Why Sonny Dykes was much more pleased about TCU football’s latest practice
The last time TCU football practiced in Amon G. Carter Stadium, head coach Sonny Dykes called out the team for its lack of effort and execution.
Dykes said last Friday that he was disappointed in the way the team practiced, and said this week’s three practices would be a major factor in the direction of the team.
The Horned Frogs, particularly the offense, responded with a strong week of practice capped by arguably the unit’s best showing of the spring on Saturday in the Carter.
Both the first- and second-team offenses scored multiple touchdowns and Kyle Lemmermann made a 63-yard field goal. After practice, Dykes discussed how pleased he was with the way TCU responded to his challenge from last week.
“We were really disappointed last Friday just in terms of the number of penalties we had and just issues like pre-snap and all the stuff that kills offensive teams,” Dykes said. “I thought today they cleaned it up. It was good to see the offense execute and be able to convert some third downs and do some things I thought were important to keep some drives alive and score some points here and there.”
The best drive was the first one of the scrimmage, led by transfer quarterback Jaden Craig. The drive showed Craig’s potential to be poised under pressure, plus the creativity of new offensive coordinator Gordon Sammis’ scheme.
Craig faced four third downs and converted all of them with a variety of completions. He converted two on screen passes to Ed Small and running back Jeremy Payne.
On another third down, Craig rolled to his right and hit Payne in the flat for a chunk play. Then in the red zone, the offensive line gave Craig enough time to survey his options and he eventually was able to progress through his reads and hit Mason Peterson for a crucial conversion on third down.
Running back Joe Pitchford capped the drive with a 7-yard touchdown. It offered a glimpse of what TCU’s offense could be in the fall: efficient, creative and versatile from a formation and personnel standpoint. Dykes praised Craig’s growth and said the Harvard transfer is getting more comfortable each week.
“I thought he made some really good decisions with the ball,” Dykes said. “He took care of it and didn’t put it in jeopardy. He went out and executed at a high level. He converted some big third downs on a couple of screens on the first drive. It was good to see us do that.”
There were two more touchdown drives on Saturday with transfer running back Landon Walker ripping off a 40-yard touchdown while Pitchford added another touchdown run in the red zone.
Pitchford’s second score came with Adam Schobel leading the offense. Schobel scrambled on back-to-back plays to set up a third and short in the red zone to set up Pitchford’s score.
Dykes said the long runs were a group effort and showed one area of improvement compared to last season.
“If you’re going to get a long, it’s going to be a wide receiver blocking,” Dykes said. “If you asked me offensively where we’ve made the biggest improvement, it’s our wide receiver blocking. Our mentality is so much better than it has been. There’s just a premium on guys playing that are going to block, and I think that they understand how important it is in this offense to be able to pop those long runs.”
While the offense stole the show, the defense has also had good moments. Nickel safety Julius Simms and Perry Cole combined for a sack on Craig on the first drive.
Paul Oyewale also had another sack on Craig when he quickly won his matchup and was in the backfield within seconds. Had it been full contact, Craig likely would have taken a big hit.
Tristan Johnson, Hudson Hooper and Jacob Fields also made good plays throughout the scrimmage as the defense settled down the longer practice went.
Overall, it was the exact type of practice Dykes wanted to see after the Horned Frogs struggled in their last scrimmage-like practice.
The Horned Frogs have just five practices remaining in spring camp and will likely have another scrimmage Friday. Dykes has clear goals in mind for the team in the final stretch of camp.
“We made a big step from last Friday to this Saturday, hopefully we can make that same type of jump from today to next Friday,” Dykes said. “The big key for us, the next five practices to stay healthy, continue to develop guys and when we wrap spring ball we’ll have a lot of time to sit down, evaluate who we think we’re going to be, make some adjustments from a scheme standpoint and then start preparing for summer.”
TCU will return to practice Monday.
