TCU has its starting quarterback, but several other position battles are still going

TCU coach Gary Patterson has a quarterback. He declared Shawn Robinson had beat out Michael Collins for the job last weekend.

But TCU has several other position battles to settle before the Sept. 1 season opener against Southern. The Frogs are expected to release a depth chart in the coming days, but these are the positions to keep an eye on.

Left tackle

Joseph Noteboom has taken his talents to the NFL after being a staple on the Frogs’ O-line. He started every game at left tackle his junior and senior seasons, and was the starting right tackle as a sophomore.

Those are big shoes to fill, but TCU has a couple options. Anthony McKinney is a highly-touted JUCO transfer, and sophomore Austin Myers entered the college ranks as a four-star recruit out of Manvel.

McKinney has garnered praise from Patterson throughout fall camp, and has the frame (6-foot-8, 314 pounds) to develop. He is still relatively new to the sport as he didn’t start playing until his junior year of high school.

But McKinney had an impressive junior college career at Iowa Western, and was ranked as the No. 3 JUCO offensive tackle in the country by 247Sports.

Myers, meanwhile, is 6-foot-5, 303 pounds and played in five games as a redshirt freshman last season. He had plenty of accolades in high school and chose TCU over Oklahoma, Clemson, Ole Miss, Texas and Texas Tech.

Our guess: McKinney.

Cornerback

Jeff Gladney has one cornerback spot locked down. He’s arguably a top-five cornerback in the Big 12.

The other spot? That’s up for grabs. Ranthony Texada is fighting for a spot on the Washington Redskins after starting all 14 games last season and 12 as a junior in 2016.

Julius Lewis appears to be the odds-on favorite to win the job, but he’s struggled to stay healthy in recent seasons. The Mansfield product played 12 games as a freshman in 2015, but has seen action in just nine games since.

Patterson has mentioned freshmen Noah Daniels and Michael Onyemaobi as having solid fall camps to date. Daniels is listed at 6-foot and Onyemaobi — nicknamed “Yo Yo” — is 6-foot-1.

“Noah has really come on and so has Yo Yo,” Patterson said. “He and Noah give us two bigger corners than what we’ve had before, so we have more depth there.”

Our guess: Lewis, but all three should see time for the Frogs.

Kicker

Having two legitimate candidates at kicker has to be a good feeling for Patterson.

Cole Bunce seemed to have the inside edge early in camp. Being the guy who won the Alamo Bowl with a 33-yard field goal put him in position to keep the job going forward.

But Patterson mentioned Jonathan Song, who had the job to start last season before being injured the final five games, as someone who is making a case to reclaim the position.

“It’s becoming more of a push,” Patterson said. “Jonathan Song actually did better against the wind the other day in practice.”

Song started last season 8-of-8 on field goals, including a season-long 39-yarder at Kansas State.

Bunce, meanwhile, handled kickoff duties all season and then made 6-of-7 field goals with a long of 43 yards on first career attempt at Texas Tech.

Our guess: Bunce.

This story was originally published August 24, 2018 at 10:00 AM.