Quarterback Josh Hoover is a big reason why TCU is one of the favorites to contend for the Big 12 football title in 2025.
Editor’s note: 12th in a series previewing each team in the Big 12 in 2025.
Along with going on and on about the state of college football and the guardrails needed to keep it as great as it is, TCU coach Sonny Dykes took some time at the Big 12 football media days earlier this month to actually talk about his own team.
And he did so in glowing terms, which is easy to do when you have one of the top quarterbacks in college football, let alone the Big 12, returning for another year.
That would be Josh Hoover, who torched BYU for 439 yards and four touchdowns in his first college start, back on Oct. 14, 2023. Hoover is being called the next great Horned Frogs QB, joining the ranks of Max Duggan and Andy Dalton.
“I think our guys know what to do, know how to do it. I expect us to make a big jump as a program, defensively. What is a successful season for us? It is to reach our potential.”
TCU coach Sonny Dykes
Hoover, a 6-foot-2, 200-pound junior from Heath, Texas, guided the Frogs to a 9-4 record in 2024, including a 34-3 waxing of Louisiana in the New Mexico Bowl. TCU went 6-3 in Big 12 play, just missing out on a berth in the Big 12 championship game.
In many ways, it was a case of what could have been for Dykes’ team, which won six of its last seven games in 2024. Losses to Big 12 bottom-feeders UCF and Houston spoiled what would have been another standout season in Fort Worth.
It should also be noted that TCU’s schedule wasn’t the greatest in 2024; five of its six conference wins came against teams that didn’t make a bowl game, including Utah.
So what does 2025 look like for TCU?
Dykes said a realistic goal is making the Big 12 championship game, partly because of the return of Hoover and also because defensive coordinator Andy Avalos — the former Boise State coach — is back for his second year.
“Josh Hoover really finished the season strong last year,” Dykes said. “I am really excited about who he is, what kind of leader he is, what kind of player he is.”
Hoover threw for a school-record 3,949 yards and accounted for 31 total touchdowns last year. And he did that without having much of a running game to speak of, Dykes said.
“We did not run the football well last year,” he said. “If you say, ‘What do you need to improve on early in the year?’ It would be turnovers. We were a turnover machine last year. We turned the ball over way too many times, and we didn’t create enough turnovers defensively.”
Kendal Briles enters his third year as TCU’s offensive coordinator.
“I think our guys know what to do, know how to do it,” Dykes said. “I expect us to make a big jump as a program, defensively. What is a successful season for us? It is to reach our potential.”
The Frogs are three seasons removed from playing for the national title, and Dykes said the 2025 team reminds him a lot of the 2022 team that Duggan led to a national semifinals win over Michigan and a national title game appearance against Georgia.
“A lot of it is going to be how these pieces come together,” he said. “I think we are at the point in our program right now where if we are not in the Big 12 championship game, it’s probably not a successful season.”
Back are nine starters apiece on each side of the ball. However, Hoover did lose a couple of his top pass-catchers to the NFL — Savion Williams, Jack Bech and JP Richardson. Look for Eric McAlister to step in as Hoover’s top target, along with a couple of standouts from the transfer portal, Houston’s Joseph Majack IV and Idaho’s Jordan Dwyer.
Running backs Jeremy Payne and Nate Palmer will need to improve, after the Frogs averaged just 3.7 yards per carry in 2024.
Hoover, McAlister, offensive lineman Colton Deery, linebackers Devean Deal and Namdi Objazor and defensive back Bud Clark made the short trip from Fort Worth to Frisco for the Big 12 media days.
“They love playing at TCU. They love going to school at TCU. They love living in Fort Worth. They’re really committed to not letting their teammates down. It’s a fun team to coach. I just love being around these guys,” Dykes said. “We went to dinner last night as a group. I loved talking to them. I loved hearing about what they were doing. It is just a special group of guys — smart, mature, unselfish, hardworking young people that we can all be proud of.”
TCU Horned Frogs 2025 preview
2024 record: 9-4 (6-3 Big 12)
2025 schedule
- Sept. 1 — at North Carolina
- Sept. 6 — Open
- Sept. 13 — Abilene Christian
- Sept. 20 — SMU
- Sept. 26 — At Arizona State
- Oct. 4 — Colorado
- Oct. 11 — at Kansas State
- Oct. 18 — Baylor
- Oct. 25 — at West Virginia
- Nov. 1 — Open
- Nov. 8 — Iowa State
- Nov. 15 — at BYU
- Nov. 22 — at Houston
- Nov. 29 — Cincinnati
Category: General Sports
