Five Takeaways From TCU's First Week of Fall Camp

With one week in the books, you’d have to be one of George Smiley’s people to get a complete picture of what’s going on in TCU’s fall camp. What we know, is pretty much what we already know, which is not much. If only we had a mole on the inside. But let’s discuss anyway…

Thoughts from our Leader:

GP emphasized the point of playing 7 home games, as well as 10 games in the state of Texas. The good news for TCU is that they get to play Oklahoma, Kansas State, Texas Tech, and (finally) Oklahoma State at home. The bad news is, TCU’s won more road games in the Big 12 than home games.

"It's 10 games in the state of Texas. It's good as long as you can play well at home. We've won more conference games on the road than we have at home. With the marketing department having the 'Amp It Up' theme to get people involved, winning is not all about us. It's about the University, town and everybody who gets involved. You're coming to have a good time. It's a great experience, but we're there to make sure we win"

On Leadership (the greatest ship of them all):

"We've grown up a little bit more on offense. We've had outstanding leadership on the defensive side of the ball the last two or three years.

Sam (Carter) has been big for us and Joey Hunt. Obviously, you need the quarterback position. We have B.J. Catalon at tailback and all of our wide receivers coming back. We really only have three seniors on this offense in Tayo Fabuluje, Matt Joeckel and David Porter. We'll have all of our tailbacks and offensive line back in a year and basically all of our receivers."

On the Quarterback debate:

"There's no starter yet. Those guys are going to get the No. 1 reps. For those two weeks, though, all five guys will have a chance. Everybody will get an opportunity to show what they have."

That being said, let’s discuss...

"TCU wants to settle on single quarterback…":

We’ve wanted a Quarterback since Casey Pachall got arrested after a late-night McNugget run three days before the Big 12 home opener in 2012.

Logic tells you it’s Joeckel 2014. A senior transfer who knows the system. A senior who might’ve (initially) started at Texas A&M had Kevin Sumlin never been hired. The always intelligent rumor mill says that Foster Sawyer is showing leadership and skill-set beyond his years. Sawyer is a tremendous talent, but it’s not hard to trace these rumors back to the source. The Sawyer debate is pointless to stir up, because it’s just a tease. Sawyer won’t play this year. Gary Patterson will burn an American flag at halftime before he burns Foster’s redshirt. So hold your breath, your All-American boy will get his chance. Just not now.

There’s still an outside chance for Trevone Boykin. He’s down to 205 pounds. He hasn’t had fast food in five months. And if you want to immediately disregard Boykin as a potential starter, maybe wait until you see what he looks like with the new system, revamped offensive line everything. Or, after you get out of the shower, take a long look in the mirror and remind yourself that you know more than Sonny Cumbie and Doug Meacham.

A System of their Own:

Cumbie and Meacham want to make the new system their own. Which in a sea of gossip and drama is easily the most exciting thing to come out of the first week of fall camp. Cumbie and Meach want to keep it "50:50" between passing and running plays. But, with the running plays incorporating "a sort of swing pass". They’re also more concerned with a democratic distribution of the football than just dumping it to one player every time.

Obviously, they weren’t going to try and fool Oklahoma State and Texas Tech with their own playbooks. But, let’s just hope they want to go full Malzahn in 2014 and really shake things up.

A Post-Devonte World:

We could talk about him all day. What’s done is done. That’s the last thing I want to say about Devonte Fields for months. Later.

On Down the Line:

Jamie had a really great piece yesterday on the Field-less defensive line. Don’t worry, y’all...that’s going to be just fine. On the other side of the coin--there’s been a lot of praise with the improved offensive line.

"We're bigger. Big V is back and we added Frank Kee, along with the guys who have been here like Joey Hunt at the center position. Besides center, you may have four new guys. We felt like we had to get bigger, and we feel like this is going to be one of the better competitions at the offensive line since 2010 as far as numbers and body sizes."

Hard to not get excited about that. For someone who thought this was the root of all evil last season--the reason why Boykin and Pachall looked so atrocious at times, and the reason why we had the worst offensive half in school history against Oklahoma--this is comforting. It should only help ease the transition of the new system.