Steve Sarkisian talks defending TCU quarterback Max Duggan

TCU quarterback Max Duggan is one of the most electrifying dual-threat quarterbacks in college football today. It shouldn’t surprise anyone that Texas head football coach Steve Sarkisian spoke highly of the fleet-footed signal-caller on Thursday.

A reporter asked him if he planned on using a spy on Duggan and he had a very detailed answer.

“Max is a really gritty player and that’s a term of endearment. I don’t mean to say that lightly,” Sarkisian said. “I mean to say that he finds a way to make plays, whether that’s through the air, with his legs, extending plays, making throws, using his legs to run on third down, red area. So I think there’s times when you utilize the spy.

“Then I think there’s other times when you’ve got to count on the pass rush to be disciplined and stay in their lanes so that there is nowhere for him to run. We definitely need to be aware of him because he will find a way to get a first down, to extend drives, and then ultimately score points.”

One of the most legendary plays of Duggan’s career thus far came in 2019 against the Kansas State Wildcats, when he simply refused to be tackled and went into full Marshawn Lynch-mode on the Wildcats defense. Tacklers were bouncing off of him all over the place and he landed an absolutely vicious stiff arm on a defender, en route to an epic 46-yard touchdown run.

🚨QB STIFF ARM ALERT 🚨@TCUFootball QB Max Duggan with one of the best plays of the day as he runs through the Kansas State defense for a 46-yard touchdown. #GoFrogs pic.twitter.com/Ql874r9cjQ

— Bally Sports Southwest (@BallySportsSW) October 19, 2019

As a runner, Duggan rushed for over 500 rushing yards in both his freshman and sophomore seasons. In 2019 as a true freshman, he set TCU true freshman records with 2,077 passing yards and 15 touchdown passes, while tossing 10 interceptions.

His 2020 campaign was equally as impressive on the ground and he also cut down his interceptions. The Council Bluffs, Iowa, native ran for 526 rushing yards. In doing so, Duggan became only the second quarterback in school history to lead the Horned Frogs in rushing since Gil Bartosh in 1950 (710 yards). As a passer, he didn’t put up quite the same amount of passing yardage as his freshman year, but he cleaned up his interceptions. Duggan completed over 60% of his passes for 1,795 passing yards, while tossing in 10 passing touchdowns and four interceptions.

Max Duggan high school stats

As a high school prospect coming out of Lewis Central High School (Council Bluffs, Iowa), Duggan was one of the most highly-touted quarterback prospects in the nation. He was rated as a four-star prospect and was named the Elite 11 MVP at the Elite 11 quarterback camp in Canton, Ohio. On3’s Charles Power raved about the talented in his scouting report when he wrote, “A four-sport athlete and the son of a coach, Duggan is the best prospect from Iowa in the internet recruiting era.”

TCU and Texas will play on Saturday. Kickoff is slated for noon EST. The game will be nationally televised on ABC.