Max Duggan finally has learned to relax and have fun – and TCU is 4-0

The fourth-year backup quarterback who refused to enter the transfer portal is a rare specimen in college football these days. The only specimen rarer may be the fourth-year backup quarterback who, five weeks into the season, leads the FBS in passing efficiency.

In an era when 47 percent of FBS teams start a transfer at quarterback, Max Duggan decided to stay at TCU. He came from Council Bluffs, Iowa, in 2019 and fell in love with the Fort Worth campus, fell in love with his teammates and too often fell in love with the first receiver he spotted after taking the snap.

Duggan started 29 games in his first three seasons at TCU; he threw for nearly 6,000 yards and ran for more than 1,400. But a coach’s kid who wanted to be perfect made too many mistakes, and even as his numbers improved year to year (completion percentage: .534/.608/.639), each season ended in frustration and mediocrity.

Enter Sonny Dykes and Garrett Riley, a new coach and a new offensive coordinator. Exit Chandler Morris, the Oklahoma transfer who won the starting job in August but suffered a leg injury in the third quarter of the opener at Colorado. Duggan took over the offense, led the Horned Frogs to three touchdowns in three drives, and anyone who loves a story about a kid who kept working until he figured it out, pull up a chair. You’re going to like hearing about Max Duggan, the quarterback who will lead No. 17 TCU (4-0) against No. 19 Kansas (5-0) on Saturday.

“You know what’s amazing? Dykes said Tuesday. “Every day he gets better. I don’t know what it is.”

Dykes does know. He has seen Duggan relax, gain confidence, trust himself.

“In practice every day, you’re like, wow, he’s never made that throw before,” Dykes said. “And then he’d make two of them the next day. Like today, I walked off the practice field thinking, wow, he made four throws today I’ve never seen him make before.”

He’s talking about throwing a ball with touch and throwing a receiver open, as football coaches say, meaning you throw the ball to an open spot where the receiver can get to it before the defender. Duggan is finding time and space in the pocket, going through his reads instead of taking off. In his first three seasons, Duggan averaged 11 rushes a game. This year, he’s at about half that (5.8).

More to the point, it’s what Duggan is doing when he goes through his reads. He leads the nation in passing efficiency (202.2) and is third in QBR (90.7). His numbers (70-of-94 for 997 yards, with 11 touchdowns and no interceptions) are gaudy in efficacy, if not sheer volume. Duggan is doing what he’s supposed to do.

“With Coach Riley, Coach Dykes, they do a great job of putting us in great plays, schematically putting us in successful spots,” Duggan said after the Horned Frogs embarrassed Oklahoma 55-24 last Saturday. “I think guys just came out confident in what we’re doing, kind of turn the page on all the past.”

Maybe Duggan is talking about the whole offense. Maybe he’s talking about himself. Judge for yourself.

“I think guys are just tired of losing, of being talked down on the last three years,” Duggan said. “We deserved it. We haven’t played very well the last three years, since I’ve been here. I think guys are just tired of it.”

When Duggan described the transition under Dykes, who came down Interstate 30 from SMU after last season, he speaks more about the adjustment in his attitude than in scheme.

“They’ve taught me a lot, and going in as a fourth-year player, you learn a lot of things about yourself as a player and homing in on your weaknesses,” Duggan said last month. “I think just being confident out there, relying on the guys, not trying to do too much. I got studs all around me. Just doing my job, distributing the ball, running the offense and leading the team is what I need to focus on and what I think I’ve done.”

You don’t become a football coach expecting to make a seven-figure salary. Watching a young player transform the way Duggan has is why Dykes got into his daddy’s business.

“It’s different. You don’t see it happen that often, especially someone who’s been around for a while,” Dykes said. “He’s just an exceptional person. He’s finally learned to relax and have fun. That’s the biggest thing for him, to understand he doesn’t have to be perfect and he doesn’t have to be afraid to make a mistake. Go out and play and have a good time and get the ball to guys who can make plays.”

Duggan got the ball to 15 different Horned Frogs in a 59-17 victory over Tarleton State. In the first half against Oklahoma, he threw touchdown passes of 73 and 62 yards and added a 67-yard touchdown run. He threw for 281 yards in the first half, which ended with TCU leading 41-17.

“There just aren’t many guys who go from backup to leading the country in passing efficiency,” Dykes said.

But he also attempted to pump the brakes. “It’s a really small sample size,” he said. “We’re just getting started.”

Duggan doesn’t want to hear it about being an ode to perseverance at all.

“Once you start letting everybody tell you how good you are, that’s usually when you get beat,” Duggan said.

Understood. The Horned Frogs are one-third of the way through their schedule. This week, it’s unbeaten Kansas, and No. 7 Oklahoma State visits Amon Carter Stadium next week. In the big picture, no one has done anything. But in the important picture, Max Duggan has been one of the feel-good stories of the 2022 season.

“Every time I talk about it,” Dykes said, “it makes me really happy.”