes long.

TCU
*Tostitos Fiesta Bowl National Team of the Week, vs. Utah

Gary Patterson, Head Coach
*Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year Award Finalist
*Joseph V. Paterno Award Semifinalist

Dick Bumpas, Defensive Coordinator/Defensive Line Coach
*Frank Broyles Award Finalist
*Rivals.com National Coordinator of the Week, vs. Oregon State

Josh Boyce, WR
*Second-Team Freshman All-American, Rivals.com
*Honorable-Mention Freshman All-American, CollegeFootballNews.com

Tanner Brock, LB
*Honorable-Mention All-American, SI.com
*First-Team All-Mountain West Conference
*MWC Defensive Player of the Week, vs. Utah

Marcus Cannon, OT
*Third-Team All-American, Rivals.com
*Honorable-Mention All-American, SI.com
*First-Team All-Mountain West Conference

Tank Carder, LB
*First-Team All-American, American Football Coaches Association
*Second-Team All-American, Associated Press
*Second-Team All-American, CBSSports.com
*Honorable-Mention All-American, SI.com
*Mountain West Conference Defensive Player of the Year
*First-Team All-Mountain West Conference

Andy Dalton, QB
*Manning Award Finalist
*Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award Finalist
*Maxwell Award Semifinalist
*Davey O’Brien Award Semifinalist
*One of 15 “Players to Watch” for the Walter Camp Football Foundation Player of the Year Award
*Honorable-Mention All-American, SI.com
*Mountain West Conference Offensive Player of the Year
*First-Team All-Mountain West Conference (unanimous selection)
*Walter Camp Football Foundation National Offensive Player of the Week, vs. Utah
*Rivals.com National Offensive Player of the Week, vs. Utah
*ESPN.com Helmet Sticker, vs. Baylor
*Manning Award Star of the Week, vs. Baylor
*Manning Award Star of the Week, vs. Wyoming
*Manning Award Star of the Week, vs. Utah
*MWC Offensive Player of the Week vs. Baylor
*MWC Offensive Player of the Week vs. BYU
*MWC Offensive Player of the Week vs. Utah

Wayne Daniels, DE
*First-Team All-American, Football Writers Association of America
*Honorable-Mention All-American, SI.com
*First-Team All-Mountain West Conference (unanimous selection)

Evan Frosch, TE
*Honorable-Mention All-Mountain West Conference

Cory Grant, DT
*Second-Team All-Mountain West Conference

Alex Ibiloye, S
*MWC Defensive Player of the Week, vs. Tennessee Tech

Bart Johnson, WR
*Second-Team ESPN Academic All-American

Tejay Johnson, S
*Jim Thorpe Award Finalist
*First-Team All-American, Walter Camp Football Foundation
*First-Team All-American, Associated Press
*First-Team All-American, SI.com
*First-Team All-American, CBSSports.com
*First-Team All-American, Rivals.com
*First-Team All-Mountain West Conference

Colin Jones, S
*Second-Team All-Mountain West Conference

Jeremy Kerley, PR/KR/WR
*Paul Hornung Award Finalist
*First-Team All-American, Rivals.com (kick returner)
*Honorable-Mention All-American, SI.com (return specialist)
*Mountain West Conference Special Teams Player of the Year
*First-Team All-Mountain West Conference (return specialist)
*Second-Team All-Mountain West Conference (wide receiver)
*Honoree, Paul Hornung Award's Most Versatile Performances of the Week, vs. Oregon State
*Honoree, Paul Hornung Award's Most Versatile Performances of the Week, vs. Baylor
*Honoree, Paul Hornung Award's Most Versatile Performances of the Week, vs. SMU
*MWC Special Teams Player of the Week, vs. SMU
*MWC Special Teams Player of the Week, vs. BYU
*Rivals.com MWC Player of the Week, vs. San Diego State

Jake Kirkpatrick, C
*Rimington Trophy Winner
*Rotary Lombardi Award Finalist
*First-Team All-American, Walter Camp Football Foundation
*First-Team All-American, Sporting News
*Second-Team All-American, Associated Press
*Second-Team All-American, SI.com
*Second-Team All-American, CBSSports.com
*First-Team All-Mountain West Conference

Stansly Maponga, DE
*Second-Team All-Mountain West Conference
*Second-Team Freshman All-American, CollegeFootballNews.com

Jason Teague, CB
*Second-Team All-Mountain West Conference

Ed Wesley, TB
*Doak Walker Award Semifinalist
*First-Team All-Mountain West Conference
*MWC Offensive Player of the Week, vs. Air Force
*Rivals.com MWC Offensive Player of the Week, vs. Air Force

D.J. Yendrey, DT
*Honorable-Mention All-Mountain West Conference

Jimmy Young, WR
*Honorable-Mention All-Mountain West Conference

(Courtesy TCU Media Relations)