FORT WORTH, Texas — Max Duggan has started 29 games as TCU’s quarterback and Chandler Morris had 531 yards of total offense in his only full game last fall. New Horned Frogs coach Sonny Dykes still hasn’t said which of them will take the first snap in the season opener Friday night at Colorado.
TCU’s initial depth chart lists Duggan or Morris as the No. 1 quarterback.
“I think we’re in a good spot,” Dykes said Monday. “Obviously, Max Duggan has a significant résumé. He has played a lot of snaps in the last three years here at TCU, has played very well. … Chandler is the same way. You look at some of the games he played in last year, he played exceptional. So they both have experience and they both have done it.”
Dykes expects both Duggan and Morris to play in the opener, as well as Sam Jackson, the redshirt freshman who had a 77-yard completion to Taye Barber on his only pass attempt last season. The coach said he doesn’t think it matters who starts.
“It’s a fun group. I like the guys a lot,” Dykes said. “Sam certainly brings a different element to the room. … I would anticipate all three of them playing, and my expectation is all three of them will play well.”
Duggan, the Iowa Gatorade player of the year and a four-star recruit before getting to TCU, has passed for 5,920 yards with 41 touchdowns and 20 interceptions in 32 games overall for the Horned Frogs. The senior has also rushed for 1,433 yards and 19 more scores.
After Duggan played with a fractured foot bone for several games last season, Morris got his first start in a 30-28 win over Big 12 champion Baylor in TCU’s first game after Gary Patterson and the school mutually agreed to part ways. Morris threw for 461 yards, ran for 70 and even caught a pass. His 531 total yards were the second-most in school history, but he got hurt in the next game.
Morris, the former Oklahoma transfer, is still listed as a redshirt freshman after completing 50 of 76 passes for 717 yards and three touchdowns in his four games last year. He had a TD run for the Sooners in their Big 12 championship game victory over Iowa State in 2020.
Senior offensive lineman Steve Avila, a team captain, said the Frogs are confident in whichever quarterback is playing.
“The only thing that we really know is there is a change in voice,” Avila said.
“They all run the offense in their own ways,” Barber said. “They all bring different things to the table, and I feel they’re all positive.”