TCU football: Chandler Morris locks in QB job as team faces RB questions
Chandler Morris is the starting quarterback for TCU and Max Duggan is OK with that.
Morris impressed in his college debut against Baylor, throwing for 461 yards and two touchdowns in a 30-28 upset of No. 14 Baylor. He’ll remain in the role as TCU travels to No. 10 Oklahoma State on Saturday.
TCU interim coach Jerry Kill said Morris earned another start with his performance, coupled with Duggan’s lingering foot injury. Duggan even told Kill that Morris should start in Stillwater.
“Max is one of the greatest kids I’ve ever met,” Kill said. “He came and talked to me and said, ‘Chandler deserves to start. I’ve got a broken bone in my foot. I can do whatever you need me to do, Coach. I just need to know what you think.’
“He’ll suit up and be ready to go if needed and he may play some. It will be according to how he does the rest of the week. If there’s ever a team player, he’s one of them. He knows he’s not 100% but at the same time right now Chandler is banged a little bit. Those two guys we need so we’ll progress as we go along here.”
Kill did not reveal what Morris’ setback is, but he played the entire Baylor game. He finished 29 of 41 passing for 461 yards with two touchdowns. He also rushed for 70 yards and one TD.
Morris earned Big 12 offensive player of the week honors as well as being named the Earl Campbell Tyler Rose Award player of the week and Manning Award star of the week.
RB updates
TCU running back Zach Evans, who has been battling a turf toe injury since the Texas Tech game on Oct. 9, underwent an MRI exam Monday and it doesn’t sound promising for the Oklahoma State game.
“They haven’t said it’s better,” Kill said. “I still think he’s questionable. You can’t play running back unless you’re full tilt and full speed. I don’t see him playing at this point in time.”
Fellow running back Kendre Miller, meanwhile, is also questionable. Miller exited in the first half of the Baylor game with an injury.
“With Kendre’s injury, we’re just going to see how it goes for the week,” Kill said. “He really can’t practice today and I don’t know if he’ll practice Wednesday. Anybody in that situation and has been hit in the ribs in that particular area, it’s pretty hard to do some things.”
Evans and Miller are TCU’s top running back options, and Daimarqua Foster is also out with an injury.
That leaves Emari Demercado as TCU’s only scholarship running back.
TCU is expected to move a few players around to add depth at the position, Kill said.
“We’ve got a plan,” he said. “I don’t want to say a whole lot about it because we’re not sure what’s going to happen. But we’ll definitely have a plan to make sure we have a little bit of depth there. We won’t have a whole lot of depth there.”
TCU has the Big 12’s third-best rushing offense, averaging 196 yards per game.
GP around?
During the Big 12 conference call on Monday, Kill said he wasn’t sure if former coach Gary Patterson would have input on the defensive game plan as he did last week for the Baylor game.
But Patterson is more than welcome at the football offices anytime as he and Kill are close friends. And, of course, Patterson is still loyal to the players he brought to Fort Worth.
“I’m not sure what he’ll do this week,” Kill said. “He comes around, here and there, and he’s got a right to do that.”
This story was originally published November 9, 2021 at 4:06 PM.
