Steven Johnson: With TCU’s season on the line, Josh Hoover answered the call

There are few things more satisfying to watch in sports than to witness an athlete enter the zone, especially when it’s unexpected.

That’s what TCU fans witnessed on Saturday when quarterback Josh Hoover, the redshirt freshman who wasn’t just solid against BYU. He was special with a near perfect debut in the Horned Frogs’ 44-11 win over the Cougars that snapped a two-game Horned Frogs’ losing streak.

Hoover threw for 439 yards and four touchdowns while adding rushing 26 yards in the most complete performance TCU has had this season.

For Hoover Saturday was a culmination of a lifetime of work paying off.

“It feels like I’ve worked my whole life for this opportunity,” Hoover said. “The good Llord has blessed me to be here and honestly I shouldn’t be here. I was committed to Indiana, I didn’t have any offers like this and Coach (Sonny) Dykes took a chance on me and I can’t express how grateful I am for the opportunity.”

While the TCU fanbase and BYU defense were probably shocked about the clinic Hoover put on, those around him had a feeling he could do something like this.

“I’m not surprised, he’s the most prepared player on our team,” Dykes said. “I thought he never got rattled, the game was never too big for him. What can you say? I thought he had a great performance.”

Reciever JP Richardson was responsible for nearly a quarter of Hoover’s yards as he became the first TCU receiver to go over 100 yards this season as he finished with six catches for 104 yards including a dazzling 42-yard touchdown where he shed tackles from multiple defenders in the first quarter.

Like Dykes, Richardson wasn’t shocked to see Hoover shine.

“Ever since Week 1 when he was a backup, he prepared like he was a starter,” Richardson said. “His maturity ... I’m not sure you come around kids of his character and ability too often. He’s a great person, I’m not surprised at all by the way he played today. He does it all the time in practice.”

Often times it looked like Hoover was at practice against a hapless BYU secondary.

How dialed in was Hoover? Take the first drive of the second half with TCU already leading 31-8. It would’ve been easy to coast in that situation, but Hoover picked up right where he left off from a terrific first half.

He converted a third-and-10 with a 26-yard rush and made sure to let a BYU defender know about it when he was pushed out of bounds. Then he threw two lasers to JP Richardson, one a post route through the middle of the defense and the other an out route in the redzone to set TCU in scoring position.

Then the freshman looked a fifth-year senior quarterback. When the ball snapped Hoover went through his first progression, it wasn’t there. He shifted his vision to his second read and it still wasn’t there. Most young quarterbacks would pull the ball down and get frantic feet.

Hoover settled down, took two steps up in the pocket and eventually found an open Warren Thompson for another touchdown.

Hoover was so on point that Dykes trusted him to drop back nearly 60 times in his first start.

“It gives a lot of confidence,” Hoover said. “There’s always this stigma of it’s your first game, we’re going to try to ease you into it, but shoot I was ready to go. I could care less, throw it more than that if we have to.”

That type of attitude is how Hoover has endeared himself to the locker room in his short time in Fort Worth. Jaylon Robinson called him a ‘slinger’ earlier in the week because of that mentality and his willingness to aggressively attack secondaries.

Hoover did it all on Saturday. He threw it in tight windows, took shots down the field and wasn’t afraid to step up into the pocket in the face of incoming pressure to make a throw. He was brilliant on third down as TCU went 12-of-19 in those situations and the numbers are slightly skewed because of garbage time stats.

Hoover wasn’t flawless, he threw two interceptions, though one bounced off the hands of a receiver. Overall there’s no doubt that it was as stellar a debut as one could imagine.

Only Chandler Morris has thrown for more yards in debut and Hoover became the first TCU quarterback since Casey Pachall in 2011 to throw four touchdowns in his debut. For all the big plays he made, Dykes said the most impressive aspect was his decision-making.

“He knows what to do, there were very few times where you were like he should’ve done this or he made a bad read here,” Dykes said. “We put a lot on the quarterback and there’s a lot of stuff they have to do. He just prepares so well you expect him to go out there and do what he does in practice. He just makes good decision and he’s incredibly prepared.”

He went on to add that Hoover is the perfect example of a player with a first one in, last one out mentality. He’s there at the facility at the crack of dawn and still there even as the coaches are leaving.

That type of dedication is needed to garner the trust of the coaching staff and the locker room. Just as his teammates poured into him with their confidence, he makes sure to return the favor.

“The big thing is I want those guys (the receivers) to know I care about them,” Hoover said. “I want them to know I want them to be successful on Saturdays. I’m going to be real intentional about spending time with those guys and let them I know care about them and how they play.”

With his work ethic and mentality, it’s no surprise that TCU had so much faith in the redshirt freshman quarterback.

Hoover’s performance is an example of what happens when opportunity meets preparation and now he’s given TCU hope for both the rest of this season and the future.