In TCU linebackers search, Patterson must start from scratch
Rebuilding on defense is nothing new for TCU coach Gary Patterson.
But this year, at linebacker, he has start from scratch.
There are no returning starters among the five players working at the position in spring camp. The veterans, junior Sammy Douglas and sophomore Paul Whitmill, have appeared in 35 games over three seasons combined, mainly on special teams. Ty Summers sat out on a medical redshirt last year, and Mike Freeze and Alec Dunham are early enrollees.
That’s it.
It’s far from the known stock Patterson had at this time last year in Paul Dawson, Marcus Mallet and Jonathan Anderson. They went into last season with 30 starts among them, and despite Patterson’s uncertainty as late as August, Dawson and Mallet established themselves as the most productive pair in team history.
“Right now, you say I’m the starting linebacker,” Patterson said last week following the fifth spring practice.
But he has a plan.
First, Patterson will add more bodies to the mix by looking at the safeties on the roster, primarily the strong safeties. Weak safety Kenny Iloka could also be a candidate because he, too, fits the body type — 6-foot-2 or so, 205 to 210 pounds — and is hard-nosed.
“Kenny Cain played at 5-10, 208 and led us in tackles three years ago,” Patterson said, then emphasized his bottom-line goal: “Go find good football players. Go find 11 guys who can get on the field and do what you need them to do.”
In August, there will be more possibilities.
Four-star linebacker Semaj Thomas of Fort Worth Southwest will arrive, although he might first get a look at defensive end. Patterson already has his mind tinkering with the possibilities for incoming safeties Arico Evans of Dallas Hillcrest and Montrel Wilson of Keller Fossil Ridge.
Their sizes? 6-2, 190 and 6-2, 193.
“We got plenty,” Patterson said.
He needs plenty. The Horned Frogs play enough defenses where they bring a safety down as a third linebacker that they need to keep a fresh stock of hybrids.
“There’s a lot of defenses we have that our strong safeties and weak safeties shove themselves in the box,” he said. “We play a lot of ‘10’-personnel teams [one back, no tight ends] where you’re probably better off if you’re a strong safety. Jonathan Anderson was a strong safety.”
Patterson said he’ll also look for a junior-college linebacker.
“Right now, I’m going to develop my whole football team,” he said. “At some point in time, if I have to move somebody, then I’ll move somebody. But right now, it’s just about every day, pushing every part of our defense, getting them to learn a little bit more.”
Douglas and Summers are listed as the starters on the depth chart. Whitmill and Dunham are the co-backups behind Douglas, and Freeze is behind Summers.
But that’s only worth the paper it’s written on. Patterson said no one is a starter right now.
“We got a long way to go at linebacker,” Patterson said. “We do so much, those guys do so much movement things for us, there’s just a lot of learning to it. They’ll get there. Or I’ll move somebody there. We’ll have 11 guys that can go run to the football by the time we get done.”
Carlos Mendez, 817-390-7760
This story was originally published March 20, 2015 at 5:50 PM with the headline "In TCU linebackers search, Patterson must start from scratch."