Sonny Dykes reveals how TCU's defense will look different under Andy Avalos

Head coach Sonny Dykes and the TCU Horned Frogs will look to return to the success of his first season with the program this year, dropping to a 5-7 finish last season after making it all the way to the 2023 National Championship in a 13-win season.

An improved defense can definitely bring the Horned Frogs back to prominence, which newly hired defensive coordinator Andy Avalos will look to do this upcoming season. And at Big 12 Media Days, Dykes spoke about how TCU’s defense will look different this season with a new scheme and play caller.

“Obviously going from a three-down to a four-down is gonna be the biggest thing,” Dykes said. “What I like is it allows us to get a little bit more athletes on the field. Those two defensive end positions can be hybrids depending on who you’re playing, and then we have a lot of guys that are versatile in what they bring to the table and have really good skill sets and can rush the passer.”

TCU lost their top defensive lineman from last season with Damonic Williams entering the transfer portal. But all in all up front the Horned Frogs have a good combination of returning experience and young talent that will be playing for an Avalos’ defensive scheme that likes using multiple defensive fronts. As Dykes hopes those changes will be able to help TCU continue generating pressure after tying for third in sacks last season in the conference.

“You have to be able to bring pressure, it just goes back to what we were talking about, you gotta pressure the quarterback, you gotta make him uncomfortable. Especially in this league,” Dykes said. “I mean there’s a lot of really talented guys, and if you give them time to stand back and pick you apart, they’re good enough to do that. And you gotta create pressure, and the way you create turnovers is by pressuring the quarterback and putting havoc on the offense.”

Avalos joins the Horned Frogs after spending the previous three seasons as the head coach at Boise State, his alma mater and a staff where he’s spent 10 total seasons in his career. Also spending two seasons as the DC with Oregon between his decade with the Broncos, and his experience paired with TCU’s personnel seems like a match made in heaven in Dykes’ eyes.

“I think we’re gonna be athletic, I think we’re gonna be fast. We’ve got some great experience in the middle, I mean our linebacker corps is very experienced, going to be tremendous competition there at those linebacker spots and love those guys,” Dykes said. “Got got some guys on the back end that are going to compete and what I love is we have depth.”

“We just have not had, really even in ’22 were made that run, we didn’t have a lot of depth on defense and this group is deep and this group is athletic and a lot of guys that can run and have position versatility.”

The Horned Frogs seemed primed for a bounce-back year, and it will be fascinating to see how much of a role their defense plays in their attempt to get back to their winning ways.