With two TCU quarterbacks battling to take the baton from former Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year award winner Trevone Boykin, head coach Gary Patterson said a decision about a starter will be made about ten days before the Horned Frogs kickoff the 2016 season.
“It’s really for everybody else,” Patterson said. “They have to get used to that guy. It’s not fair to anybody… to not know who you’re going to step into the huddle with in the first ballgame.”
Former Texas A&M and Southlake Carroll quarterback Kenny Hill is fighting for the job with former Fort Worth All Saints’ Episcopal QB Foster Sawyer. Hill, who is the more mobile of the two QBs, threw 23 touchdown passes for the Aggies his freshman season before transferring and sitting out 2015. Sawyer, who is described by coaches as a pocket passer, threw two touchdown passes for the Frogs in 2015 in limited action.
When asked what could separate the two quarterbacks in fall camp, co-offensive coordinator Sonny Cumbie said, “the operation of the offense, the decision-making, and the accuracy.”
Patterson was a little more direct when asked about the improvement he’s seen from Hill on-the-field. “I don’t know. I don’t judge quarterbacks until Saturdays.
As for how the selection of the two different styles of quarterbacks will impact the playcalling, co-offensive coordinator Doug Meacham is confident either version can work.
“We can morph it into whatever (the offense) needs to be,” Meacham said. “We can have a pocket guy, and play more of a Graham Harrell-style. We can do what we did last year. The base package is still there either way. It probably will be a little different (depending on which quarterback gets the job). But if you had 100 different quarterbacks, we’d probably have 100 different wrinkles based on who it was.”
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And with the injuries often sustained during the grind of a Big 12 football season, versatility could prove to be extremely valuable if whichever quarterback wins the job needs to miss any game action.
“Really, we need both of them,” Patterson said. “You can’t just have one quarterback and win a championship in this place.”
