TCU football piles up individual honors after knocking off No. 9 Texas
TCU football had a trio of players honored following its 33-31 victory over No. 9 Texas on Saturday.
Max Duggan was recognized by the Fort Worth-based Davey O’Brien Foundation on Monday, being named one of the “Great 8” quarterbacks in Week 5. The Big 12 also recognized safety La’Kendrick Van Zandt as co-defensive player of the week and kicker Griffin Kell as special teams player of the week.
Duggan had a standout performance against the Longhorns, capped with a game-winning 26-yard TD run up the middle in the fourth quarter. Duggan finished the game with 310 yards of total offense (231 passing, 79 rushing).
Other quarterbacks honored by the Davey O’Brien Foundation included SMU’s Shane Shane Buechele, Ole Miss’ Matt Corral, Alabama’s Mac Jones, NC State’s Devin Leary, Coastal Carolina’s Grayson McCall, Tulsa’s Zach Smith and BYU’s Zach Wilson.
By being named to the Great 8 list, Duggan has also been added to the watch list for the Davey O’Brien National Quarterback Award.
Asked about Duggan becoming a “star” in the Big 12, coach Gary Patterson said: “I don’t know. He’s really improved from last year on touch passes. A year ago, I used to say he needed before the ballgame to throw 10 really hard balls against a wall and get all the hard balls out of his system. Here in the first few games, he’s had a couple touch passes for touchdowns that he’s thrown that have been really good. He’s just a true sophomore.
“If we win enough ballgames, I’ll leave it up for you guys to make him a star.”
Van Zandt, meanwhile, finished with seven tackles and an interception. His biggest play of the day was a touchdown-saving tackle on Texas RB Keaontay Ingram late in the fourth quarter on a long pass play. Two plays later, Ingram fumbled the ball as he stretched for the goal line on the 1-yard line.
That proved to be the game-changing play that wouldn’t have happened had Van Zandt not made the tackle.
TCU also wouldn’t have won the game without Kell, who made field goals of 27, 32, 49 and 28 yards.
Patterson said he was “very proud” of the job Kell did on Saturday in Austin.
Along with Van Zandt, the Big 12 named West Virginia’s Darius Stills a co-defensive player of the week. Iowa State running back Breece Hall was the league’s offensive player of the week, and Kansas State’s Deuce Vaughn was the newcomer of the week.
TCU returns to action with a home game against Kansas State on Saturday. Kickoff is set for 3 p.m. at Amon G. Carter Stadium.
This story was originally published October 5, 2020 at 3:00 PM.
