The Big 12 football media days are next week in downtown Dallas and conference media named four Horned Frogs to the preseason All-Big 12 team.
Defensive ends Josh Carraway and James McFarland are joined by KaVontae Turpin who was tabbed as the return specialist. Quarterback Kenny Hill was voted Newcomer of the Year.
Carraway is the Big 12’s only returning first-team all-conference defensive selection from last season. The Flower Mound native led TCU with nine sacks and three fumble recoveries, including one returned for a touchdown in the win over Baylor. He placed second on the Horned Frogs with 11½ tackles for loss among 47 stops.
Carraway received his TCU degree in May 2016 and will play this season as a graduate student.
McFarland was sidelined by injury for the entire 2015 campaign. He was named the 2014 Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl Defensive Most Valuable Player in TCU’s 42-3 win over Ole Miss. The senior from West Monroe, La., led the 2014 Horned Frogs with seven sacks and three forced fumbles while placing second with 12 tackles for loss.
Turpin was a Freshman All-America and All-Big 12 recipient last year. He set TCU freshman records with his 45 receptions for 649 yards and eight touchdowns, which tied for second nationally among freshmen.
The Monroe, La., native set a Big 12 freshman record with four touchdown catches against Texas, a mark that tied for the top spot in the nation by an FBS player last season. He was the only player in the country in 2015 to rank in the top 25 in kickoff returns (27.0 average) and punt returns (10.6 average). He averaged 15.3 yards each time he touched the ball.
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Hill sat out last season after transferring from Texas A&M. He started the opening eight games of the 2014 campaign for the Aggies, completing 66.7 percent of his passes for 2,649 yards and 23 touchdowns.
Hill broke a Texas A&M single-game passing yards record with 511 on 44-of-60 attempts in his starting debut at South Carolina, becoming the first player in school history and sixth in the SEC to post a 500-yard passing game. His 44 completions and 73.3 completion percentage (minimum of 40 attempts) set school records. The Southlake native had a career-high four touchdown passes on four occasions in 2014.
