Why Sonny Dykes was disappointed in TCU football’s latest practice
TCU football had a slight setback during spring camp with a lackluster practice Friday.
The Horned Frogs had a game-like scrimmage in Amon G. Carter Stadium as they reach the halfway point of the spring, but practice was undermined by multiple penalties and mistakes.
“This was not our best practice,” coach Sonny Dykes said. “I was disappointed in the way we practiced today. We made mistakes we haven’t been making. Pre-snap mistakes, alignment mistakes, it was not a good practice. I thought yesterday was probably as good a spring practice I’ve ever been a part of.”
There were at least four false starts by both the first- and second-team offenses, a pass interference in the red zone and at least one holding penalty.
The offense operated much of the day behind the chains because of the mistakes, and the defense overall had its way. While it was a setback, Dykes said he thinks it could end up being a good thing for TCU if the team can learn from the mistakes.
“Which team are we?” Dykes said. “That’s going to be the big question moving forward the last eight practices. Are we going to be the team that was incredibly focused and disciplined and executed at a high level on three sides of the ball Thursday? Or are we going to be the team that was really sloppy today? That’s going to be a big challenge for us.”
The spring is all about development and teaching, and there will be plenty of teaching moments from Friday’s practice.
Finding the right buttons to press to push players to improve can be difficult, especially when things are going well. But the Horned Frogs know that Friday fell below their usual standards at practice, which means Dykes and the coaches will have no shortage of corrections to offer the team during upcoming film sessions.
“It was good, anytime you can go out there and make the mistakes we made today, you can learn from them,” Dykes said. “Had we put two (good) days together, I would probably feel better this weekend, but that would’ve been a false sense of confidence and I think that’s football. Just about when you start to feel pretty good about things, you realize that you’re nowhere close to where you need to be or want to be.
“So it’s a good wake-up call for us. We’ve got to do a better job on Tuesday when we come out.”
While Dykes said Friday’s practice was a stinker, it wasn’t all bad as a handful of players stood out. All-Big 12 safety Jamel Johnson had a nice interception of Jaden Craig on a deep pass.
Craig had some nice completions to Dozie Ezukanma and made an impressive throw rolling out to his left to Terry Shelton. Jeremy Payne had a light workload as the program aims to keep him healthy, but he had a nice run and was a factor in the passing game.
Adam Schobel had one of his best throws of camp as he hit Ed Small for a touchdown on a slot fade that traveled at least 35 yards. The defense played well and continues to look more comfortable in defensive coordinator Andy Avalos’ third season.
Those are the type of plays Dykes has routinely seen this spring and one reason he’s optimistic Friday will be a learning experience.
“I certainly don’t want to put a bad feeling I suppose on the first five or six days because it’s been pretty solid,” Dykes said. “I like the way our guys have picked up things, defensively I think Coach Avalos and his staff are really dialed in on the same page.
“I loved what I saw for six practices, but today was a little step back, but it’s been really sharp.”
The Horned Frogs will have the weekend off and return to practice Tuesday.
