TCU Horned Frogs 2010 Season Preview: This team is hungry Part I

Editor’s Note: The TCU preview is written by Stephen Francis, the TCU Examiner at Examiner.com.

Stephen grew up cheering for the Horned Frogs at an early age: from the Southwest Conference and TCU’s short-lived trip into the WAC, to their domination of Conference USA and then the trip into the Mountain West. He’s a sportscaster and writer, having covered TCU Athletics on Examiner since the start of the 2009 season.  Thanks to his experience in radio, he knows a thing or two about communicating and voicing his opinion and he has fun doing it. Stephen graduated from American Broadcasting School and lives in Southlake with his wife and their four -year-old daughter.

This Team is Hungry

Last season, the TCU Horned Frogs put together an unforgettable season. They exceeded the expectations of many with an undefeated regular season and the first BCS Bowl berth in school history. Names like Jerry Hughes, Andy Dalton, Tank Carder and Jeremy Kerley became widely know beyond more than just Tarrant County. Although that quest for a perfect season fell just a fake punt short of coming to life, the Fiesta Bowl loss to Boise State may turn out to be the perfect stepping stone and motivating factor the 2010 Frog team needs. This time, it seems to have created a hunger.

TCU returns 16 of their 22 starters from the Fiesta Bowl team of 2009. As if the Frogs didn’t already set the bar high enough by finishing ranked sixth in the NCAA’s two major polls, the preseason rankings hold it in place. They’re starting the season with the highest USA Today Coaches Poll ranking (seventh) since 1956 (also seventh) and also ranked the highest in the Associated Press poll (sixth) than any other team in school history.

The Offense

Offensively, TCU sits in a good position. Nine of last season’s 11 starters return and the two losses came at right tackle (Marshall Newhouse) and running back (Joseph Turner). While those are both vital positions to a run-first ball control offense, the Frogs still find themselves in good hands offensively. For that reason, good things will still happen while TCU holds the ball.

For one, quarterback Andy Dalton returns for his fourth season as the starting quarterback for TCU. Coaches, players and even school officials unanimously agree he’s the leader of the Horned Frog offense, and for good reason. He enters 2010 tied with the legendary Sammy Baugh for the school record for victories by a quarterback with 29 and finished 2009 on several All-American teams and award finalist lists. In addition, he’s on the watch list this year once again for the Manning Award, the Davey O’Brien Award and again sits on numerous preseason All-American and All-Conference teams. Dalton became known by many college football scouts and experts in 2009 and might just become widely-recognized this season if all goes well. In all, the overall success of the TCU offense will correlate exactly with the success of Dalton.

For that reason, his receiving corps must prove reliable for him this season. The talented and experienced Frog receiving corps returns four of their top five receivers from 2009. Senior Jeremy Kerley, known mainly for his return skills, led the team in both receptions and receiving yards last year and will likely do the same as Dalton’s main first down maker. Kerley shows a knack for getting open early and catching the quick pass to move the chains effectively and help the offense keep the ball. Senior Jimmy Young, who finished second in receptions and receiving yards, will also provide great value to the TCU air attack. He’ll be an effective tool this season when Kerley lines up against talented cornerbacks and gains extra attention from opposing defenses. Senior Bart Johnson and junior Antoine Hicks will contribute largely from the slot positions and will simply expand the options for Dalton to throw to. Hicks should be the one everybody keeps an eye on in the passing game as he proved to become the biggest “home run threat” for TCU last season with a team-leading six touchdowns and an impressive 20.8 yard per reception average. Behind every good passing game though, there’s a great running game to set it up.

During Coach Gary Patterson’s time as head coach, besides quality defense, there has been one other constant: Quality running backs. In 2009, an amazing 15 players ran the ball for the Horned Frogs. They combined for 2,554 yards as one of the most efficient and effective ground games in the NCAA (Note: That number does not include Dalton’s 610 rushing yards). In addition to the time taken off the clock during those possessions, the Frog runners reached the end zone a combined 32 times (again, not including Dalton’s three rushing touchdowns). What bodes well for future TCU run games is that a pair of sophomores will lead the TCU running game in 2010.

Sophomore Matthew Tucker, last season’s latest in a long line of impressive Freshman Frog runners, finished second on the team in carries (140), rushing yards (676) and rushing touchdowns (eight). While he’ll be a key component to the TCU ground attack, it may be another sophomore that gets the bulk of the carries. Ed Wesley accounted for three of TCU’s six longest plays from scrimmage in 2009. Expect to see what will likely come close to a 50/50 split in carries between Tucker and Wesley. Think of Tucker as the “thunder” portion of the backfield while Wesley is the “lightning.” They’ll be a fun duo to watch and how well they fare will of course rest upon the offensive line.

Although Newhouse’s departure (graduation) is a big one, the Frogs have a history of great offensive linemen. Senior Marcus Cannon will likely move from the left side of the ball to the right and the starting job on the left comes down to a preseason battle between junior Jeff Olsen and senior Zach Roth. As it stands now, Olsen appears to have the edge, but it could change in the final week before the Oregon State game at Cowboys Stadium. Both players are fairly comparable in size (both 6’4″ while Roth has about a 13 lb. advantage) and will be set up for success with the other four starting linemen surrounding them.

Bold Predictions

In all, this offense is primed to put up big numbers again and could become even more prominent than the perennially-strong TCU defense. For Dalton, he will likely complete around 200 passes for 2,900 yards with 25 touchdowns and about seven interceptions to justify his preseason hype. Jeremy Kerley will catch roughly 50 passes for 600 yards with five touchdowns while Young compiles 40 grabs for 560 yards and four touchdowns. On the ground, expect Wesley to gain 1,050 yards with 14 touchdowns and Tucker will provide 850 yards and 10 touchdowns of his own.