On Sept 2, TCU and Colorado begin their seasons in similar quarterback scenarios with not one but two capable QBs.
On the depth chart Colorado released Saturday, a bolded and underlined “OR” signified the starting options of both J.T. Shrout and Brendon Lewis, maintaining public mystery heading into game week. For the Horned Frogs, senior Max Duggan and redshirt sophomore Chandler Morris share a similar story with Lewis and Shrout.
Duggan played through a foot injury he sustained Oct. 9, but due to the injury and inconsistency, Morris stepped up for the Frogs in the same vein Lewis stepped up when Shrout was injured last year.
“We did talk to both of them and they know what our game plan is in terms of who’s starting, but I think it’s wise for us to not do that announcement at all,” head coach Karl Dorrell said Saturday.
Dorrell said his decision was not a response to TCU not making an announcement on its starter.
“It didn't have anything to do with what they're doing,” Dorrell said. “B-Lew was better in this category and J.T. was better in this category. [The competition] was kind of like that, it was very close. Not enough to unseat B-Lew, but it just gave us the impression now we feel good that they kind of feed off of each other and that's why we're trying to leave our options open with both of those guys. They understand what we're trying to do from a game plan standpoint. Just like I told them, they're both going to play.”
Within the depth chart, other position groups also have two players in the first seat. RBs Alex Fontenot and Deion Smith share the first spot with Jayle Stacks and Charlie Offerdahl listed jointly as the third option.
On the offensive line, sophomore Austin Johnson is in contention at both center, with Noah Fenske, and at right guard with Tommy Brown. The rest of the starter starters are Frank Fillip at left tackle, Casey Roddick at left guard and Jake Wiley at right tackle.
Dorrell and the coaching staff feel that they “have some really good, tangible depth” in the receivers group. Daniel Arias is No. 1 at X, Montana Lemonious-Craig at Z and Maurice Bell at slot. Notable transfer R.J. Sneed, who is just returning from a foot injury, is listed behind Bell at slot receiver, attesting to Bell’s bounce back after his own injury last year.
The season-opener will be an interesting gauge for improvement after Colorado finished near the bottom of college football last year in passing at 131.3 passing yards per game. TCU, meanwhile, had a middling pass defense, ranking 87th nationally in giving up 239.8 yards per game through the air.
But the Horned Frogs have a new coaching staff with Sonny Dykes coming over from SMU to lead the program and defensive coordinator Joe Gillespie coming from Tulsa
“It's kind of that 3-3-5 system and that's what they do and it's challenging in terms of passing the ball because there's not a lot of air,” Dorrell said. “You can imagine five DBs across, makes it look a little bit crowded until they separate themselves on different coverage structures, but it's a challenging defense. It's built not to give you a big play, and it's built to make offenses take the long road.”
Colorado’s defense won’t be cut much slack either as TCU likely rotates in QBs Duggan and Morris, forcing them to adjust and act quickly.
However, there are a lot of veterans manning the defense for Colorado.
Fifth-year seniors Guy Thomas and Jamar Montgomery share the first slot within the edge group; grad transfer Josh Chandler-Semedo and fifth-year senior Quinn Perry are co-1s at middle linebacker, while sixth-year grad student Robert Barnes tops the depth chart at the "Mo" linebacker and second-year sophomore Marvin Ham II is the starter at "Sam."
Colorado’s front seven will have to do some heavy lifting to prevent star receiver Quentin Johnson, a potential first-round draft pick from going off in Dykes' and offensive coordinator Garrett Riley' -- brother of USC coach Lincoln Riley -- aggressive passing attack.
“They got a runner that I think is a really dynamic player who's good at out of the backfield (Emari Demercado) catching the ball versus running the ball from the backfield,” Dorrell said. “I think offensively, they do a really good job of creating space, and we're gonna have to do a great job of minimizing some of that space and tackling well.”
Sophomores occupy the majority of the secondary aside from fifth-year senior Isaiah Lewis.
