QB battle, staying healthy among storylines as TCU opens its spring practice
Football is back. Sort of.
TCU opens its spring practice today and will have 15 practices leading into its spring game scheduled for April 6.
TCU returns 12 starters, including seven on offense and five on defense.
The Frogs, coming off an injury-plagued 7-6 season, have plenty of storylines going into spring ball, starting with the quarterback position. We take a look at the top five --
Quarterback competition
TCU started three quarterbacks last season in opening-day starter Shawn Robinson, backup Mike Collins and third-stringer Grayson Muehlstein.
Robinson and Muehlstein are gone, and Collins is working his way back from injury. So that leaves TCU with three quarterbacks set to get the majority of snaps this spring -- grad transfer Alex Delton, incoming freshman Max Duggan and redshirt freshman Justin Rogers.
Delton has the most experience and could benefit from a new offensive system compared to what he ran at Kansas State.
Duggan enters as one of the top high school quarterback prospects in the country, and the college football world has seen true freshman quarterbacks succeed in recent years. But he is a wildcard given he hasn’t played at this level yet.
And Rogers remains an unknown. He is still not 100 percent from a severe knee injury in high school, but is making progress and played a series in TCU’s bowl game in late December.
This competition likely won’t be decided until fall camp with Collins back in the mix. But it ranks as the No. 1 storyline going into 2019.
Staying healthy
Given the number of injuries TCU dealt with last season, staying healthy is a priority. Coach Gary Patterson said last month that the program didn’t plan many drastic changes to its offseason preparation.
Several of the injuries TCU sustained last season, such as Ross Blacklock’s Achilles injury, were non contact.
“Some of the injuries had nothing to do with how you train,” Patterson said at his recruiting day news conference. “Guys running across the field and their leg goes out. We’re still in our same combo, but we’re changing them up a little bit.”
Part of the changes, Patterson said, includes going back to what the program calls “MTXE” workouts. Those workouts center on everything from “throwing bales of hay” to picking up football sleds.
The idea is to build more full body movements.
“We had gone away from it for a couple years, so we’re back at it,” Patterson said.
On the pass rush
TCU’s top two pass rushers from 2018, Ben Banogu and L.J. Collier, are at the NFL Scouting Combine, trying to boost their NFL stock. That leaves TCU trying to fill the void going into 2019.
But the Frogs have high expectations for Ochaun Mathis, who played in four games last season to remain eligible for a redshirt. Banogu spoke highly of Mathis at the bowl game, and the hope is for Mathis to excel in a more prominent role next season.
Brandon Bowen also returns and was a highly-touted recruit coming out of Trophy Club Nelson, but he’s battled injuries and has yet to register a sack in 10 career games.
A couple newcomers to keep an eye on are Adam Plant and Parker Workman.
TCU is known for developing pass rushers in the Patterson era, and we’ll see how that comes to fruition in 2019.
At least the interior defensive line should be solid come fall with Corey Bethley and Ross Blacklock, two players who have shown they can provide an interior rush presence. But Blacklock is not expected to participate in spring ball after missing last season with an Achilles injury.
Special teams watch
TCU struggled in the punting game last season, and addressed it by bringing in Australian Jordan Sandy to handle the duties next season.
Sandy was Australia’s top-ranked punter in the 2019 class, and should help a TCU team that averaged 33.9 net yards a punt last season.
For a team known for its defense, TCU has to do a better job flipping field position in 2019. That starts with an improved punting game.
Another special teams area to watch is returner. KaVontae Turpin was dismissed from the program in midseason last year, leaving the return duties to several players including Emari Demercado, Derius Davis, Jalen Reagor and Taye Barber.
Davis is a speedster who returned a punt for a touchdown in the season-opener against Southern, but averaged just 13 yards on six kickoff returns.
This is another competition that won’t be settled until the fall, especially with more incoming freshmen possessing return abilities.
Signal change?
Patterson mentioned late last season that he felt the time had come for him to overhaul his signals and verbiage. He felt too many teams had been stealing signals with a number of his former assistants spread throughout the country and with different programs.
“It’s been 21 years how we call everything, especially defensively,” Patterson said at the time. “I think it’s time for us to re-do everything.”
It’ll be interesting to hear from Patterson how such a nuanced process has gone so far. Spring ball is the first time the coaching staff will have an ability to implement it.
