Here’s what LaDainian Tomlinson thought of his nephew’s freshman season at TCU
TCU great LaDainian Tomlinson would’ve liked to see his nephew redshirt his true freshman season. Instead, the Horned Frogs played Tre’Vius Hodges-Tomlinson in every game this season.
Tre’Vius handled himself well, finishing with eight tackles on defense and four unassisted tackles on special teams. The highlight came when he made his first career start against Baylor, making three tackles and one pass breakup.
LaDainian felt his nephew had a “solid” season, although felt he could’ve used a year to develop and acclimate more to the college game.
“Now that it’s over, I can say personally I wanted him to redshirt, but that’s done with,” LaDainian said. “He’s on to his second season now, but I believe the kid is a hard worker. He’s going to continue to develop and he’s going to have a chance to be a really good player.”
Tre’Vius, who is listed at 5-foot-9, 171 pounds, joined the program as a three-star recruit out of Waco Midway. Much like his uncle believes, TCU coach Gary Patterson has similar high hopes for Tre’Vius.
Patterson praised his young cornerbacks, Tre’Vius and Kee’yon Stewart, throughout the season.
Both Tre’Vius and Stewart started games and will be relied upon heavily next season with regulars Jeff Gladney and Julius Lewis completing their senior seasons.
As a secondary unit, TCU had the second-best pass defense in the Big 12, limiting opponents to 199.7 yards per game through the air. TCU was one of just 31 programs in the country to hold opponents to fewer than 200 yards passing per game in the regular season.
LaDainian talked about his nephew’s freshman season from El Paso as he took part in a charity event for the Tony the Tiger Sun Bowl last week.
Tomlinson, along with the Tony the Tiger mascot, surprised middle schoolers with truckloads of new sports equipment and announced a $500,000 donation to give every El Paso middle schooler the chance to play sports, courtesy of the Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes’ Mission Tiger and The Dick’s Sporting Goods Foundation Sports Matter.
“There’s a lack of funding in the school system, so a lot of sports programs are going away because they just can’t afford to have these teams anymore,” Tomlinson said. “There’s no equipment. They don’t have the money. When I heard about this, I had to be a part of it. For one, I’ve been here [and played in the 1998 Sun Bowl]. I’ve been in El Paso, I was a part of this bowl game, I know what it stands for. I know how important this is to the people here in El Paso.
“I wanted to come be a part of what they’re doing today.”
