Maybe I’m being a prisoner in the moment. Maybe I just watched a TCU team that at one point had six freshmen on the field on defense play with the No. 8 team in the country in their own house. Maybe I’m drinking too much Kool-Aid on a still freshman quarterback.
But TCU will win in Norman, Okla., in 2021.
Max Duggan is the truth. Sure he completed just seven of his 21 passes for 65 yards in a house that you need to be able to throw the ball to upset a perennial top-10 team, but he’s more than an arm.
Sitting in the press box there were people sitting behind me that were taken a back at just how fast he is. He went toe-to-toe with Jalen Hurts, a player many consider to be the prized free agent heading into the 2019 season after helping Alabama win a national title and getting them to three championship games. Hurts was only 11 for 21 for 145 yards in this contest.
While I am a firmly digging Duggan, it’s not just him that gives me hope for 2021. TCU’s leading receiver tonight is sophomore Tevailance Hunt. Sophomore wide out Taye Barber nearly caught a go-ahead diving touchdown.
Blocking for Duggan in 2021 will be senior left tackle Quazzel White, senior center Coy McMillon, senior right guard Wes Harris and junior right tackle (and the player I think will be the best in this bunch) Andrew Coker.
We haven’t seen much out of true freshmen backs Darwin Barlow and Demarquai Foster yet, but early reports are good.
But what I’m most looking forward to in 2021 is the defense. At one point tonight, in front of 84,000 people, TCU had six freshmen on the field on defense. Ochaun Mathis and Colt Ellison will still be in their junior seasons at defensive end.
At linebacker three different freshmen played tonight with Dee Winters, Wyatt Harris and Ben Wilson all saw plenty of action. In a defense that plays two linebackers, there’s a good bet this defense will be great in 2021.
The true freshmen cornerbacks Keeyon Stewart and Tre’Vius Hodges-Tomlinson have been playing ahead of veterans on the roster and more than held their own while senior Jeff Gladney was suspended for the first half.
Trevon Moehrig is already one of the best safeties in the Big 12 as a true sophomore and Ar’Darius Washington is a pure ball hawks and is quickly becoming a fan favorite. Those two patrolling secondaries will be scary for all offenses in two years, as if they aren’t already.
The team will need some help at defensive tackle. By 2021 they won’t have any key players currently on the roster. But I love what TCU is doing in recruiting at this position. Jaquaze Sorrells and Patrick Jenkins are players the Frogs have stolen from SEC teams and will be forces in the trenches for years to come.
Long story short. Tonight hurts, but in two years TCU will win in Norman and could beat the Sooners again in the Big 12 title game in Arlington if Oklahoma can make it there after the Frogs beat them in their own house.
