TCU football coach Gary Patterson looking for “guys on a mission” for 2011 season

by Lauren Galippo of TCU 360

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Redshirt sophomore quarterback Casey Pachall is taking over for Andy Dalton.

Although the TCU football program has lost a lot of seniors, head football coach Gary Patterson said they have not lost the talent.

“I think we have what we want coming back. It will develop. It won’t be as much about the younger players,” Patterson said. “I’m more worried about the hunger of our group going into this camp.”

Patterson held his first media luncheon of the season Wednesday afternoon.

The code of purple

Right now, Patterson said he is interested in, “attitude, chemistry, accountability, and the code of purple: toughness and where we want to get to.”

He also said he is looking for players who will be, “the top 45 that I’m going to get on the bus with, who wants to go fight their tails off.”

Sophomores, redshirt freshmen, and freshmen make up 65 to 70 percent of the team. Patterson played former quarter back Andy Dalton as a redshirt freshman.

“That’s the group I’m looking for right now,” Patterson said. “I don’t care if it’s one of our freshmen safeties, I don’t care if it’s one of our freshmen wide receivers that came in.”

“Guys on a mission”

He referred to Boise State quarterback Kellen Moore as the type of player he wants because Moore bought the Boise State playbook, studied it, and knew it before he got there.

“That’s what I’m talking about, we’re looking for guys on a mission,” Patterson said. “The most important thing: education, family, religion, win championships.”

The Horned Frogs will face Kellen Moore and the Boise State Broncos on November 12.

Practice in the heat

When the TCU football season starts in September, Patterson said he believes the heat will be a positive just like it has been in the past.

“It is going to be a cooler start to two a days than it was a year ago,” he said. “Last year the second week of two a days was 112 to 117 degrees, Monday through Friday.”

Patterson said the heat is always a concern, but it is even hotter in the indoor practice facility.

“It’s always a concern, the health of our kids is always a concern,” he said. “Our kids run in the middle of the day; they run at 12, 3, or 5, that’s what they’ve done all summer.”

Frogs in the NFL

Twelve Horned Frog players in the last year’s senior class are now in NFL camps.

“I don’t know if any of them are going to make it, maybe all of them will make it,” Patterson said. “But the bottom line to it is, they were good enough and played on film and were committed enough.”

Patterson explained that this senior class will start with 36 wins. If they win 13, they will almost have won 50 games.

Casey Pachall, the new man behind center

Redshirt sophomore quarterback Casey Pachall said they have had a good summer as a team and he has big shoes to fill.

“I can throw the ball, run the ball, I can be a threat in any position,” Pachall said. “Of course I’m not going to tell anyone my weaknesses, but I need to work on my ability to read the defense better.”

Pachall appeared in eight games behind Dalton last season.

He saw his most action in the Frogs’ last regular season game at New Mexico, Pachall filled in after Dalton left the game with a minor elbow injury.

He threw for 54 yards and scored two touchdowns, one rushing and one passing. In a 66-17 win.

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