TCU football’s Max Duggan cleared to return to practice, but QB may not start opener
Max Duggan has been cleared to practice and is available to play when TCU opens its season against Iowa State on Saturday.
Coach Gary Patterson provided the news during the Big 12 football coaches teleconference on Monday. That does not necessarily mean Duggan will start, though, as Patterson said Matthew Downing has been getting the majority of reps with the first-team.
Third-stinger Stephon Brown also has a package in the offense.
“Like I said last week, I thought we’d be at full-go. Max has been back for almost two weeks,” Patterson said. “Downing is here ... Stephon ... we have all three.”
Patterson stopped short of declaring a starter.
“I don’t know who’s going to start,” he said. “Downing has been the guy since we’ve gone. He’s slung the ball really well. Right now, we have three quarterbacks. All of them have a part of the package in the game plan and we’ll go forward with it.”
Duggan had been sidelined much of training camp with a lifelong heart condition discovered through enhanced COVID-19 testing protocols. His medical condition was announced in mid-August and his return had no definitive timetable on it given the uncertainty surrounding his diagnosis.
Downing had been working with the first-team much of camp until he recently missed at least 10 days for an undisclosed reason. Players who test positive for COVID-19 are out at least 10 days, and those who are deemed in close contact of a person who tests positive are out at least 14 days.
But Downing returned to practice in the middle of last week and has taken most of the reps in camp.
At the end of the day, Patterson foreshadowed the good news during the Sept. 14 media call when he encouraged fans to “calm down” about TCU’s quarterback situation. It looked dire at the time with Patterson saying Duggan had yet to be cleared and Downing was out.
What a difference a week makes.
Duggan finished his rookie campaign by going 181 for 339 passing for 2,077 yards with 15 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. He also rushed for 555 yards and six TDs.
Downing joined TCU as a walk-on last season, but didn’t see the field. He played at Georgia as a walk-on in 2018, backing up Jake Fromm and Justin Fields. Downing played in four games, completing eight of 10 passes for 88 yards.
Brown, who is 6-foot-5, 220 pounds, was the top-rated dual-threat JUCO quarterback in the 2020 class from Independence Community College in Kansas. He threw for 1,430 yards with 16 touchdowns, and rushed for 546 yards and seven TDs last season.
Kickoff for Saturday’s TCU-Iowa State is at 12:30 p.m. Approximately 12,000 fans are expected to attend the game at Amon G. Carter Stadium in Fort Worth.
TCU-Texas TBD
A kickoff time for the TCU-Texas game on Oct. 3 in Austin is to be determined, the Big 12 announced. It will be finalized after this weekend’s games.
The game will either kickoff at 11 a.m. on Fox, or 6:30 p.m. on ABC.
This story was originally published September 21, 2020 at 12:31 PM.
