TCU is again a reflection of a young quarterback. And Chandler Morris is hurt (again)

The walking, talking, living, breathing example of why a team should be patient with a quarterback was on TCU’s sideline Saturday night in Ames, Iowa.

It was good to see Max Duggan.

It was hard to see Max Duggan.

He could still be the TCU starting quarterback. He passed to turn pro, of course, and he’s currently on the practice squad for the L.A. Chargers.

The man who beat him out for the starting job at TCU in 2022 is struggling, and now he’s hurt (again), too.

Chandler Morris’ vision to replace Duggan and maintain the S.S. Horned Frog at the same pace in 2023 hasn’t quite crashed into the iceberg, but it’s up against one.

In the third quarter of TCU’s 27-14 loss at Iowa State on Saturday night, Morris suffered an injury. According to people familiar with the team, he injured the MCL in his left knee. It’s a question whether he tore it.

If it’s a tear, Morris’ season is likely done. If it’s a sprain, he can return.

The TCU football team remained in Iowa on Saturday night, as scheduled, and returned to Fort Worth on Sunday morning. According to sources, Morris had an MRI on Monday morning.

Sources told Star-Telegram reporter Steven Johnson that Morris is out for this week’s game against BYU. The safe bet is to think redshirt freshman Josh Hoover will start on Saturday against the Cougars.

This would be nearly the same injury Morris sustained in Week 1 of TCU’s 2022 season. In that win at Colorado, Morris suffered a grade two sprain of his left MCL on a quarterback option.

The injury would have kept Morris out for the next four games, but Duggan happened.

Here in 2023 Morris won the starting job for the second straight year, but he’s been inconsistent. Morris has completed 66 percent of his passes for 1,513 yards with 12 touchdowns and five interceptions. He also averages 5.5 yards on 45 carries.

Against Iowa State in the first quarter, he threw a pair of interceptions. The first pick was thrown to a “wide open” Iowa State defender.

“I think he got confused on the first one,” TCU head coach Sonny Dykes said. “I think he thought the inside receiver was going to loop around the linebacker. There wasn’t any reason for him, too. It was just a confusion issue.”

Morris’ second interception was on a pass that narrowly went behind his receiver; the Iowa State player made a nice play ripping the ball away to catch it.

In the second quarter, Chandler Morris showed the upside of Chandler Morris. At the Iowa State 6-yard line, he scrambled away from considerable pressure from what should have been a sack to create time and space that allowed him to complete a touchdown throw to receiver Savion Williams.

Morris has displayed all of these extremes throughout what is rapidly developing into a giant bust of a season.

Clearly Dykes and his staff are frustrated at these developments.

I asked Dykes if Morris is simply a victim of being too far into his own head.

After a long pause Dykes said, “I don’t know. I think he’s probably trying to do too much. That’s what some young quarterbacks have a tendency to do sometimes. We have to get him to try to not to do too much.”

It’s hard enough to be a starting quarterback; throw in the added weight of trying to live up to the standards set by Duggan and that ‘22 team, and it’s an HOV lane to disappointment.

“That’s just playing quarterback in big time college football. It’s not for everybody. It’s a hard thing to do,” Dykes said. “I have a lot of confidence in Chandler. He’s a really good football player. He’s learning. He’s making some mistakes that guys that haven’t started that much make from time to time.

“He’s given us the chance to win games. When he plays well, he’s playing really well.”

If Morris is out for any length of time, and Hoover shows something, both TCU and Morris will have a decision to make. A team can swallow a trash season if it means they found a quarterback.

In 2007, TCU started freshman Andy Dalton and dealt with all of the erratic and frustrating that comes with playing a young quarterback. He wound up as one of the most successful quarterbacks in school history, leading them to the Rose Bowl win in 2010.

Both in 2012 and 2013, TCU had no choice but to put Trevone Boykin in at quarterback because of starter Casey Pachall’s issues. Boykin was erratic in each of his first two years at quarterback, and TCU was 11-14 combined in those seasons, the school’s first in the Big 12.

In his junior and senior years, Boykin was one of the best quarterbacks in the country as TCU finished a combined 23-3.

Morris is technically a sophomore, and he’s already transferred once, from Oklahoma, after 2020.

If this season continues to go sideways, TCU will see what is available in the transfer portal. That’s just college football now.

Dykes and his staff could also see enough in Morris to think that he may follow the Dalton/Boykin/Duggan route; part of the charm to Max Duggan’s senior season was how much he overcame in his first three seasons.

He, too, was erratic. All over the place. A good runner. An inconsistent passer. A serious competitor.

The team, as a result, followed suit. Then, Duggan “found it,” and so did the team.

TCU is currently 3-3 and its aspirations to return to the Big 12 title game, and the playoffs, are gone.

This is now about proving last year was not a total heaven-kissed fluke, and that the state of the team is a reflection of playing a young quarterback.