PHYSICAL FROGS
Coach Gary Patterson has given his TCU players a clear mantra to follow.
TCU coach Gary Patterson is channeling the spirit of the Tom Petty song “I Won’t Back Down” this season.
The 32-year-old anthem probably feels like a dusty choice of a rally melody to Patterson’s young group, but he’s just hoping his Horned Frogs focus on the song’s message instead of its age as the 2021 season creeps up.
“‘(I) Won’t Back Down’ is what I chose for this year because we’ve gotta get back to being TCU,” Patterson said Wednesday during Big 12 football media days inside Arlington’s AT&T Stadium. “Make it personal.”
In other words, stop getting pushed around, defy the odds, stand tall — all the bromides Petty managed to make sound so dang good.
The Horned Frogs haven’t exactly been doormats since going 11-3, reaching the restored Big 12 Championship Game and beating No. 15 Stanford in a bonkers Alamo Bowl back in 2017, but Patterson knows the program has failed to meet expectations. In three seasons since, TCU has gone 1817 overall and 12-15 in conference play.
TCU flipped between formidable and frustrating last season, mixing wins at No. 9 Texas and over No. 19 Oklahoma State with letdown losses to Kansas State and West Virginia. Patterson’s team appears middle-ofthe-road again, picked to finish fifth in this year’s preseason poll behind Oklahoma, Iowa State, Texas and Oklahoma State.
While TCU isn’t replete with blue chippers, it’s got enough talent and experience to play spoiler. Most importantly, it has a veteran quarterback to lead the way.
Junior Max Duggan has started 19 of 22 games since arriving in 2019. Last season he completed 146 of 240 passes for 1,795 yards with 10 touchdowns and four interceptions. Duggan also rushed 116 times for 526 yards and 10 scores.
“People don’t really understand what Max went through a year ago, when you understand you’re only a freshman, you’re going to go in the spring, you don’t have spring, you didn’t get an opportunity to also throw in the summer with your teammates, and then he had his (heart) condition, and they basically didn’t let him do anything until a week before we played on the 26th (of September) against Iowa State,” Patterson said. “So for him to grow up where he’s at … an unbelievable leader.”
It helps that Duggan can hand off to former five-star North Shore tailback Zach Evans, who as a true freshman last year rushed for 415 yards and four scores on 7.7 yards per carry. Sophomore wideout Quentin Johnston should continue growing into an electric playmaker after exploding in TCU’s final two games last season (eight catches, 247 yards, two total touchdowns), giving Duggan some familiar weapons to work with.
Coupled with a stout defense featuring preseason All-Big 12 defensive end Ochaeun Mathis and cornerback Tre ’Vius Hodges Tomlinson, the Horned Frogs don’t look like a team that will be easily pushed around in 2021.
“This group here really kind of came together, I think, probably because they were so young,” Patterson said. “And so I don’t know how that’s going to turn out, but chemistry is a great start. The way they work is a great start. And having the quarterback back is a great start.”