FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — TCU safety Abe Camara and the Horned Frogs certainly don’t want a repeat of last season, when they just never seemed to get over a hangover.
After an undefeated 2022 regular season and appearance in the national championship game, the Horned Frogs lost their much-hyped opener last year at home to Colorado. They dropped five of six Big 12 games during one stretch on the way to a 5-7 record and didn’t even get in a postseason bowl.
“I think compared to that natty year to last year, I think we kind of got caught up with all the lights and stuff and like the pressure of it all,” Camara said. “Everybody wanted us to repeat and go back again. We wanted it, the whole TCU community wanted it, but I think we just got caught up in that aspect of it, and then we lost sight of it.”
Camara said the Frogs took a lot of steps this offseason to refocus and limit distractions. Third-year coach Sonny Dykes believes they are in a good place.
“Certainly didn’t get the carryover from the national championship run in ’22 to ’23 that we wanted to,” Dykes said. “You’re going to look around and see some teams that are really good one year and maybe struggle a little bit the next, and that was certainly us last year, and now we’re ready to get back playing TCU football.”
From 3 to 4
TCU is going away from its primary three-man defensive front with high-energy new coordinator Andy Avalos, the fired Boise State head coach who installed a 4-2-5 scheme filled with standout players in the middle.
Linebacker Johnny Hodges was the Frogs’ leading tackler in 2022, and is healthy after a lingering hand injury kept him out much of last season, when safety-turned-linebacker Namdi Obiazor had a team-high 84 tackles. TCU also added linebacker Kaleb Elarms-Orr, who last year led California with 92 tackles.
“We’ve got a bunch of dudes that can play, that can absolutely fly,” Hodges said.
Taking the snaps
Josh Hoover took over as TCU’s starting quarterback the final six games as a redshirt freshman last year, averaging 339 yards passing per game and throwing 13 touchdowns in that span.
“He has guts … we love him,” receiver JP Richardson said. “When he speaks up, it’s out of emotions, it’s out of passion. He’s a guy that everybody can rally to, and that’s really important to have as a quarterback.”
Chandler Morris was the starting QB each of TCU’s last two openers before getting hurt both times, but transferred to North Texas with two seasons of remaining eligibility. Ken Seals, who is from nearby Azle, transferred to TCU after 22 starts at Vanderbilt.
Receiving targets
The Frogs return top receivers Richardson (46 catches, 536 yards, three touchdowns) and Savion Williams (41-473-4). Former LSU transfer Jack Bech, who led the Tigers with 43 receptions as a true freshman in 2021, was a standout in the spring after being hampered by injuries in his TCU debut last year.
Coming home
NaNa Osafo-Mensah went to a lot of TCU games growing up in Fort Worth. The defensive lineman is home to finish his college career after 37 games the past three seasons at Notre Dame, where he had been since 2019.
“TCU has always been just (the) hometown school for me and the school that really got me to get a vision for college football, start that dream really,” Osafo-Mensah said. “So it’s always been a core part of myself.”
The schedule
The Horned Frogs open the season Aug. 30 at Stanford, and face another ACC newcomer at Dallas-Fort Worth rival SMU on Sept. 21. They play four Big 12 teams in the preseason Associated Press Top 25 poll, in their first two conference road games (at No. 22 Kansas and No. 12 Utah) and their last two home games (No. 17 Oklahoma State and No. 21 Arizona).
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