Sonny Dykes discusses Josh Hoover, where TCU must improve on offense

Following a 13-2 first season which featured with a national title runner-up finish in the College Football Playoff, the secret sauce just wasn’t there for Sonny Dykes in year two at TCU.

Instead, the Horned Frogs fell at home to Colorado in their season-opener and failed to make a bowl game as part of their 5-7 season. Heading into 2024, though, Dykes is hopeful that more consistent quarterback play can breed results that look more like that 2022 campaign.

At Big 12 media days this week, Dykes stopped by the ESPN set to discuss where the Horned Frogs stand this summer and was asked what he’s looking for out of the QB position in the fall.

“Yeah, I think we’re looking for efficiency,” answered Dykes, explaining how TCU may have had some impressive counting numbers in 2023, but they just weren’t an effective offense where they needed to be.

“If you look at us last year, I think we were 13th in the country in offense but we didn’t perform well at all,” he added. “We dropped off in scoring, I believe we were 122nd in red zone offense, weren’t particularly good on third or fourth down.”

Where it counted, TCU came up short, per Dykes: “So all the variables that really matter and help you win football games that we were really good at the year before, we were really bad at last year.”

In Dykes’ eyes, one easy way to make life less difficult on quarterback Josh Hoover is to pair him with a productive attack on the ground.

“We got to be able to run the football better this year,” said the TCU coach. “You just showed the statistic of throwing it all over the place. We got to run the ball. That’s going to allow us to take a little bit of heat off our quarterback when we do that.”

As for that QB, Hoover, Sonny Dykes is loving what he’s seeing from the projected starter in terms of his mental approach to the game.

“I’m excited about Josh. He’s a really good decision-maker, he’s going to distribute the ball to the right guys,” said Dykes. He also notes that Hoover has really grabbed onto the leadership reins in practice.

“The players love him, believe in him, have a ton of confidence in him. That’s where it starts. When that guy walks in the room and everybody has his back and believes in him and cares about him, you know, that’s a good starting point.”

As mentioned by Dykes, quarterback wasn’t the most consistent spot on the team last year thanks to injuries. Chandler Morris was the starter for the team’s first five games, but a sprained MCL forced a change.

In came Josh Hoover, who steadied the ship and provided strong backup play once Morris suffered his injury, starting through the end of the season. In the six games he started for the Frogs, Hoover averaged 340 passing yards per contest and tossed 13 touchdowns to just seven interceptions.

His play wasn’t perfect, but after being thrown into the fire and finding a way to rack up some impressive numbers, hopes are high for Hoover as he completes his first offseason as the presumptive starter and leader of the offense.