Fossil Ridge-built: Unexpected starters Curry, Wilson making prep roots look good at TCU

As TCU reworked all kinds of plans on defense, the moves included Montrel Wilson and Aaron Curry.

Wilson went from safety to linebacker.

Curry went from rotation defensive tackle to starter.

Between them, they didn’t play a college snap last year. But the changes stuck — before they knew it, Wilson and Curry were more than simply products of the same high school, Keller Fossil Ridge, but major players in a reshaped defense for the defending Big 12 co-champions.

“It makes us proud as a program,” Fossil Ridge coach Tony Baccarini said. “To come in and play on that level, you have to have a high football IQ. They’re both very intelligent players. My defensive coordinator, Patrick Williams, runs the show and really teaches how to play the game and tackle. And how to be good men.”

The No. 3-ranked Horned Frogs can use all the good men — and good players — they can find right now as they get ready for the conference opener at Texas Tech on Saturday.

Down as many as eight starters or rotation players on defense after the first three games, coach Gary Patterson and the defensive staff have shuffled, mixed and matched to cover for the losses.

In the season opener at Minnesota, Curry took over for Davion Pierson, who did not travel because of a concussion. By the next game, Wilson — a safety at Fossil Ridge and recruited as a safety to TCU — got a shot at linebacker to help make up for the loss of Sammy Douglas, who sustained a season-ending knee injury and the departure of freshman Mike Freeze.

“We really need to get Montrel Wilson more involved,” Patterson said after the Minnesota game.

“I’m proud of him, of Fossil Ridge,” Curry said.

Pierson is on the way back to action, but he’s not ready to reclaim the job as the starter. So Curry, who sat out last season after transferring from Nebraska, might remaining the starter for a while.

Wilson has a better chance to be a long-term starter.

Patterson has had his eye on the 6-foot-3, 198-pound freshman and the linebacker position since August practices began. Patterson told Wilson he was changing positions, and Wilson ran with the opportunity.

“He made that adjustment,” Curry said. “He’s doing great at it. He’s a great kid. Happy. Always making jokes — he’s a funny kid.”

Has Wilson’s head stopped spinning?

“I don’t know that it ever was,” Patterson said.

Wilson’s strength is his speed, which might still give Patterson the opportunity to use him and fellow safety-turned-linebacker Travin Howard in coverage as he was planning to with Freeze and Douglas.

“He’s a great athlete; we noticed that the day he stepped on campus,” receiver Ty Slanina, one of the team’s fastest players, said of Wilson. “When we go across the middle, he’s right there behind us on our hip. He’s a great player. He’s pretty mature for being a freshman. We’re really looking forward to what he can do for TCU.”

For Curry, the chance to start for three games meant a chance to see the benefit of a year of focusing on himself.

“I didn’t redshirt at Nebraska. I never had that time to work on my technique as much as I wanted,” he said. “Coming here, I had that time. It’s gotten me a lot better. I’m a lot quicker, I can use my hands a lot more. It got me the opportunity to get better at my craft. From where I was at Nebraska to where I am now, I see that change in my play.”

Curry is third on the team in tackles with 18 and got his first TCU sack against Stephen F. Austin. Two years ago at Nebraska, when he started every Big Ten game, Curry had 24 tackles and two sacks.

“A pleasant surprise,” is what Patterson called him two weeks ago.

“I think he still has a higher level he can get to,” Patterson said. “The key is trusting and learning how to work like that, do all the things you need to do. I think he’s got a chance to keep getting better.”

The same goes for the other Fossil Ridge ex.

“He’s fast, he’s quick, has ball skills,” Curry said of Wilson after the Stephen F. Austin game. “He’s out there doing his job. You haven’t seen his best yet.”

At Fossil Ridge, Baccarini sits back and observes it all with no surprise.

Sure looks like he’s not alone.

This story was originally published September 24, 2015 at 3:33 PM with the headline "Fossil Ridge-built: Unexpected starters Curry, Wilson making prep roots look good at TCU."