TCU News: “Barlow is 208-pounds now and is becoming a team favorite.”

Football:

TCU defense gets big boost in former 5-star LB and LSU transfer Marcel Brooks | The Star-Telegram

TCU has been as good as anyone on the transfer market this off-season, and Brooks might be the biggest get yet.

Brooks, who entered the NCAA transfer portal in June, was expected to play a bigger role for the Tigers in 2020, but will now hope to do so for the Horned Frogs.

The 6-foot-2 defender will have to obtain an immediate eligibility waiver from the NCAA to play for the Horned Frogs next season. If not, he’ll redshirt in 2020 and have three years of eligibility left starting in 2021.

Brooks’ exact position in Gary Patterson’s 4-2-5 defense is not determined yet. He’s a hybrid-type player who has the ability to play linebacker and safety, as well as a pass rusher. That’s how gifted of an athlete Brooks is.

Brooks will be the fifth transfer coming to TCU in 2020. Per 247Sports, TCU also had 17 early enrollments for this season’s team, including 5-star running back from Galena Park North Shore, Zach Evans. The Horned Frogs have two more 2020 seniors that have signed their letters of intent.

TCU AD: ‘Everyone’ with open date is a candidate to replace Cal | 247 Sports

ADJD is hitting up everyone with an open date.

“Everyone who has had or will have a game canceled in the immediate future is [possible] at this point,” Donati told the Star-Telegram.

While no leading candidates were mentioned by Donati to fill in the spot on the schedule that had been occupied by Cal, one opponent had already been rumored as a backup for the Horned Frogs long before the Pac-12 pulled the plug on non-conference games for 2020. Earlier in the year, ESPN radio host Paul Finebaum indicated that contingency plans were being discussed for TCU to face Alabama in Week 1 should both of the team’s Pac-12 opponents for that date — Alabama was scheduled to play USC at nearby AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas — became unavailable. Low and behold, a common open date does now indeed exist for the Horned Frogs and Crimson Tide, with still well more than a month to go before Labor Day Weekend.

“There’s already scrambling going on,” Finebaum said in May. “Alabama plays Southern Cal in the first game of the season at (AT&T Stadium), and there’s already talk going on between Alabama and TCU about meeting instead of the other two because TCU plays at Berkeley and the California schools, they do not believe, will be available for that date.”

TCU recruiting/football chat recap | Horned Frog Blitz

Barlow is going to be a big piece to the puzzle this fall.

Anyone in particular that has been mentioned/standing out in workouts?

Darwin Barlow. I was told straight up that anyone thinking Evans is going to walk in and start will have another thing coming. Barlow is 208-pounds now and is becoming a team favorite.

What is your prediction on number of games TCU will play this season? Conference only schedule? Probability season is moved to Spring 2021?

I really don’t know...nobody does. All I can share is what has been told to me and that’s that the Big 12 does not want to lose any games. Like I said on Sunday, SEC is basically carrying the torch here...they will not be bullied to take away games. Big 12 is following their lead from what I’ve been told. Until the SEC says they’re not playing a full schedule, I’ll go with 12.

Big 12 football primer: Coaching records against Big 12 foes | GoPowercat

It’s still a young coaching group, but GP has experience a plenty.

Gary Patterson is 172-70 overall in 20 seasons and 39-34 against league opponents since TCU joined the Big 12 in 2012. He is the second-longest tenured coach in the FBS and his 172 victories are most by an active head coach at his current school. Since capturing a share of the 2014 Big 12 Championship with an 8-1 league record and finishing tied for second in the league standings at 7-2 in 2015, Patterson has had difficulty finding consistency in Fort Worth. TCU has finished below .500 three times in the last four years for the first time in the Patterson era. Last season’s 3-6 mark in league play was his worst since going 2-7 in 2013 during the Horned Frogs’ second year in the Big 12. After a 51-14 win over Kansas to open the 2019 league season, the Horned Frogs lost six of their next eight. One week after beating the Jayhawks, the Horned Frogs suffered their worst loss of a frustrating season with a 49-24 defeat at Iowa State.