Frog Mailbag: How will TCU football fare this season?

We asked our followers on Facebook and Twitter to share their thoughts about the upcoming football season.

The TCU Horned Frogs are less than a week away from kicking off the 2024 season with a Big 12-ACC showdown against Stanford on Friday evening. TCU made several changes over the offseason, parting ways with former defensive coordinator Joe Gillespie and hiring former Boise State head coach Andy Avalos to fill that role. The Horned Frogs also saw key players including quarterback Chandler Morris and defensive tackle Damonic Williams enter the transfer portal. As head coach Sonny Dykes gears up for his third season in Fort Worth, TCU will be looking to improve on a disappointing 5-7 record from the 2023 campaign.

With the new season on the horizon, we’re launching a new weekly installment at Frogs O’ War called Frog Mailbag, where followers on Facebook and Twitter share their thoughts and ask their questions about the current state of the TCU football team. Frogs O’ War will share Twitter polls and take questions from Facebook each week before publishing answers and reactions every Tuesday. Below are some of the questions asked from Facebook this week.

While the Cardinal have struggled mightily over the last few seasons, they do feature a very talented No. 1 wide receiver in Elic Ayomanor, who went for 1,013 yards and six touchdowns on 62 catches last season. TCU lost its No. 1 cornerback (Josh Newton) to the NFL Draft and has dealt with injuries at the position during fall camp, with projected starter Avery Helm currently sidelined indefinitely with a knee issue. The depth chart released this week lists Utah transfer JaTravis Broughton and Old Dominion transfer LaMareon James as the two starters, meaning both corners will be making their TCU debuts this week. I’d expect Broughton to match up with Ayomanor and their matchup could dictate the final result.

Both coaches and players have raved about the new defensive scheme throughout the offseason. While some have highlighted the scheme’s ability to get after the opposing quarterback, others have stated how the scheme doesn’t force defensive backs to stay in coverage for too long. It’s clear after last season that TCU has prioritized rushing the passer, with the Horned Frogs adding players like Nana Osafo-Mensah (Notre Dame), Devean Deal (Tulane) and Cooper McDonald (SDSU) while retaining linebacker Jonathan Bax, who’s also on the depth chart at the EDGE position. I’d expect the Horned Frogs to record more sacks this season and I’d also expect the defense to fare better in pass coverage if the defensive line does its job and successfully rushes the passer on a consistent basis.

A lot of discussion this offseason has been about the new defense and whether or not the offense can improve in TCU’s second season under offensive coordinator Kendal Briles. But one area I feel has been slept on is special teams and I believe that true freshman kicker Kyle Lemmermann is going to have a very significant role this season. He’s replacing a former All-Big 12 kicker in Griffin Kell and arrives as the No. 1 ranked kicker from the 2024 recruiting class. He’s already listed as the starter on the depth chart and given how much parity exists in the new Big 12 right now, there’s a strong chance that at least a few TCU games this season come down to single digits, meaning Lemmermann will have to show an ability to perform right away.

On the offensive side of the ball, my player to watch will be Florida State transfer Bless Harris, who’s listed as the starting left tackle after arriving through the portal in the offseason. TCU lost four starters from 2023 and has leaned heavily on new transfers to rebuild the offensive line. Harris was injured for most of last season and will have a lot of pressure on his shoulders to protect Josh Hoover’s blind side. Defensively, I’m looking at sophomore safety Jamel Johnson, who looks to have won the starting strong safety job over Memphis transfer Cam Smith according to the new depth chart. A former four-star recruit, Johnson played sparingly last season and has reportedly made big strides during fall camp.

The 2023 season taught us to temper our expectations and it appears that, while nearly all of our voters believe the TCU defense will be improved this season, fans are also cautious about heaping too much praise on new defensive coordinator Andy Avalos too early. I think this is fair assessment, as we’ve yet to see this new defense in action for the Horned Frogs. On the offensive side, fans are a bit more pessimistic, although they are expecting slight improvement there. One note I’ll make is that a lot of time in fall camp has been spent working in red-zone situations, goal-line situations and two-minute drills, which are all areas that TCU struggled mightily in last season. While the Horned Frogs had minimal trouble gaining yards and first downs, finishing drives with points proved troublesome.

After a 5-7 finish last season, fans are largely expecting TCU to record anywhere from 6-9 wins during the 2024 campaign. I’d be inclined to believe that any result with less than six wins would be a catastrophic failure for this coaching staff, which sees Dykes entering his third season with his second defensive coordinator. But reaching a bowl game and finishing with a winning record this fall would mark a step in the right direction and get a TCU program that reached the national championship game just two seasons ago back on track.

While Josh Hoover is an obvious candidate for the most valuable player on offense, I found it interesting how many fans voted for wide receiver Savion Williams, who enters his fifth season with the Horned Frogs this fall and has generated a lot of buzz over the offseason after a strong finish to the 2023 season. The 6-foot-5 Williams is the bonafide No. 1 wide receiver right now and has increased the number of receiving yards over each of his first four seasons. If the TCU offense is truly improved from last season, then I think there’s a chance Williams pushes for 1,000 yards. But with so many talented pass catchers like Dylan Wright, JP Richardson and Boise State transfer Eric McAlister, I’ll be curious to see whether or not Williams can truly separate himself from the rest of the pack this season.

Defensively, fans are mixed on who they believe will be the most valuable player this season, which is fair given how poor the results were on that end last season. Johnny Hodges missed most of last season with injuries, but he was an All-Big 12 honoree and the Big 12 Defensive Newcomer of the Year in 2022. Bud Clark has led the TCU defense in interceptions over the last two seasons, but seemed to regress like many other players last season. I’m surprised that Namdi Obiazor’s results were so low given that he was arguably TCU’s best defender and an impact player on special teams last year. However, I do think that all three players should thrive in the new scheme, as Obiazor and Hodges are both sure tacklers and Clark can be more of a ballhawk with less time spent in coverage.