Its a wrap, well almost….

Posted on February 6, 2008

The class of 2008 is in, we think.

Signing day came and went with little fanfare for frog fans.  Blaize Foltz fills in the final missing piece, but we kinda knew that one was going to happen.

So what did TCU get from this group and what were the misses?  Obviously we will not really know the answers to those questions for years to come, but heck I gotta write something about this class…

Hits:

QB-we needed one and we got a good one.  Chase (Yogi) Gallegos fills the position that there seemed to be a lot of misses at lately.  TCU certainly has several good QBs on the roster, but depth was getting to be worrisome, especially with the transfer out of Zachary Eskridge.

Big & fast-The individual stars of the class are DE/DT Jeremy Coleman, OL, Trevius Jones and TEs Walker Dille and Corey Fuller.  All big and with speed.

Athletes-again an extremely athletic group.  Gallegos is probably the most athletic QB signed at TCU since Patrick Batteaux, as mentioned the big men are big and fast and Coleman has some ups to his game, Sam Shutt is extremely quick, Greg Burks is projected at LB but was an all-district RB/WR, Marques Parker is an all-american JUCO that practically played everywhere except on the lines, and Bud Patterson averged over 40 per KO return and over 40 per catch as a WR and will play CB.  Obviously we can go on but take it from me, these are some great athletes.

Frog factor-probably above all else, this is a hard working group of athletes who want to play for TCU.  Speed, athleticism, size for the position, etc all play into getting an offer to most schools, but a desire to work and improve makes you a Horned Frog.  Zack Roth came out of HS under-weight and a lot slower than he is now, Walker Dille and Blaize Foltz both worked hard this past season not only adding weight, but working with velocity training, agility, etc., Shutt as we speak is working with a former NFL receiver learning the TCU play book and improving his skills, Gallegos decided to concentrate on football after his commit so that he would come to TCU in the best condition possible, Coleman since committing has added weight to his frame and stressed maintining his speed in preparation for the summer.  All of these kids are working hard today to be better athletes at TCU.

Who plays out of the box?

Of this group who has the best chance of seeing action next season.  Certainly the JUCOs, Roth & Parker, but of the freshmen there are several who have a great chance of hitting the playing field early.  Jeremy Coleman normally would be my best bet, but simply because of the depth on the DL this coming season and the losses expected for 2009 I assume he will get a red shirt, the same for Tevius Jones though he may be good enough to play next season.

Bud Patterson-simply a playmaker, especially on special teams.  Bud will get lots of looks the summer and look for him to the ball in his hands early as well as add depth to the DBs.

Mr Scott-already hits as hard as most of the safeties (Hodge excluded) Chris will sneak in a show some of his skills early.

Ross Evans-OK, with the loss of Manfredini this looks to be an easy pick, but several really good walk-ons ahead of him and Ross will definitely need to work hard to play early, but I think he will get there.

Edward Wesley-if Wesley qualifies and works hard over the summer, he may end up number 2 or 3 on the depth chart depending upon how well Aaron Brown and Joseph Turner recover.  Caveness will get the nod over him, but the push will be on.

The misses:

Always a sore subject to bring up, but you have to look at this objectively, even Notre Dame fans feel the had some misses this year.

RBs-Depth at RB was a huge reason for the problems on the offense in 2007, yet coaches only signed one.  Not only did they only sign one, they told kids such as Devin Thomas and Lester Ward they were full at the position?  OK, I am shaking my head and thinking, what the ever loving holy smuck stinking fart stench were they thinking!  They must have a plan and the plan may be that someone will transfer in that they feel a little more certainty about than I do.  So lets wait and see.

QBs-RBs and QBs, you can never have too many good ones, or so we thought.  Guess we were wrong.

DL-one more big guy would have been nice.

So, this wraps up 2008 at least for a few weeks.  Coaches say more is coming and while we know who isn’t coming lets hope that who is will fill some of these gaps.

Overall just a solid, hard-working TCU kind of class and really proud of this group and the efforts by this staff.  We can complain about the misses and gaps, but few can complain about the efforts being put forth to promote the program by this staff.  Lets hope the rest of the AD catches up to them soon.

The class of 2008:

 

 

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6 Comments so far
  1. hrndfrg   February 7, 2008 7:01 am

    Thanks Feisty. Great stuff. Besides the low number, I’m really excited about this class! As usual we got a bunch of good athletes. A couple questions…Did Wesley in fact double sign with Blinn? And any idea who they are still looking at?

  2. Feisty   February 7, 2008 10:14 am

    Wesley has not double-signed with Blinn or any other school (as of yet anyway). Blinn’s class had a few interesting names including Shawn Wyatt out of Smithson Valley (OL and brother to Ryan at TCU who is a walk-on, hoped Shawn would follow) and Mike Hayes, RB out of East Bernard.

  3. Full time gunner   February 7, 2008 11:27 am

    Thanks for all your comment and info. It is a great compliment to all recruiting info and the best source for TCU recruiting.

    Full time gunner

  4. Randy Hames   February 7, 2008 4:47 pm

    Feisty,
    I graduated from Paschal in 1966. Just wondering when you did, and if we know each other in a previous life?

  5. Feisty   February 7, 2008 7:30 pm

    Hey Randy:

    Finished at Paschal in the mid-seventies. Grew up in the South Hills area originally and then near the Encanto ridge in Westcliff.

  6. Charles Wright   February 10, 2008 8:49 am

    Thanks Fiesty, good stuff. I hated that we did not get Trenston Hill but if Bud Patterson plays up to expectations then it was a good swap.