College Confidential

TCU adds fifth 2014 commit with Brenham lineman

TCU picked up its fifth 2014 commit when Brenham offensive tackle Austin Schlottmann gave head coach Gary Patterson a call Thursday, pledging his verbal commitment to the Horned Frogs. 

The 6-foot-5, 285-pound lineman said TCU just seemed like the right fit when he visited the campus Tuesday.
"It felt like the place I need to be," Schlottmann said. "My parents will be able to make all of the home games. The facilities are top notch and the coaches are the best of the best."
Schlottmann said he loved the not-too-big, not-too-small size of the school and loved trying on one of TCU's purple Nike jerseys while on his visit.
"Everything is top of the line," he said.
He held 10 offers before voicing his commitment to Patterson including Arizona State, Houston and Rice. 
As part of his conversation with Patterson Thursday, he assured the head coach he was all-in for the purple and white.
"[Patterson] was excited," Schlottmann said. "[He] made sure I am 100 percent and said he's ready to win a championship."

-- Travis L. Brown
@Travis_L_Brown 

TCU's Andrew Mitchell leaning towards signing with White Sox

TCU junior Andrew Mitchell got the moment he’s dreamed about since childhood.

The right-handed pitcher was selected by the Chicago White Sox with the No. 123 overall pick in the fourth round of major league baseball’s first-year play draft Friday.

Mitchell said he’ll decide soon whether to sign with the White Sox or return to TCU for his senior year. 

“Growing up playing football or baseball, whichever sport, I always dreamed of playing in the NFL or the MLB and once I figured out it was baseball in high school I always dreamed of hearing my name called in the MLB draft,” Mitchell said from his home in Houston. “I haven’t made a decision yet. I’m just trying to soak in the moment of hearing my name called and just being with my family.”

The assigned pick value for the 123^rd pick is $413,000, so Mitchell is looking at a hefty pay day if he signs. It’ll be a surprise if Mitchell returns to TCU.

“I’m probably honestly leaning towards starting my career,” he said. “Whenever you get an opportunity it’s hard to pass up with injuries and stuff you can’t really control.”

He said he’ll make the decision after consulting with his family and looking at all his options.

“If I choose to move on I want to get going as quickly as I can and try to get accustomed to the land of minor league baseball and, if not, I want to get it out of my head so I can focus on TCU,” he said.
Mitchell is the seventh highest drafted TCU player and 41^st player drafted under coach Jim Schlossnagle. The White Sox drafted former Horned Frog Jason Coats in the 29^th round a year ago. In 2005, former TCU pitcher Lance Broadway was the White Sox's No. 1 pick.

Mitchell is 12-6 with three saves over three seasons at TCU. He has a career ERA of 3.34 with 231 strikeouts in 202 innings.

Stefan Stevenson
@FollowtheFrogs

Big 12 officials distribute league-record $198 million in revenues to members

Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby announced today that his league will distribute a league-record $198 million in revenues to its 10 members for the 2012-13 school year.

The revenue distributions, announced at the conclusion of the Big 12 spring meetings in Irving, break down to approximately $22 million per school for the league’s eight charter members. First-year members TCU and West Virginia each will receive half-shares of $11 million as part of a four-year phase-in agreement put in place when those schools agreed to join the Big 12.

Even as half-share recipients, the $11 million represents a significant jump in revenues from last year for TCU and West Virginia. TCU was a member of the Mountain West last year, where it never earned more than $2 million in any school year. West Virginia competed in the Big East.

For the other members, the $22 million is the largest per-school take in Big 12 history. It also exceeds today’s announced distribution of revenues in the Southeastern Conference, which passed out $20.7 million per school ($289.4 million total) to its 14 members, including Texas A&M.

Bowlsby said the Big 12 distribution numbers, derived primarily from television contracts, bowls and NCAA basketball tournament appearances, will only increase in future years. Bowlsby said projected revenues will reach $30 million per school by 2015-16, the first year that TCU and West Virginia will receive full shares, and could top $40 million by the end of the league’s existing television contracts with Fox and ESPN that run through the 2024-2025 school year.

_ Jimmy Burch

 

TCU golfer Brun selected as one of three finalists for 2013 Ben Hogan Award #TCU, #Colonial

TCU golfer Julien Brun, a three-time winner of college tournaments this season, has been selected as one of three finalists for the 2013 Ben Hogan Award, given to the nation’s top college golfer.

Brun, a sophomore from Antibes, France who turned heads by winning a 2012 European Challenge Tour event while competing as an amateur, was joined on today’s list of finalists by California’s Michael Kim and Washington’s Chris Williams.

Brun, a semifinalist last year, is the first TCU golfer to be chosen as a Hogan Award finalist by members of the selection committee. He will join Kim and Williams, also semifinalists for last year’s Hogan Award, at the May 20 announcement of the winner in Fort Worth during tournament week activities at the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial.

An All-American and first-team All-Big 12 selection, Brun has posted eight top-10 finishes in 11 college events in the past year, including a runner-up finish at the 2012 NCAA Championships. Selection committee members consider a golfer’s performances in college and amateur events over the past 12 months when voting for the winner.

Brun, who became the sixth amateur to defeat professionals in a European Challenge Tour event at the 2012 Allianz Open Toulouse, is on pace to set the TCU record for lowest season scoring average (70.45). He ranks fourth in the World Amateur Golf Rankings and is third among college players in the Golfstat Cup.

But his fellow finalists also offer lofty credentials.

Kim, a sophomore, is the top-ranked college player in both the Golfstat Cup and the Golfweek/Sagarin rankings. He has won four college events this season and was selected Tuesday as the Pac-12 Player of the year. In 12 college tournaments, Kim has yet to finish below 11^th in any event this season.

Williams, a senior, is the top-ranked player in both the World Amateur Golf Rankings and the Scratch Players World Rankings. He received the 2012 Mark H. McCormack Medal as the world’s top-ranked amateur and is slated to play in both the 2013 U.S. Open and 2013 British Open. But Williams is winless in 10 college events this season, although he has three runner-up finishes and seven top-10 placements.

Before Brun reached the finals in balloting for the 2013 Hogan Award, the best finish by a TCU golfer had been two semifinals appearances: Brun in 2012 and Adam Rubinson, a Fort Worth Paschal graduate, in 2003.

_ Jimmy Burch

 

Former TCU WR Josh Boyce nearly a Dolphin; discusses favorite memories as a Frog

Former TCU receiver Josh Boyce was thinking he was headed to Miami for about two minutes. 
Just before the New England Patriots picked him with the fifth pick of the fourth round during Saturday's NFL draft, the Dolphins called Boyce to tell him they were taking him with the seventh pick. But the Patriots called Boyce before their AFC East rival got the chance. So Boyce went from sunny Florida to frigid Foxborough in a matter of moments. 

“As soon as I got off the phone the Patriots called me,” said Boyce, who’ll join former TCU teammate Stansly Maponga today for a media appearance on TCU's campus. 
Maponga was drafted by the Atlanta Falcons in the fifth round.
A recent foot injury may have pushed Boyce down a round, but he’s not complaining.

“You never know,” he said. “I’m just glad God gave me the opportunity to get drafted. I can go forward from there.”
He was watching the draft with family at home in Copperas Cove, the same place he played high school football with Robert Griffin III, who is now the Redskins quarterback.
He’s excited about adding New England’s Tom Brady to the list of elite quarterbacks he’s played with. As a redshirt freshman in 2010, Boyce became one of senior Andy Dalton’s favorite targets at TCU. Dalton is now the quarterback at Cincinnati.
“It’s great,” Boyce said the day he was drafted. “All three of them are great guys, great quarterbacks. I’ve been blessed to play with great quarterbacks my whole career.”
As for playing in cold weather?  Please. Two of Boyce’s greatest games came in cold weather. In 2011, Boyce had 163 yards and three touchdowns in TCU’s heart-stopping win at Boise State in 40-degree weather. And last fall he came up huge late at West Virginia in 30-degree weather (it felt much colder to me on the sidelines during the fourth quarter). Boyce burst on the scene nationally when he led TCU with 126 yards and three touchdowns in a 47-7 rout at Utah in 2010. It wasn't that cold that day in Salt Lake City, but as hot as Boyce was it wouldn't have mattered.

“I’m pretty comfortable in cold weather,” he said.

Boyce’s choice

But speaking of those great Boyce moments … what does he consider his favorite TCU memory?  He leaves TCU owning many all-time Horned Frog receiving records. More vividly for TCU fans, he was smack dab in the middle of some of the most exciting TCU moments of the last 10 years.

Was it the 94-yard touchdown catch from Trevone Boykin to force overtime at West Virginia in 2012? 

Or was it his ultimate clutch catch on a two-point conversion pass from Casey Pachall at Boise State in 2011?
“I’ve got a lot of good memories,” Boyce said, first mentioning the Rose Bowl win over Wisconsin. “It’s probably the two-point conversion against Boise, or the long one against Utah my freshman year. Those are two very good memories.”

It's hard to choose, but I'd probably go with the West Virginia game for Boyce. That thing was over. The season looked cooked. Less than two minutes remaining and TCU was 94 yards from the endzone. And he breaks loose for a 94-yard touchdown? How did that happen? That's a special moment for a special player. And to top it off, he came up with a very tough catch on a low pass from Boykin to clinch the win in double overtime.
It was a jaw-dropping series of events in Morgantown. But three years ago in Utah, Boyce helped start an embarrassing 47-7 blowout of Utah by scoring on two touchdown passes from Andy Dalton in the first quarter. The second was a 93-yard beauty that had 50,000 Utes fans gasping in horror.
Here's one of the cooler photos from that game. Boyce is celebrating his 26-yard touchdown with former teammate Jeremy Kerley, who's now a receiver for the New York Jets. See how this all came back to the draft?


Stefan Stevenson
@FollowtheFrogs 

Patterson's love of music plays into practice, but there's radio silence if things aren't going well

TCU coach Gary Patterson is a known music fan. And Horned Frog fans know the guitar-strumming coach has often played music at practices during his 12-year tenure.
San Antonio Express-News reporter Tim Griffin was surveying Big 12 coaches' use of music during Tuesday’s teleconference and asked Patterson about it.

"We’ve been doing it for years, especially early, before practice, when the kids come out to get them energized and ready to go,” Patterson said. “We do it quite a bit for crowd noise. People have to communicate with their hands. It plays a big part. Late in practice we keep it in the background to kind of kill the monotony but it’s not loud enough that you can’t do your teamwork and do all the things you need to do.”
Patterson credits music with keeping spirits high during the grind of August camp or in the middle of the season. But if the practice isn’t going well, he’ll turn it off. Imagine the sound of a needle being ripped off a vinyl record.  (What’s a vinyl record? Here's a picture for you kids.) 

That’s the effect music being stopped can have during a practice if he doesn’t like what he’s seeing. It's happened a couple times the last four years.

“If we’re not getting done what we need to get done then we just don’t have any,” he said. “It’s kind of a reward. I think you have to find ways to get through a grind of a season. For us, through the years, it has helped us with success, I think.”

Before practice, as players makes their way to the field to stretch, the playlist is more current with songs his players are probably more familiar with. During practice, it’s Patterson’s picks, with classic rock staples such as Tom Petty’s I Won’t Back Down, Guns N' Roses' Welcome to the Jungle and Trooper’s Raise a Little Hell.

“If I play anything during practice I play my music, so at least I’m happy,” he said.

Do they ever complain about your choices, Griffin asked?

“Oh, yeah. But that’s part of life,” Patterson said. “But you’d be really surprised. There are a lot of kids that like country and like the old rock and roll. I try to keep both sides happy.” 

Stefan Stevenson
@FollowtheFrogs 

Georgia assistant Kwanza Johnson in line for TCU men's basketball job

Kwanza Johnson is set to be named an assistant for TCU men’s basketball, according two sources inside the athletic department.
Johnson has been an assistant at Georgia the last three seasons, working under TCU coach Trent Johnson’s former assistant Mark Fox. Before that he coached at Nevada from 2006 to 2009. He grew up in Oklahoma City and attended Rose State College in Midwest City, Okla. before transferring to and graduating from Tulsa. His first job was an administrative assistant at Tulsa from 1997-99 for coach Bill Self, who’s now at Kansas.
Trent Johnson declined to comment, but Kwanza Johnson is currently being vetted by TCU before the announcement is made, according to sources.
Kwanza Johnson replaces Pooh Williamson, who took an assistant job at Texas Tech. Williamson coached under Trent Johnson for one season at TCU. He played for new Texas Tech coach Tubby Smith at Tulsa in the mid-1990s.
-- Stefan Stevenson

TCU golfer Brun, Texas freshman Stone selected as 2013 Hogan Award semifinalists #TCU, #Longhorns

TCU golfer Julien Brun is one of 10 semifinalists for the 2013 Ben Hogan Award, given annually to the nation’s top college golfer.

Brun, a sophomore from Antibes, France who won a European Challenge Tour event as an amateur last fall, made the list of semifinalists for a second consecutive season. He was joined Thursday by Texas freshman Brandon Stone as well as Stanford’s Patrick Rodgers, one of three finalists in 2012.

The three finalists for the Hogan Award will take part in a live announcement of the winner May 20 in Fort Worth. The announcement is part of tournament week activities at the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial.

Three of Thursday’s other semifinalists made the list for a second consecutive year: Washington’s Cheng-Tsung Pan, Alabama’s Justin Thomas and Washington’s Chris Williams. Other semifinalists include North Carolina State’s Albin Choi, North Florida’s Sean Dale, California’s Michael Kim and Alabama’s Bobby Wyatt.

The list of candidates will be trimmed to three finalists on May 8, with those golfers honored during the live announcement of the winner in Fort Worth. No TCU golfer has advanced past the semifinals stage in Hogan Award voting.

 But Brun, the No. 6 player in the Scratch Players World Amateur golf rankings, joins Williams (No. 1), Wyatt (No. 4) and Thomas (No. 5) among the highest-ranked Hogan semifinalists on the elite list.

 Thursday’s list of semifinalists includes the top four players, as well as eight of the top 10, in the latest Golfweek/Sagarin individual rankings for college golfers. Brun is fourth on that list, which is topped by Kim, Dale and Stone.

Members of the Hogan Award selection committee consider a player’s record in both college and amateur events over the past year.

 

 

TCU signs shooter Hudson Price, fourth player to 2013 class

Hudson Price, a 6-foot-6 shooting guard from The First Academy in Orlando, Fla., became the fourth recruit to sign with TCU Wednesday. Price, son of former NBA All-Star Mark Price, averaged 18.7 points and 7.8 rebounds his senior season. He shot 54.7 percent from the field, including 45.2 percent from the 3-point arc.
“He’s very skilled,” TCU coach Trent Johnson said. “There’s not much he hasn’t seen in the world of basketball when you look at the caliber of player his dad was.”
Price joins center Karviar Shepherd (Dallas Prime Prep) and guards Brandon Parrish (Arlington Seguin) and Michael Williams (San Antonio Reagan) in the 2013 recruiting class. Johnson said additional players could be signed before May 15, the deadline for the spring signing period.
“These guys all compliment each other,” Johnson said. “I just think he’s going to be a really good college player. Hudson knows how hard players work to be good.”

— Stefan Stevenson
@FollowtheFrogs 

TCU men's hoops assistant set to join former coach at Texas Tech

TCU assistant men's basketball coach Pooh Williamson is taking an assistant job at Texas Tech, sources said. Williamson coached under Trent Johnson for one season at TCU. Williamson played for new Texas Tech coach Tubby Smith at Tulsa in the mid-1990s. Smith was named the Red Raiders coach April 2. He's Tech's fourth coach in four years.
Johnson said a replacement for Williamson will be named soon.
-- Stefan Stevenson
@FollowtheFrogs