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Football
TCU sees three recruits de-commit in last week. Is Texas stealing them? | Fort Worth Star Telegram
The Frogs have seen Kennedy Lewis, Myron Warren, and William Jones all decommit in the last week, along with the transfer announcement of sophomore Kenedy Snell.
TCU coach Gary Patterson and his staff have done a nice job recruiting over his tenure. This year is no different, but it appears the Frogs may be identifying talent for the rival Texas Longhorns.
TCU has seen a wave of decommitments of late, as well as a current player, sophomore running back Kenedy Snell, announce his intention to transfer.
College football musings: Lost commitments aren’t a result of TCU’s record | Dallas Morning News
Newy Scruggs nailed it right here. We can get upset about decommitments and transfers, but these kids are allowed to change their minds, as is the coaching staff.
Are people -- including the few recruits that have decommitted in recent days -- overreacting to TCU’s recent struggles? Won’t they be fine if these turnovers get cleaned up?
Newy Scruggs: I’m told Kennedy Lewis wants to play for Texas. Kids have the right to change their minds. Lewis might decide in January he would rather play at Texas A&M. Kids make different choices all the time in the recruiting game. Kenedy Snell was beat out by other players so he is going to transfer. He wants to play more and he wasn’t going to at TCU. Williams Jones from Mansfield is a player I’m told they cooled on. Until recruits are signed expect TCU and any other school to have kids flip on them. TCU needs to make a bowl game and start winning again because that always helps attract players but I expect Gary Patterson to be able get enough kids to compete in the Big 12.
Patterson is not a reactionary person, and while that may be frustrating at times to fans, it’s a good thing.
The Frogs offense has been struggling to score points and Patterson continues to make a case for backup Michael Collins to get more snaps. But Patterson likes to keep stuff in-house when it comes to those football-sensitive topics.
“I wouldn’t talk to you about that anyway,” Patterson said. “That’s my job and it’s between him and I. People that go out and publicly criticize people that work their tails off; I don’t. Unless you’re going to do it to yourself which you guys hear me do it to myself quite often, but we’ve got to get better.”
Patterson has never felt pressure to make a significant coaching change in season. He doesn’t want to panic when things aren’t going right, but understands why a coach such as Oklahoma’s Lincoln Riley made the decision to fire Stoops.
Oklahoma Sooners vs. TCU Horned Frogs Prediction and Preview | Athlon Sports
Hard to argue.
TCU’s hopes for an upset rest on quarterback Shawn Robinson avoiding the turnovers that he has given away far too often recently. Fortunately for the Horned Frogs, the Sooners and forcing takeaways don’t really hang out much anymore. (Put that up there with improving tackling on interim defensive coordinator Ruffin McNeill’s list of priorities.)
In the end, the Sooners probably have too much firepower for TCU to keep pace for 60 minutes. A reinvigorated defense will help OU extend the final margin in the fourth quarter to cover the eight-point spread.
Riley’s offense vs Gary’s defense will be a fun one.
Many expected this to be a special season for Murray and he’s already exceeding expectations with his athleticism. And Murray’s doing it all knowing he has cool millions of the Oakland Athletics’ money sitting in the bank.
He’s thrown for over 1,700 yards and rushed for another 377. He is the Sooners’ offense. And to make matters worse for TCU... he’s rested coming off a bye week.
While the Frogs put in another outstanding defensive performance last week in a losing effort to Texas Tech, TCU’s response to the mobility of QB Jett Duffey may have been their biggest defensive shortcoming. So, how the Frogs perform against the best dual-threat QB in college football is the million dollar question of the week.
You don’t want to risk destroying your young QB during what looks like a lost season.
While Patterson has spoken highly of backup Michael Collins, a transfer from Penn, he’s not certain yet about making a change, even outlining the pros and cons.
”You don’t want to take [Robinson] out ‘cause you want him to gain confidence,” Patterson said, also wondering about the impact on a young player. “If they have enough of a bad experience that you can’t get their confidence ever back.
”Where is that fine line?”
But at the same time, Patterson acknowledged that “it’s not always a bad thing to be watching.”
Patterson made sure not to share too much information about his thought process and his assessment of where exactly Robinson’s confidence stands after seven career starts.
”I don’t know,” Patterson said. “I wouldn’t tell Oklahoma anyway.”
Men’s Basketball
Robinson may be the only preseason honoree for TCU, but I’ll be shocked if he’s the only one mentioned at season’s end.
TCU had just one player named when the Big 12 released the conference’s preseason honors on Wednesday. Senior point guard Alex Robinson made the “honorable mention” list.
Robinson is coming off a season in which he averaged 8.9 points and a team-best 6.1 assists per game.