Patterson says cornerbacks make a name in the Big 12. Is one of his next?

The Big 12 is not only a good place for a quarterback or receiver to make a name, but also a cornerback, TCU coach Gary Patterson said Tuesday at his weekly press conference.

“If you can have a great, or even a good year, you’re going to get looked at because you’re always going to play good players,” he said.

That was the case last week for TCU senior Ranthony Texada and company, who held SMU receiver Courtland Sutton to one catch for no yards last week in a 56-36 victory.

“Coach P just really had a good game plan going in, and everybody on the defense executed it,” Texada said.

But the senior from Frisco, whose 31 starts are the most on the team, appears on his way to that name-making season for a Big 12 cornerback. He has a sack, an interception and a pass breakup through the first three games.

“You’re only as good as your last game,” Patterson said. “He was pretty good last week. So we’ll see how he is this week.”

This week carries an even larger task. The 16th-ranked Horned Frogs (3-0) will face an unbeaten, No. 6-rated Oklahoma State team that produced four 100-yard receiving performances in its last game. The Cowboys’ receiving attack is spearheaded by senior James Washington, who caught five passes for 184 yards and touchdowns of 48-, 50- and 74-yards against TCU in 2015, the Frogs’ last visit to Stillwater.

“They have a lot of depth, and a lot of the teams that we’re about to play have a lot of depth,” Texada said. “So you can’t really just rely on one guy. Everybody’s got to come together and play a good game.”

Here are some more questions and answers from Texada’s meeting with reporters Tuesday.

On the play of the TCU cornerbacks so far: “I think so far we’ve done a pretty good job of holding our own. There’s still stuff we can improve on, and we’ll continue to do that this week.”

On why it’s tough to play in Stillwater: “It’s a really high-intensity environment, and they always have good teams. So you just have to bring your ‘A’ game.”

On giving up 36 points to SMU: “As a defense, you never want to give up that many points. We kind of started off slow, but as the game went on, we kind of calmed down and settled into the game plan. We definitely look forward to starting off faster this weekend and starting off better.”

On SMU’s fast start: “The first couple of drives, they threw some stuff at us we hadn’t seen. It just took us a while to get adjusted. We talked about it during film. We just have to have better communication out there on the field. Once we did start having better communication, we got settled into the game. We definitely have to start faster this weekend.”

On being the underdog for the first time this season: “For me, personally, my whole life I’ve been an underdog, so it’s nothing new. And that’s what TCU thrives off of is being the underdog. And that’s what TCU is.”

On freshmen Jalen Reagor and Kenedy Snell: “They both had really good fall camps, and they made plays, and it’s definitely carrying over into the season. They’re really hard-working guys, high-intensity guys, so they’re definitely doing well for us so far.”

On whether it’s true, as Coach Gary Patterson says, that the team focuses more on the road: “Yeah, that’s true. I feel like you kind of have to on the road because when you’re on the road, they’re not cheering for you, so you’ve got to go out there and you’ve got to create your own energy and go out there and get the win, because it’s hard to win games on the road.”

On whether he personally like road games: “Yeah, I like playing on the road. Getting to go to different places and stuff like that is definitely a great experience.”

This story was originally published September 20, 2017 at 6:05 PM with the headline "Patterson says cornerbacks make a name in the Big 12. Is one of his next?."