#53 TCU Horned Frogs |
#9 in Big XII |
In his now two decade career as head coach at TCU, Gary Patterson has only finished below .500 four times. After 2004, he responded with an 11-1 2005, winning a Mountain West title, finishing ranked #11. After 2013, TCU went 12-1 in 2014, winning their only Big XII title, and then winning the Peach Bowl, to finish ranked #3. Then, after 2016, TCU went 11-3 in 2017, reached the Big XII Championship Game, and wound up ranked #9. So what do the Horned Frogs have as a follow up to their second worst season 1997? I worried that TCU would struggle to fill their roster against the established Big XII Texas schools, but that hasn’t been the case. In my big board I assembled for my mock draft, TCU had 7 players on the list, 4 of which should be locks to be gone prior to Saturday. By comparison Texas and Baylor each have 5 and 1; Texas A&M has 4 and 1; and Texas Tech has 3 and 1. So bringing in talent has not been a problem, but the flip side is what happens to a 5-7 team that loses that much NFL talent? In Fort Worth, as long as Gary Patterson is there, the defensive side of the ball will almost never be a problem. Even last year, the Horned Frogs allowed just 5.3 ypp, second best in the conference. That was keyed by being rock solid all the way up the middle. While defensive tackle Ross Blacklock left early, and looks to be a first round pick, the back seven portion of that group should be even better. Middle linebacker Garrett Wallow might not be the high end, next level talent of a Blaylock, but you can’t pick a better guy to quarterback the defense. He was a 3* recruit out of New Orleans, who was an academic standout, with offers from Vanderbilt, Duke and Northwestern, played as a freshman, began starting midway through his sophomore year, and developed into the Big XII’s leading tackler as a junior last year. He seems to be a lock to be a defensive captain this year. But behind him, might be even more special, with the best pair of safeties in the nation. Ar’Darius Washington has the most upside of any defensive player in the conference in my opinion. After redshirting in 2018, Washington had a breakout 2019, that saw him named Big XII Defensive Freshman of the Year, graded by PFF as the second best safety in the nation...behind only his partner, Trevon Moehring. But this defense was great last year, as I said second best in the conference, and that didn’t even get them to bowl eligibility, because the offense was absolutely awful. Patterson went with true freshman Max Duggan, and it didn’t go well. The Horned Frogs passing game averaged just 6.2 ypa, with a passer rating of 112.4, both easily worst in the conference. And that was with Jalen Reagor, one of the most talented receivers in the country. Now Duggan has to figure out how to vastly improve, even without Reagor, who left early for the NFL Draft, with a totally unknown running game, that features a leading returning rusher being a redshirt freshman, who maintained his redshirt status last year by running for 99 yards in 3 games. I just see more of the same, with a great defense being wasted by a bad offense, and a team playing late in the year for bowl eligibility.
| KEY PLAYERS |
QB | Max Duggan, Sophomore |
WR | Taye Barber, Junior |
TE | Pro Wells, Junior |
| . |
LB | Garrett Wallow, Senior |
S | Trevon Moehring, Junior |
S | Ar'Darius Washington, Sophomore |