TCU’s new offensive coordinator pleased with early development of his scheme
TCU football enters a new era this season, as new offensive coordinator Gordon Sammis is reshaping the Horned Frogs’ identity.
Sammis takes over for Kendal Briles, who departed for South Carolina in December after three seasons in Fort Worth.
The Horned Frogs had a mix of air raid and veer-and-shoot principles under Briles, but are expected to move more to a pro-style scheme under Sammis, who had excellent success with that style of offense at UConn.
With two days of spring camp in the books, Sammis said he is pleased with the early progress of the offense.
“I’ve been very pleased, credit to our players they’ve been very conscientious about coming in on their own and studying,” Sammis said Thursday. “We’ve got cut-ups everywhere for them. The playbook was ready for them as soon as they got here. They’ve done a great job embracing it.”
From a personnel standpoint, TCU has shown more under-center looks than in years past, with multiple tight ends on the field and heavy emphasis on establishing the run.
But the Horned Frogs have also operated in the spread, and that versatility will the one of the key foundations for Sammis’ offense.
“A lot goes into game planning right? I think No. 1, it starts with what do you have?” Sammis said. “What are your best personnels? What makes you the most explosive and most effective? And then I think at the same time, when you game plan, you want to mix up personnels and see where you can get that advantage.
“If they’re a personnel-match team, you want to see where you get a better advantage. If they don’t match personnel, then you want to maybe get big if they’re gonna be small or if they’re gonna stay big you kind of just go from there and call your play based on that.”
Early impressions of the passing game
Aside from installing his offense, the biggest storyline on that side of the ball will be the development of quarterbacks Jaden Craig, Adam Schobel and Jack Daulton.
Craig, a Harvard transfer, is expected to be the starter, while being pushed by Schobel, who is a redshirt freshman. Daulton is getting valuable reps as a true freshman early enrollee.
Sammis said he has mostly been pleased with what he’s seen from his quarterbacks, but wants better ball security.
“They’re hard workers. I’m pleased with the development. [Quarterbacks coach Brad Robbins] is doing a great job with them,” Sammis said. “I would say, one, we threw to the other team too much. Those things will happen, but at the same it’s unacceptable. But I think all three guys have really talented arms, and I think all three are doing a heck of a job.”
At wide receiver, TCU is tasked with replacing All-Big 12 selection Eric McAlister. Senior Jordan Dwyer is expected to fill that position, but has been limited during spring camp so far. South Alabama transfer Jeremy Scott is also out with an injury.
However, that’s allowed young talented receivers like redshirt freshman Terry Shelton and sophomore Dozie Ezukanma to get more reps. Those two have been some of the standouts early during camp.
“I think they’re really talented,” Sammis said. “They may not have as much experience, so it’s going to be a huge deal for us to develop them. But I do think the raw material is there, and they’re working hard at it and it’s important to them.
“The big thing for them is — they’re not gonna like to hear it all the time, sometimes I’m sure — but we just gotta keep blocking, being great blockers in everything we do, and that’s gonna help us with everything else.”
Shelton had the highlight of spring camp so far with a one-handed catch during one-on-ones, and he also caught a nice pass from Craig on a play action. Ezukanma has also been hard to matchup with during one-on-ones and had a few nice grabs during team drills.
Those two, along with slot receivers Ed Small and Major Everhart, should give TCU plenty of options with its passing game.
What about the run game?
As for TCU’s installation with the run game, it’s been good and bad news. Let’s start with the good, as TCU’s offensive line has looked the part even without Cade Bennett and Ryan Hughes on the field.
The offensive line had another solid day of opening up holes in the run game as Daulton, graduate transfer Landon Walker and junior Jeremy Payne all had chunk plays Thursday.
The size of the offensive line continues to stand out as more young players continue to get into the mix.
“I’ve been pretty pleased with those guys early on with the communication and front changes,” Sammis said. “There’s gonna be some hiccups, which I hate since [offensive line] is my background, but it’s also realistic. I think we got some guys that can move. We got some guys who have some experience and good young talent that can really push the level of competition and make everybody get better.”
As for the bad news, TCU will be severely limited at running back during the spring with just Payne, Walker and sophomore Joe Pitchford getting most of the reps.
Sophomore Jon Denman has been limited during camp and incoming freshmen Amante Martin and G’Ivori Graham won’t arrive on campus until the summer.
TCU will have to find balance between getting Payne the valuable reps he needs for development while not overworking him and risking his health before fall camp. Sammis said he doesn’t anticipate the lack of bodies being an issue, though.
“We’re very intentional with them. We’re careful with them,” Sammis said. “I’m careful with how I script it sometimes. But at the same time, we’re gonna let these guys be workhorses and we’ll take care of them. At the same time with what we want to do in the run game across the board and throughout the rest of the spring, we’re gonna need them.
“So we’ll be intentional, but they also gotta get their reps to know how to read it. I’ve not seen them relent yet, but if we have to pull back we will. But I don’t plan on it until it’s needed.”
The early returns of the new scheme have been good, but the offense still has a long way to go to get up to Sammis’ standards and the true measures of how smoothly things are going will be when TCU suits up in full pads next week.
