1. Why fear the Horned Frogs? They did just go the playoffs, so that’s definitely something and there’s no doubt that the TCU Horned Frogs was maybe one of the more impressive and unexpected things of college football of 2022. Sonny Dykes sort of figured out the right mix of transfers to catapult TCU to elite in one year. And TCU dipped heavily into the transfer market again with players from numerous Power Five programs. You do wonder how that will affect the trajectory of the program, will the freshmen stick around and be part of a program, but that’s no the discussion to be had today. Oh, and don’t forget that TCU’s offensive coordinator is Kendal Briles so that’s definitely interesting.
2. The Best Jimmy’s and Joe’s. This is a list of players on preseason All-Big 12 teams and it is obviously light on the offensive skill positions and maybe on the defensive line.
- OL Brandon Coleman
- OL Andrew Coker
- DL Dominic Williams
- LB Johnny Hodges
- LB Jamoi Hodge
- CB Josh Newton
- DB Bud Clark
3. Transfer Report. On the offensive side of the ball receivers Jaylon Robinson from Ole Miss, Jojo Earle from Alabama, and John Paul Richardson from Oklahoma State along with running back Trey Sanders from Alabama, tight end Jack Bech from LSU and offensive lineman Willis Patrick. Defensively, TCU added defensive lineman Rick D’Abreu from East Carolina and cornerback Avery Helm from Florida. It appears that TCU realized that they were replacing a lot on offense and they dipped pretty heavily into that market, especially at receiver.
4. Tough to Replace. TCU had 8 players drafted, and maybe the most important to TCU last year, Max Duggan, was the last pick. At receiver, the deep threat of Quentin Johnson was picked in the first round, offensive lineman Steve Avila in the 2nd, while running back Kendre Miller was picked in the third. In the 4th round was defensive end Dylan Horton and receiver Derius Davis. I also don’t know why Trevius Hodges-Tomlinson didn’t get much of a mention for all-conference purposes, but he’s good and was picked in the 6th round along with linebacker Dee Winters. That’s a lot of talent leaving.
Previous 4 Things Preseason Previews: Baylor; BYU; UCF; Cincinnati; Houston; Iowa State; Kansas; Kansas State; Oklahoma; Oklahoma State; TCU; Texas; Texas Tech; West Virginia
Ed Note. This is what I worked on while on flights. I tried not to get too deep because that would be incredibly difficult to do this for 14 teams and I think most of us want a cursory idea of what opposing teams are. I also found the idea of who is transferring in as more important than the freshmen arriving. That’s definitely changed over the course of years. I also thought that knowing who is being replaced is relevant more than most things.