Surge from hero of Baylor win comes at right time for TCU

By now, TCU linebacker Ty Summers is well-known for making the fourth-down tackle that won the double-overtime game against Baylor.

But it took his position coach a while to catch on.

“I didn’t even know he made the fourth-down stop,” linebackers coach DeMontie Cross said Wednesday at an Alamo Bowl news conference, asked about Summers’ 23-tackle performance in the Nov. 27 game. “I was getting ready for the next call, because I wasn’t sure if they had it or not. We’re just so trained to get ready for the next call with the way offenses are nowadays.”

So the next time Cross looked up, the field was swarmed in a celebration. Later, a long time later, in dry clothes, he got to see what everyone else had seen.

“I called him probably about midnight — almost 1 o’clock — when I was sitting in bed with my wife. I said, ‘Great job,’ ” Cross said. “I didn’t even realize it until I got home. The way I coach, I didn’t even know he had two tackles. I just believe in the next play.”

The play by Summers sealed the Horned Frogs’ 28-21 win, which allowed them to claim third place in the Big 12 and reach the Alamo Bowl, where they will take on Oregon on Saturday.

For Summers, it was part of a late-season surge that included an interception against Kansas, a hit that knocked Baker Mayfield out of the Oklahoma game (resulting in Summers’ ejection for targeting) and the performance against Baylor, where the 23 tackles were the most by a player in the Big 12 since 2000.

It was what Cross had been hoping to see.

“I just thought, what a great gift for a guy who started off not playing a lot, what a great job to finish the regular season that way,” he said. “I hadn’t had a guy make that many tackles in a game before. Once I watched the tape, it was fun to watch. He was in and out, showing his athleticism, showing his toughness. What a great future he has at TCU. But I didn’t even know he had that many until I was at home and I started seeing the tweets go out.”

Earlier in the year, Summers would have seemed an unlikely candidate for such a performance and clinching play.

He started only three times. He struggled in practices and in games. The team moved two safeties to linebacker, rather than make him a starter, when Sammy Douglas and Mike Freeze were lost for the season after Week 1.

After playing quarterback in high school but recruited to TCU as a linebacker, it was a shot to his confidence.

“Of course it’s in the back of your mind — why am I not starting?” he said Wednesday, speaking to reporters for the first time. “But at the end of the day, you’ve just got to keep fighting. If you want it bad enough, you’ve got to keep pursuing it. Big picture, it ended where I wanted it to. Maybe it didn’t go the way I wanted it to the whole road, but it’s not finished yet. So far, it’s what I want it to be.”

Cross said confidence mattered for Summers.

“His ability to make the plays in practice and in the games didn’t come as fast as we would have liked, or as he would have liked,” Cross said. “But thank goodness he came on strong in the end for us. Because when those others went down, we needed somebody to step up, and he did.”

With Cross headed to Missouri as defensive coordinator, Summers will have a new position coach next season, and he will have competition for his job. Douglas is expected back with a healthy knee. Junior-college signee Tyree Holton will enroll in January. And there are the current starters, Montrel Wilson and Travin Howard, if they are not moved back to safety.

But Summers, who finished third on the team in tackles despite starting only five games, has confidence and experience now.

“The new JUCO guy who is coming in is really good,” Summers said. “We’ll accept him. He’s part of our team now, he’s part of our family. Each of us will compete with one another. Each of us wants the spot. But all we’re going to be doing that whole time is making each other better. So that’s how it’ll work out.”

This story was originally published December 30, 2015 at 7:30 PM with the headline "Surge from hero of Baylor win comes at right time for TCU."