TCU’s Boykin puts on show for nation and special guest

There was a flip. A throw from the hip. Some slips and some dips.

That’s how Trevone Boykin puts on a show.

With a special guest and the nation watching, the TCU quarterback delivered highlights of all kinds — even a high-five for West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen — during a 40-10 victory against West Virginia on Thursday night at Amon G. Carter Stadium, keeping his team unbeaten into a November of showdowns.

The Heisman Trophy candidate somersaulted into the end zone to finish a 2-yard touchdown run, threw three touchdown passes — one on a sidearm delivery off play-action — and used his feet like Messi to leave defenders stuck in place.

Everyone shook their head in amazement at the sight.

“It’s crazy,” receiver Josh Doctson said. “This kid is just unbelievable, what he does on the field — even off the field. He’s just an all-around great kid. Amazing athlete.”

Holgorsen had to agree. Standing on the sideline at the spot where Boykin finished a dodge-and-juke of a run for 11 yards, the Mountaineers’ coach could do nothing but return a high-five offered by the Horned Frogs’ quarterback.

“He made one of the best plays I’d seen in a while,” Holgorsen said. “He was right there. So I didn’t know what the hell else to do. I could have started yelling at our guys, but what good is that going to do? Congratulations, bud. You just made a hell of a play.”

It was almost as if Boykin knew that Holgorsen last week had called someone else the best player in college football.

But he laughed about the light-hearted moment.

“I stepped out of bounds, he was literally standing like right here, and he just started smiling,” Boykin said of Holgorsen. “And I put up my hand to give him a high-five, and he gave me one back. That’s just how it happened.”

Holgorsen needed no more convincing.

“With all due respect to Corey Coleman, Trevone Boykin is the best player in college football,” Holgorsen said.

Boykin finished with 388 yards on 32-of-47 passing. For the third consecutive game, he led the team in rushing.

“That’s all him,” said Doctson, who added to his own Heisman résumé with two more touchdown catches that added to his already school-record total of 14 for a single season. “That’s the Heisman over there. How he’s playing right now, he’s playing like a Heisman quarterback.”

Kyle Hicks also caught a touchdown pass, and Jaden Oberkrom made four field goals for the Frogs (8-0), who won their 16th consecutive game — another facet of Boykin’s Heisman campaign.

“I think a campaign is what happens for 60 minutes, those 3  1/2 hours,” TCU coach Gary Patterson said, asked about a campaign push for Boykin. “They chose us to be on TV on a Thursday night. Fortunately for us, they did well. Both sides of the ball.”

Boykin has already had a Heisman moment off the field. Two weeks ago, he gained national acclaim for his gesture to a 7-year-old Iowa State fan, when he knelt at her wheelchair to greet her at the coin toss for a game in Ames, Iowa.

The moment, captured in a photograph by the Star-Telegram’s Paul Moseley, swept the Internet and prompted TCU fans to set up a medical fund for the girl, Abby Faber, diagnosed at age 3 with a form of cerebral palsy.

Abby and her family were guests of the Horned Frogs, flown in by private jet for the game. Afterward, Boykin autographed a frame of the photo with the inscription: “This was a great experience.”

It was a great week for Boykin and TCU. But now it’s on to a month that will tell all for him and the Frogs in their quest for the Big 12 championship and a spot in the College Football Playoff.

The Frogs are due for a game at No. 12 Oklahoma State on Nov. 7, followed by a home game against Kansas, a trip to No. 14 Oklahoma after that and then the season finale against No. 2 Baylor on the night after Thanksgiving.

First, the Frogs will find out where they sit in the initial CFP committee rankings next week. The first set of rankings comes out Tuesday.

“I’m not going to try to talk to the committee,” Patterson said. “Right now, I’m going to worry about Oklahoma State.”

Everyone else can watch the highlights.

This story was originally published October 30, 2015 at 12:15 AM with the headline "TCU’s Boykin puts on show for nation and special guest."