Why Kendal Briles is optimistic about the future of TCU’s offense
Even with the work week winding down, TCU’s football operations building is buzzing with energy on Thursday, Jan. 4.
Wide receivers coach Doug Meacham strolls through the hallways a few times, followed by director of player personnel Tyler Olker. Eventually emerging from the hallway is offensive coordinator Kendal Briles, who is in a good mood.
That’s because the Horned Frogs were putting the final touches on their pursuit of Vanderbilt quarterback transfer Ken Seals. But before Briles and the rest of the staff wrapped up that recruitment, Briles took the time to sit down and reflect on his first year with the Horned Frogs’ football program.
This time last year, Briles was just arriving in Fort Worth after three seasons in Arkansas as an offensive coordinator. Before Arkansas Briles had quick stops at Florida State, Houston and Florida Atlantic, where he was able to produce a number of productive offenses and good quarterbacks
Briles is most well-known for his stint at Baylor where from 2008-16 he served numerous roles for his father Art, including offensive coordinator in 2014-16. The Baylor and TCU rivalry was at its peak then and Briles acknowledged it was a bit different to put on purple and white for the first time.
“I’d be lying to you if I said it was not weird,” Briles said. “My wife would laugh and say you’re wearing TCU colors. It’s normal, we’re all human. We know how the rivalry was and probably still is with the fanbase. We know the history with Coach Patterson and my dad.
“It’s funny the way things work out and things come full circle. The opportunity to be able to coach here with Coach (Sonny) Dykes), I think this is one of the best programs in America.”
After an up and down year on the field during a 5-7 regular season, Briles seems to be settled in and eager for year two after the offense showed potential in his first year.
The Horned Frogs finished 11th in total offense and averaged more than 31 points per game. That would be a good year for most, but Briles will be the first to tell you the things that held the offense from being able to transition from good to great.
“At times I think the biggest thing was we lacked consistency,” Briles said. “At times we looked really good and moved as one unit, at other times we sputtered a little bit which you don’t want to have. I think a lot of that is geared towards turning the ball over. This is one of the years we turned the ball over more than any I’ve been apart of.”
Briles acknowledged it was frustrating at times, a feeling shared with the fanbase. Despite the overall production being among the upper half of the country, the Horned Frogs finished 121st in red zone offense and had 19 turnovers.
Finding consistency was difficult at times as the offense had to incorporate a new system with new starters across the board and then starting quarterback Chandler Morris went down with an injury. The fact that TCU was able to still finish relatively high production wise is an encouraging sign for Briles.
“It’s going to be a great offseason to be able to coach off of with our guys,” Briles said. “I thought we did some really good things in our first year from a stat standpoint, so we just have to continue to build.”
TCU showed growth at the end of the season scoring 40 or more against Baylor and Oklahoma while nearly pulling off an upset with 20 points in the final quarter against Texas. Dykes is also eager to see how Briles can build off that late-season success.
“I’m excited for year two,” Dykes said. “We moved the ball consistently for the most part, I think our guys got more comfortable and settled in. I feel like we didn’t play to our potential because we didn’t score. We struggled in the red zone, but it got better towards the end. I was encouraged by that.
“We started to generate more big plays down the stretch, we were able to finish more drives. I was encouraged by the overall improvement.”
Among the most encouraging signs was the development of Josh Hoover. The redshirt freshman was thrown into the fire against the meat of TCU’s schedule with starts at Texas Tech, Kansas State and Oklahoma plus one against national semifinalist Texas.
Hoover made his mistakes as most young quarterbacks do, but he managed to show Briles and the staff plenty on the field and with his intangibles.
“He showed us exactly what we knew,” Briles said. “He’s a mature, confident kid and the team believed in him. He’s a no flinch guy, he’s very calm. He expects an incredible amount from myself. We knew that was his makeup as a person, when he got his opportunity he went and showed that’s who he is.”
Briles mentioned that Hoover is a bit of a gunslinger and passed for over 400 yards in four of his six starts. Hoover has shown he’s a capable talent, the next step will be to protect the football more.
As for how they’re trying to build the offense around Hoover, Dykes and Briles put a bigger emphasis on landing proven players out of the transfer portal as opposed to taking highly recruited players that hadn’t played much at some bigger brands.
There’s Boise State transfer Eric McAlister, who had over 800 yards receiving for the Broncos, Baylor tight end transfer Drake Dabney (552 yards, five touchdowns), plus a number of offensive linemen with multiple years of starting experience.
“The thing that kept standing out was (the success) of guys that had been productive at places,” Dykes said. “It wasn’t necessarily a backup that had been a five-star recruit, it was more so somebody that had been overlooked. Somebody that had been very productive and stayed healthy. For us that was one of the things we talked about.”
McAlister, Dabney, Louisiana Tech offensive lineman Carson Bruno and Florida State transfer Bless Harris should help bolster an offense that returns top playmakers Savion Williams and JP Richardson.
Williams in particular is a returnee that Briles can’t wait to utilize even more in year two.
“Savion he kind of showed what he can do in that Texas game,” Briles said. “We hadn’t really seen it until then, he was kind of limited in practice my first year and even in fall camp he was limited. We really didn’t get to see what he could do. We saw a few flashes, I’m really excited about moving forward with him and finding out different ways to put the ball in his hands.”
Williams could’ve easily used the 164-yard performance against the Longhorns to jump to the NFL or to the ever tempting transfer portal where he would’ve had plenty of suitors. The decision to remain for another year should be another encouraging sign about the direction of the offense.
With Hoover, Williams and Richardson returning, plus a top-10 transfer class, there’s no reason the Horned Frogs can’t reach another level offensively in 2024.
About an hour after Briles’ interview, Seals announced his commitment to TCU, giving the Horned Frogs a third scholarship quarterback that has starting experience and is also willing to mentor and backup Hoover.
If the offseason has shown anything it’s that Briles is coming into year two on a mission.
