The bad luck continues for TCU. With training camp just getting underway, the Horned Frogs have lost offensive guard Michael Thompson to injury, the third player who had starting experience to leave the team in the last eight days.
TCU football loses third former starter in the last week
The thin get thinner. TCU already had depth issues at offensive line and linebacker, and have already lost a starting offensive tackle, a starting linebacker and now another lineman with starting experience, less than a week into camp.
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Thompson is retiring after multiple knee injuries, according to the Fort Worth Star Telegram. He had started as a redshirt freshman, but had that season as well as last year cut short due to injuries. He wasn’t expected to start, but had done the job in the past.
Starting left tackle Tayo Fabuluje had left the team last Wednesday after starting 12 games last year. He was planning to reapply to BYU, where he started his football career. Starting linebacker Joel Hasley left the team because “he just wasn’t enjoying football anymore” and won’t play elsewhere after starting 10 games last year and earning a scholarship in the offseason.
It’s especially unfortunate for TCU because it’s at positions of need. Frogs O’ War had mentioned linebacker depth being an issue in their post about Hasley, and addressed offensive line depth as an issue in their post about Fabuluje. And now the thin get thinner. Patterson told the Star-Telegram he would need to move an offensive tackle into the guard position to make up for Thompson’s loss, but those tackles are still needed outside to replace Fabuluje.
The Horned Frogs also had issues with keeping players on the field last season. They boasted the No. 30 defense in the country, but in quick succession, they lost several offensive weapons: running back Ed Wesley, who decided to enter the NFL’s supplemental draft, running back Waymon James, who suffered a season-ending knee injury in Week 3, and of course, quarterback Casey Pachall, who picked up a DWI after Week 4 and spent the rest of the year in rehab. After a 4-0 start, they tumbled to 7-6.
This year’s losses don’t seem as cataclysmic, but they’re still important, and are not a good start with 24 days until their season opener against LSU.
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