FORT WORTH — Kyle Hicks, it’s your show now.
Texas Christian University is on the verge of a Big 12 Championship berth and with a win against Baylor on Friday at Amon G. Carter Stadium, the Horned Frogs will be on a collision course for a rematch with Oklahoma.
The presence of the running game — to balance dangerous assets like do-it-all multi-threat KaVonte Turpin, senior wideout John Diarse and freshman touchdown leader Jalen Reagor — will be vital to TCU beating Baylor, winning a conference title, and possibly inching back into the College Football Playoff picture.
HICKS STEPS TO CENTER STAGE
File photo by Gordon Deloach/TexasHSFootball
With Darius Anderson’s season-ending right foot injury against Oklahoma, Horned Frog Head Coach Gary Patterson proclaimed Hicks the leader of a pack of backs that includes Sewo Olonilua and Waxahachie freshman Kenedy Snell.
“We need somebody to step up to make up for what Darius Anderson did. Kyle is a senior and for us to have a chance to win the last two games go into a bowl game, it’s very important for him to do what we need him to do,” Patterson said.
The newly-minted career 2,000-yard rusher has 565 yards and three touchdowns on 115 carries —the highest total of the remaining runners by at least 200 yards.
“This defense will give us some problems with the way they do things but if you win this one, you move into a more alpha group,” Patterson continued. “We’ve run the ball best when Darius Anderson’s been the guy doing it. It’s time for Kyle Hicks to be the guy that does that.”
Baylor’s defense has improved in recent weeks, holding its last three opponents to less than 400 total yards apiece.
BROTHER AGAINST BROTHER, ALUMNI AGAINST ALUMNI
Cornerback Ranthony Texada (11) stands with linebacker Montrel Wilson (19) and safety Nick Orr (18) during a 2017 conference game against Kansas. Joseph Nguyen/TexasHSFootball
The 2017 installment of Baylor versus Texas Christian University on Friday at will pit TCU cornerback Ranthony Texada against his brother Raleigh Texada.
Ranthony, who has been a scout.com Second-Team Freshman All-American (2014) and a Second-Team Associated Press All-Big 12 (2016), has neared shutdown corner status with one interception, 12 pass breakups, and 13 pass deflections in 11 games.
When combined with opposite-side defender Jeff Gladney (2 INT, 4 BU, 6OD) TCU has arguably two of the best cover corners in the conference.
“[Jeff Gladney and I] are good with playing one-on-one. We just have to play our 1-11 every weekend,” Ranthony said. “We do it every day. It’s not anything new.”
His brother Raleigh, however, redshirted his freshman year at Baylor after inking and NLI while at Frisco Centennial High School, which was also Ranthony’ alma mater. In his first full season as a Bear, the 5-foot-10, 170-pound defender has played in two games and tallied a tackle.
“We talk about life, sometimes about football,” Ranthony continued. “We like to check in on each other. He’s been through a lot since he’s been at Baylor already, coming off the injury. He’s played in the last few games and I’m happy for him. He hadn’t been [on the field] since he was in high school.”
The Texada’s won’t be the only ones staring at a familiar face across the field. Reagor and Snell will step on the field for the first time against Waxahachie High School alumni Patrick Lawrence. They will also meet former Ennis High School running back Terence Williams, who will be in a limited capacity because of injuries.
Ennis and Waxahachie, which fall within Ellis County, have a storied rivalry capped yearly by an annual “Battle of 287.”
File photo by Gordon Deloach/TexasHSFootball
Lawrence, a 6-foot-5, 300-pound offensive lineman and former 41st-best tackle prospect by Scout and 66th-best by ESPN, graduated from Waxahachie in 2014, during the Indian Reagor and Snell’s sophomore seasons. It was also months before the hiring of former Dallas Cowboy quarterback Jon Kitna and a year before the dynamic duo’s explosion onto the high school football scene.
Williams, a national top 300 athlete that ran for 1,717 yards and 25 touchdowns on 230 carries and added 30 receptions for 319 yards and three touchdowns as a high school senior in 2013, graduated during Reagor and Snell’s freshman seasons.
All will meet in Fort Worth in less than 24 hours.
SLIM CHANCES IMPROVED BY TCU DEFENSE
Photo courtesy James Light/Twitter
Much ado is made about Hicks, Reagor, Turpin, Kenny Hill, and the Horned Frogs’ offense, but it may be their defense that will decide where they fall — if at all — at season’s end.
TCU boasts the best defense in the Big 12 and one of the best in the country after holding opponents to one of each of the following:
Speaking of hungry… This defense's @Big12Conference rankings:
1️⃣ Red Zone D
1️⃣ Rushing D
1️⃣ Scoring D
1️⃣ Total D
1️⃣ Sacks
1️⃣ Pass D pic.twitter.com/SPCsxGkOhH— TCU Football (@TCUFootball) November 23, 2017
The Horned Frogs held Texas Tech to fewest points since TCU beat them 12-3 in 2006, as well as Red Raiders to a season-low 327 yards. The last time Texas Tech was held to three points at home was a 56-3 loss to Nebraska was 17 years ago.
TCU has a string of six straight second-half shutout against Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma, Texas, and Texas Tech.
Their first-half play, which hasn’t met the Patterson “gold standard,” has been a factor in losses to Iowa State and Oklahoma, as well as the Horned Frogs’ subsequent tumble down the AP and CFP national polls from No. 4 to No. 12 and No. 6 to No. 10, respectively.
“To be totally honest, I haven’t been very happy with them in the first quarter,” Patterson said. “We haven’t started really well since all the way back to Jackson State — especially up front. It’s just a lot of guys that had to play a lot of football and were a little bit wide-eyed. Once they settled down, they played well. You got to go play. You have to play the scheme and with your ability and listen to what we’re telling you.”
BOWL GAME BEFORE THE BOWL GAME
Baylor, currently sitting at 1-7 and a single game above winless Kansas in the Big 12, will see their season come to an end when the final whistle sounds Friday afternoon — the exact opposite of their opponent.
Patterson said he expects the full gamut of offensive trickery from Charlie Brewer — to include gadget plays, reverses, and double passes — and Baylor. Lake Travis High School alumnus Brewer, much like possible TCU starter and former DeSoto Eagle Shawn Robinson, is a former state championship quarterback.
“It’s like I said last week about Shawn. Every game [Brewer’s] played has been over 40,000 [people],” Patterson said. “It’s not like kids at the 6A level that have played in state championships aren’t used to it. A lot of the [high school] coaches now are like college coaches. They’re running a college program at that level in the state. It’s helpful because you might get a lot more information that a regular kid that’s a good player that comes from another state or program.”
Tied into the fabric of the game is the presence of Matt Rhule, a hungry first-year college coach with a mostly new staff. There is also reason for caution because to Patterson, this is the Bears’ bowl game.
“It’s always hard to play to a new coach and a new staff,” Patterson said. “If anybody thinks this is a checkmark game, this will not be one of those games. Especially since they put up almost 400 yards per game and have the type of receivers they have. They don’t have anything to lose in this ball game. For them, this is their bowl game, so we have to get ourselves ready to play.”
Marcus Matthews-Marion is the managing editor of TexasHSFootball, covering prep football throughout the Lone Star State. Follow him on Twitter, @TheMJMatthews, and read more of his content here.
Brought To You By
