Several stepping up as top linebacker candidates for TCU

By Travis L. Brown

Special to the Star-Telegram

On one hand, TCU’s linebacker corps remains the team’s biggest question mark after losing its senior leader Kenny Cain to graduation.

On the other, however, coach Gary Patterson was forced to rotate a committee of linebackers opposite Cain throughout the season to fill in the team’s position with the least depth. That translates into a more experienced group entering the 2013 season.

Leading the pack to take Cain’s spot as the position group’s leader is junior Marcus Mallet, who broke through at the end of last season as the group’s most improved player. He saw action in 12 games last year, recording 18 total tackles — 13 unassisted and five for a loss — and forcing a fumble.

Patterson said the defense is banking on Mallet to continue to make improvements through spring practice and into the fall.

“If he has a great season, he’s going to make us better because that’s a position we have less depth than we’ve had before compared to the rest of the positions,” Patterson said.

Making the switch from safety to linebacker is junior Jonathan Anderson, who saw limited playing time last season after losing his job to sophomore Chris Hackett. Anderson gives the Frogs’ defense a better option for covering speedy slot receivers, backs or tight ends running verticals up the seam, which was a weakness in the defense last season. Anderson recorded 28 tackles in 2012 and appeared in all 13 games.

“He gives us an advantage of a guy who runs 4.4, who covers vertical people,” Patterson said. “He’s the first guy we’ve had like that since Daryl Washington.”

A dark horse for the position is junior and Dallas Skyline alumnus Paul Dawson, who has shown improvement after a rough season last year.

“A guy who was in my doghouse was Paul Dawson, but really Paul, yesterday and today, has had two really good practices,” Patterson said. “He’s stepping up with Jonathan Anderson.”

While Patterson seems more comfortable with this returning group than the depleted corps with which he entered his first Big 12 campaign, he said it is still far from the standard that has been set by past TCU linebackers.

“We’re getting better, but we’ve had some awfully good linebackers here,” he said. “So it’s hard for me to go jump off a table and say we’re really good there, but they’ve made some plays.”

Dunbar returns to line

Gary Patterson said the one disadvantage to bookending spring practice around spring break is the knowledge retention of a young offensive line.

The linemen may not be young by class, but the line has been depleted with the departure of seniors Blaize Foltz and James Fry.

However, James Dunbar is back with the group after leaving TCU for academic reasons, and he brings knowledge of the system to an inexperienced line.

While Dunbar is continuing to work on getting back into football shape, his size alone is a big asset to the team, Patterson said.

“You just don’t get 23-year-old, 6-foot-6, 320-pound bodies very often,” Patterson said. “For us to have another guy who understands the offense that’s not a new guy coming in — it’s a definite advantage.”

A-plus in chemistry

Continuing to expand the system remains the biggest key to TCU’s spring practice with a team full of sophomores and juniors.

That task has been much easier for Patterson and the coaching staff thanks to the connection the squad has made already, Patterson said.

“The thing I like about this team right now is they like each other — both sides of the ball — and they compete,” Patterson said. “It’s not a bunch of jabbering and them giving each other a bad time. It’s not personal, and that makes for a lot easier way to coach and be able to run things on a day-to-day basis.”

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