TCU signs Justin Rogers, second-highest rated player ever to join Frogs

Justin Rogers is officially a TCU Horned Frog.

Rogers, a four-star recruit from Bossier City, La., signed with TCU on Friday, the last day of the early signing period. He is the highest-rated player to sign with the Frogs since Gary Patterson took over as head coach in 2000.

"The leader always comes down to a quarterback,” Patterson said. “You have a guy like Justin that has a chance to be our future for our next four or five years, along with the guys we have here. Any time you get a great young quarterback, just like we did a year ago with Shawn Robinson, it says a lot about the future of what we're trying to get accomplished."

His signing caps a week of 18 signees for the Frogs in the first year of an early signing period in college football. Had Rogers not signed Friday he would have had to wait until National Signing Day on Feb. 7, which would have undoubtedly made TCU fans nervous until he put pen to paper.

“TCU did a fantastic job of building a trust and a connection with Justin to show him that not only is TCU a place where he can maximize his abilities on the football field, but it’s a place where he’s going to go that he’s not just a number, he’s a guy that they care about,” said Steve Wiltfong, a national recruiting analyst for 247Sports. “LSU does a great job of keeping in-state kids home, and they're always going to. But Alabama's come in there and beat them for kids. They don't win them all. And recruiting's a relationship business.”

Rogers is rated the second-best quarterback in the country by 247Sports.com, 34th nationally overall and the second-best player in Louisiana. The web site gives him a player rating of 0.9799, highest for a TCU signee since running back Tyson Thompson had an 0.9869 score in 2000, Dennis Franchione’s last signing class in Fort Worth.

Last year's top signee score was wide receiver Jalen Reagor's 0.9566. Devonte Fields carried an 0.9517 score in 2012.

Rogers joins a class that is rated 19th, on track to be TCU's first Top 20 class. Two years ago, the Frogs' signing group ranked 21st.

“He’s one of those players that’s a marquee player that people are going to gravitate toward because good recruits want to surround themselves with other good recruits,” said Jeremy Clark, publisher of HornedFrogBlitz.com on the 247Sports network of recruiting sites. “You’re talking not only about a good recruit, but the most important position on a football field, where a guy that's rated so high has decided to come to TCU. It’s definitely made an impact on the recruiting trail.”

Rogers suffered a torn knee ligament in the season opener for Parkway High School in August and missed the rest of the season. He underwent surgery to repair the damage and is expected to enroll in January at TCU.

This story was originally published December 22, 2017 at 5:06 PM with the headline "TCU signs Justin Rogers, second-highest rated player ever to join Frogs."