Why TCU’s Sonny Dykes is so comfortable handing the keys to his new QB
TCU quarterback Jaden Craig has a lot to prove in his final collegiate season.
The Harvard transfer will have to bear the weight of replacing Josh Hoover, who left Fort Worth to play at Indiana. Hoover wasn’t a perfect quarterback, but he threw for 9,629 yards and led the Horned Frogs to 17 wins in his final two seasons.
That’s a lot of production to replace, but Craig believes he’s built to handle the expectations that will be placed on his shoulders.
“I’m not quite thinking about proving anything to anybody but myself,” Craig said at Big 12 media days on Wednesday. “My goal is to get everything out of my teammates and be that leader that demands excellence. I think we’ve got a great team and the pieces. It’s just about maximizing everything that we’ve got.
“By the end of the season I hope that’s the case, and I’ll be satisfied.”
Jaden Craig grows into role as leader
The right to lead a team isn’t given, it’s earned, and Craig made sure to earn the trust of his teammates through his work ethic and being authentic.
During his first few months on campus, including spring practice, Craig was more reserved and focused on building relationships with his teammates.
But with fall camp around the corner, Craig feels like now is the time to take ownership of his role as a leader.
“You gotta prove yourself before you can really be a vocal leader,” Craig said. “That was my first order of business when I got here. Just showing that I’m willing to put in the work. As soon as the coaches took their break this summer, I’ve been able to take that next step as a leader and really start bringing the guys together.”
Some of Craig’s teammates, like preseason All-Big 12 safety Jamel Johnson and offensive tackle Ben Taylor-Whitfield, say Craig has energized the locker room with his presence.
“Getting to know his character a bit more, getting to know him personally, he’s a dude,” Taylor-Whitfield said. “He’s gonna be very beneficial for our team, and we just enjoy having him here. And now I’m able to call him my brother.”
No player pushed Craig more in the spring than Johnson, who had multiple interceptions against Craig. But those battles on the practice field showed Johnson and the defense that Craig has what it takes to lead the Horned Frogs.
“He’s great, man,” Johnson said. “He’s coming well together. I’m proud to see his growth.”
TCU could've gone after quarterbacks from bigger schools, but Craig quickly emerged as the guy in December for head coach Sonny Dykes and offensive coordinator Gordon Sammis.
“We were fortunate that Gordy was from that part of the country,” Dykes said. “They knew each other on a real surface level, but knew each other. Once the two guys got in a room together, I think both realized pretty quickly this was gonna be a really good fit.”
What TCU’s Sonny Dykes sees in Jaden Craig
Craig’s progression is exactly what Sonny Dykes envisioned when he tabbed Craig to be Hoover’s replacement.
“I’m just impressed with his self-awareness,” Dykes said. “It’s cool when you get around a player that just understands who he is, what his role is, what his strengths are, what his weaknesses are. I appreciate his love of the process of playing quarterback.
“I appreciate the fact he wants to do things the right way. I appreciate the way he has come in and won over the hearts and minds of his teammates. He did it by being humble, not overstepping his bounds, never pounding his chest and saying, ‘Look at me.’”
Dykes said it’s been a joy to have Craig around the program, especially since the departure of Hoover was a bit unexpected.
“I don’t know that we were gonna take a transfer quarterback,” Dykes said. “Honestly we had a quarterback that had been with us for a number of years and still had a year of eligibility. We kind of assumed he would be with us, and it ended up not being the case.”
The pivot to Craig was quick, and it didn’t take long for Craig to realize TCU was for him.
Dykes’ success with quarterbacks is well-documented going back to his time at Louisiana Tech. From Max Duggan at TCU to Shane Buechele at SMU or Jared Goff at California, Dykes’ quarterbacks haven’t just been productive, they’ve often been prolific.
The track record was a big reason Craig trusted Dykes to help him develop and potentially reach the NFL.
“It was definitely a factor,” Craig said. “Just seeing the success he’s had with quarterbacks and just how much success he’s had at every single stop. You can be blessed with players, but there’s a certain level where it’s like, all right, there must be some type of influence coach is having. I can definitely see how his knowledge has helped so many guys out, and it’ll help me out as the season goes.”
Craig’s development could be one of the key storylines in the Big 12 as the Horned Frogs hope to be contenders for the conference championship game.
The good thing for Craig is, TCU doesn’t need him to be the gunslinger that Hoover was. The Horned Frogs just need him to be the best version of himself, and Dykes thinks Fort Worth will see that in the fall.
“He’s a really talented football player,” Dykes said. “I expect great things from him. In our program whoever the quarterback is, we hand him the keys to the program. There’s a lot of responsibility that comes along with that, and I feel very confident in handing the keys to him.”
This story was originally published July 8, 2026 at 1:55 PM.
