TCU’s Ty Slanina aims for impact in crowded wide receiver group

When he hit the turf in Lubbock last year and knew he had probably broken his collarbone, Ty Slanina did not think, “Get up.”

He wouldn’t have been able to by himself.

“I just tried to roll off so the offense could keep going,” the TCU receiver said. “I was hoping that if I could go off quick enough, they could keep going, just sub somebody in. I didn’t realize until I went back and watched it, that they had stopped the game. I was a little upset about that.”

Slanina’s 14-yard catch for a first down late in the first quarter at Texas Tech turned out to be the last play of the year for the 6-foot, 195-pound junior from East Bernard. He spent the rest of the season recovering and watching, yet another starter sidelined for the year.

“It gets old real quick,” he said.

The Horned Frogs were already missing another receiver, Deante’ Gray, recovering from knee surgery. Kolby Listenbee was not full-speed because of a hip pointer. Ja’Juan Story went out, too. Finally, the Frogs’ best pass-catcher, Josh Doctson, was lost to a wrist injury.

It forced TCU to dig deep for players such as then-freshmen Jaelen Austin and Jarrison Stewart and veteran Emanuel Porter. They had four touchdown catches down the stretch, including Austin’s over-the-shoulder score that started the Alamo Bowl comeback.

“I know they were itching to get in there,” Slanina said. “For them to get that opportunity and make the plays that they did and play so well was awesome to see. It just made me excited for this year.”

Since then, TCU added a top junior-college receiver, Taj Williams, LSU graduate transfer John Diarse, a four-star high school receiver, Isaiah Graham, and Fort Worth Paschal’s Dylan Thomas.

That’s in addition to the return of KaVontae Turpin, Desmon White and other veterans, including Gray.

It’s against this backdrop that Slanina, whose 62 career receptions rank first on the team, will try to make an impact again.

“That’s all right. We’ve got so much depth that we can roll in and roll out,” Slanina said. “We know it’s going to help us be a better team. The defense doesn’t really sub in that much, but we have the ability to bring in three or four guys at each spot and stay healthy, stay fresh the entire game — always stay fast. We’re excited. We know how much this depth is going to help us this year.”

Slanina is part of that depth again. The broken collarbone, the second he has suffered to go along with one in ninth grade, is behind him. He came out of the spring listed as the starter at “Y’ receiver, another option for co-offensive coordinators Doug Meacham and Sonny Cumbie.

“We didn’t have the depth, maybe at times last year, that we do now,” Meacham said. “We have a lot of different weapons.”

After a long year of rehab, Slanina is just glad to be considered one of those weapons again.

“It’s been too long,” he said. “Everything happens for a reason. God has a plan, so I just stayed strong in my faith and worked hard. I put in a lot of extra work. I’m ready to go.”

This story was originally published August 11, 2016 at 7:53 PM with the headline "TCU’s Ty Slanina aims for impact in crowded wide receiver group."