TCU will rely on a new crop of wide receivers after several leave for the NFL
Heading into the 2025 season, TCU must replace its top three pass catchers from last season as Jack Bech, Savion Williams, and JP Richardson departed for the NFL Draft.
Who will replace their production for the Horned Frogs this season?
The returner with the most production is Eric McAlister, who had 39 catches for 762 yards with five touchdowns. He was fourth on the team in catches and second in yards, and no player, with at least 10 receptions, had a higher yards per catch than the Azle native.
Another returning player who could play a big role is Jordyn Bailey. He tied for the fourth most receiving touchdowns on the team.
He finished the season with nine catches for 58 yards with two touchdowns while adding 74 yards on the ground and one rushing touchdown, and will see an expanded role as a returner with Richardson’s departure.
After spring practice on Monday, March 31, Bailey explained his outlook for the upcoming season and what he has to do to claim the slot wide receiver position.
“I just got to keep doing what I do,” Bailey said. “Just go to work every day and keep stacking days, you know, just the spot really open grabs for anybody. So I just go in and work like I gotta earn that spot, so I’m just gonna go out there and keep earning it every day. It’s not gonna be given to me, so I’m just gonna show up and keep doing me.”
Joining Bailey and McAlister is transfers Jordan Dwyer, from Idaho, and Joseph Manjack IV, from Houston. Bailey explained what those transfers bring and his impressions of the wide receiver room.
“[They’re] dogs. Everybody’s versatile, everybody like to play in different spots,” he said. “I feel like that’s the biggest thing. We all spread out, and since we moved into Coach Kelly room, we’re all in one room. So I feel like everybody just on one page to know like what the outside, and what the inside doing, so we really clicking on all cylinders.”
Dwyer was a sought-after transfer in the portal with offers from Washington, Washington State, USC, Ole Miss and Arkansas, among others.
Last season, Dwyer had 78 catches for 1,192 yards with 12 touchdowns with the Vandals in his most successful collegiate season.
A Tomball native, Manjack provides the Horned Frogs with a big-bodied receiver who had 22 catches for 351 yards with three touchdowns last season for the Cougars.
Bailey said the transfers into the program have bought into the system and credited TCU football’s culture and the coaches for facilitating team bonding.
It’s not just new players; TCU also brought in a new wide receivers coach, former All-American Corey Coleman, and Bailey praised his mindset.
“I can tell he a dog, just his mentality and how he instills into us every day to attack the day. So every time we go into [practice] he gives us the drills. I tell him every time, like, we doing stuff I ain’t did in a minute, like, you know what I’m saying, so I appreciate him and everything that he’s done,” said Bailey.
With all the changes at the wideout position, having a returning starter in quarterback Josh Hoover is huge for the Horned Frogs, especially considering no returning quarterback in the entire FBS had more passing plays of 20-plus yards.
“You could tell his confidence is out the roof. This spring he’s throwing balls that’s really unbelievable, and his confidence is just going crazy,” said Bailey, “All glory to him and I’m just proud of him,” said Bailey.
With Hoover at the helm, TCU won six of its final seven games to end last season and hopes to use that momentum to return to Big 12 title contention this season.
