TCU spring football game another chance for a QB to get a ‘leg up’ on competition
All eyes will be on the quarterback position when the TCU football team takes the field on Friday night for its spring game.
Coach Sonny Dykes said earlier this week that no quarterback has separated himself but the spring game presents another opportunity to do just that. It’ll be the biggest stage to date with the biggest crowd as the Frogs open up Amon G. Carter Stadium for the event.
It’s free for fans to attend with gates opening at 6 p.m. The scrimmage starts at 7 p.m. There will be a fireworks show and autograph session afterward. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+.
For Max Duggan and Chandler Morris, though, it’s an opportunity to take some momentum into the summer. The same can be said for redshirt freshman Sam Jackson and true freshman Josh Hoover. Everyone in the quarterback room is pushing to become next season’s starter.
As Dykes put it, the spring game is “an opportunity to kind of get a leg up.”
“Every day is that,” Dykes said. “Every day we go out and practice, it’s an opportunity to earn a starting job and to take that next step. That’s the biggest thing that you want at that position. You want consistency. You’ve got to have a guy who can go out and execute your offense at a high level game in, game out.
“It doesn’t have to be the biggest. It doesn’t have to be the strongest. It doesn’t have to have the biggest arm. He doesn’t have to be any of those things — the best runner, the best thrower — he’s just got to be the best quarterback.”
Duggan and Morris have split first-team reps evenly throughout the spring. Dykes said the reps tell the story as to where players stand — and the reps say it’s an even battle at this point.
Jackson and Hoover are the only other quarterbacks to get reps during the team portion of practices, but they appear well behind Duggan and Morris in the competition for now.
For Dykes and offensive coordinator Garrett Riley, it comes down to which quarterback moves the offense the best on the most consistent basis. It sounds like a simple question to answer but easier said than done.
Some days the offense has moved better with Morris. Other days it goes more fluidly with Duggan.
Maybe Friday will provide more clarity with the most game-like atmosphere. At the end of the day, it’s about which quarterback performs the best in those environments.
Dykes shared a story about going to an Arizona Cardinals practice when he was the University of Arizona’s offensive coordinator from 2007-09. The Cardinals had recently drafted Matt Leinart in the first round and also had Kurt Warner on the roster.
“You’re watching these drills and watching Matt Leinart drop and throw into a net, and Kurt Warner could barely throw it 30 yards. You’re like, this guy is terrible. He’s old and washed up and no way he can do this,” Dykes said. “You look at Matt Leinart and you’re like, ‘This guy looks so good. He’s fast. He’s got a big arm.’
“Then you got into a team setting and every time Kurt Warner’s team got out there, they scored immediately. Every time Matt Leinart went out there, something bad happened. It was a great lesson for me as a coach — playing quarterback is not a skills competition. There’s just so much that goes into that position.
“The only way to figure it out is to put them in charge of the offense and see who moves the team the best. (Friday) will be a great opportunity for somebody to create a little bit of momentum.”
The format
TCU had a draft to split the roster into two teams and will play a game-like format with reps being monitored.
Duggan and Hoover will be quarterbacks on one team with Morris and Jackson on the other.
“There’s a couple of reasons we want to do (the game format),” Dykes said. “To me, it’s a great opportunity to see guys handle playing on a big stage. We’ve got a lot of new players and kind of seeing how they perform in that type of situation is important to us to get a good evaluation on a lot of them.
“Spring games are weird sometimes. You’ve got a guy like Quentin (Johnston) that could be getting covered by a walk-on corner. You expect Quentin to make those plays. There’s going to be some of that stuff that happens during the game that’s good for everybody involved. I think it puts pressure on the good players to go out and perform at the level they’re capable of performing.
“And I think it gives younger guys the opportunity to step up and give a name for themselves and makes them better players. It’s good for us and good for us from a sideline management standpoint with all those different things and to practice that and see some guys take some leadership roles. We’ll see how it plays out.”
Player excitement
Count senior wide receiver Taye Barber among those excited for the spring game.
Barber has enjoyed practicing in front of fans throughout the spring and is ready to take part in a spring scrimmage.
“I think the energy is going to be way better,” Barber said. “I think the students and the school are buying in more to the football team and Coach Dykes.”
This story was originally published April 21, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
