TCU Notebook: Who stood out during the Horned Frogs’ scrimmage?
The final week of fall camp is here for TCU and the Horned Frogs are looking to close strong before turning the focus to Colorado.
TCU had its first closed scrimmage of the preseason on Sunday and it served as the first time the team went through a true game-like atmosphere.
“We had a great scrimmage yesterday, very competitive,” coach Sonny Dykes said. “It was what you wanted to see when you scrimmage. It felt like offensively early in the scrimmage we were good, executed some things well. The second half of the scrimmage the defense really showed up and played well.
Based on intel gathered from sources around the program it seems like there was a healthy back and forth between the two sides. The tempo of the offense was really able to make an impact as the unit was able to string together plays back to back.
Among the offensive standouts were freshman receiver Cordale Russell and slot receiver Major Everhart. Russell had a long touchdown catch according to Dykes while Everhart has two of his better practices back-to-back.
On Monday, Everhart reeled in a pass one-handed and had another acrobatic catch in one-on-ones against a starting safety. Corey Wren was another player on offense that impressed Dykes.
“I thought he had a good scrimmage, it’s certainly the best he’s looked since he got here,” Dykes said. “I thought he ran the ball well. He looked fast, he looked explosive. I was encouraged to see that.”
Wren likely got a bigger workload as Trey Sanders was held out of the scrimmage for precautionary reasons. Wren is pushing Trent Battle and Cam Cook for reps behind Sanders and Bailey. Dykes said both quarterbacks performed well during the scrimmage.
Turning the page to defense, it sounds like a number of new contributors had big days.
“Channing Canada, Mason White, Paul (Oyewale) is starting to do things up front,” Dykes said. “(Rick) D’Abreu continues to flash, he’s just got to be a little more consistent. The linebackers have been as consistent as anybody in camp.”
Canada got first team reps in practice on Monday and broke up a long pass to Warren Thompson during 11-on-11. He’ll have a chance over the next few practices to make his case to start alongside Josh Newton. White has also had a good camp at corner while D’Abreu’s pass rushing ability continues to intrigue the staff.
If there’s a player that’s poised for a breakout season, it’s Oyewale. The redshirt freshman is a good blend of length and athleticism and had another good play on Monday when he blew up a wide receiver screen.
Overall it seems like Dykes was encouraged by what he saw from his team.
“The one thing I like about this group is they’re very competitive,” Dykes said. “I think they have a lot of pride. When one side of the ball has a good practice or good session, the other side of the ball has a tendency to rise up and challenge them. I like to see that, I worry sometimes when one side is playing well and executing and having success and the other side doesn’t rise up and compete.”
The Horned Frogs could have a relatively light week of practice with another scrimmage scheduled for the weekend.
Injury news
The Horned Frogs got out of the scrimmage relatively healthy, which is always key. Projected starter Avery Helm was held out of practice Monday though the injury isn’t believed to be serious.
Freshman running back Cam Cook practiced Monday, but wore a red no-contact jersey and didn’t participate in 11-on-11 drills.
Thomas Armstrong and Ish Burdine are expected to miss an extended portion of time. Armstrong, a reserve linebacker, suffered what appeared to be a lower body injury a little over a week ago during practice. Burdine hasn’t practiced since the first week of fall camp. Both players missed most of 2022 with injuries.
