How TCU football is preparing for the great unknown vs. Coach Prime, Colorado in opener

Game planning for the first game of the year is always a unique challenge for college coaches.

There’s always a new coordinator or a new quarterback or bunch of transfers or all of the above, which makes preparation difficult.

Now imagine what TCU is trying to do against Colorado ahead of the season opener on Saturday. A season after going an abysmal 1-11, the Buffaloes have a new head coach (Deion Sanders), new coordinators, a new quarterback (Shedeur Sanders) and at least 60 new players on their roster.

Less than a dozen scholarship players remain from the 2022 team. So how do you study and prepare for dozens of transfers that played all over the country?

“Typically you watch game film from last year, but I haven’t watched one Colorado game,” TCU coach Sonny Dykes said. “There’s no reason to really. We’ve watched a lot of other game films, different schools looking at schemes obviously and then we looked at players at previous schools and that kind of thing.”

Let’s start with the coaching staff, where Sanders brought in some pretty good hires. Colorado’s offensive coordinator is former Kent State head coach Sean Lewis. Lewis led the Golden Flashes to two bowl games in four seasons and gave the Georgia Bulldogs fits last season.

Much of the defensive preparation has been focused on Lewis’ tendencies and scheme and how he could try to fit that around the Colorado roster.

“I know they did a lot with tempo, but our offense runs tempo in practice all the time so I’m confident we’ll be good in that area,” linebacker Jamoi Hodge said. “They do like a lot of 11 personnel (one running back, one tight end), they like to run the ball and hit down hill and not try to bounce a lot of runs outside.

“There’s a lot of hitches (stop routes), there’s a lot of RPOs (run-pass options) and read pulls and stuff like that.”

While the overall scheme is nothing TCU hasn’t seen before, it’s a given that Lewis will add more wrinkles to the offense now with more talented personnel.

The RPO-centric offense is similar to what Shedeur Sanders ran at Jackson State and he excelled in it, throwing for nearly 7,000 yards in two seasons.

“He’s a great facilitator, he takes his time,” cornerback Josh Newton said. “He knows the offense, he’s getting comfortable and he can make any throw and he can keep plays alive with his feet. Whenever it’s time to get to him, we have to get to him.”

Sanders has functional mobility, but only had 100 yards rushing at JSU. The skill players at Colorado are marginally better than last year depending on where Travis Hunter lines up.

The No. 1 player in the Class of 2022, Hunter was voted an AP All-American as an all-purpose player. If Coach Prime uses him on offense, he’s the team best receiver. If he’s not on offense, the skill weapons take a hit.

Jimmy Horn Jr., a transfer from South Florida, is the top threat at receiver and had 551 yards with the Bulls last year along with a kick return touchdown. The rest of the room is mostly freshmen including four-star recruits Omarion Miller and Adam Hopkins.

At running back Colorado may turn to freshman running back Dylan Edwards, a small but explosive player that was rated a four-star recruit. Houston transfer Alton McCaskill projects to be a big part of the offense, but signs indicate he’ll miss the opener against the Horned Frogs.

Up front Colorado took a hit from the NCAA when Tyler Brown, a FCS All-American, had his transfer waiver denied. Two other linemen from Kent State followed Lewis to Boulder and could be in the starting lineup. Overall the unit is a big question mark.

Now let’s turn to defense, where former Alabama co-defensive coordinator Charles Kelly will lead the unit. It’s Kelly opportunity to run his own unit after coaching with Pete Golding the last few years.

Like any good defense, Kelly will want the Buffaloes to get after Chandler Morris and the top name on defense outside of Hunter is Alabama transfer Demouy Kennedy, who was rated a four-star transfer but only appeared in 24 games over three seasons.

He’ll have a much bigger role with the Buffaloes and truthfully it’s a similar story for most of the defense. Five-star freshman Cormani McClain was widely expected to start at corner with Hunter, but Coach Prime revealed that freshmen Omarion Cooper and Carter Stoutmire are battling for the other starting corner spot.

Prime’s other son, Shilo, is expected to be the starter at safety and was in and out of the rotation at South Carolina before transferring to Jackson State and then Colorado.

The Colorado defense is the biggest mystery headed into Saturday’s opener.

“We’ve been breaking down ‘Bama since that’s where their coordinator is from,” Chandler Morris said. “Personnel wise, you’re probably going to have to watch 37 different games just to get a little bit (of an idea) of personnel.”

As you can see, as much as TCU has prepared and studied for Colorado there’s no way to be fully prepared against a brand new roster and coaching staff. So what’s the key for TCU going up against the great unknown?

“We got to be willing to adapt as the game goes along, and make sure that we are really prepared for anything,” Dykes said. “We’re liable to see anything.”

In-game adjustments will be key for both sides, but the real key in Dykes mind is for TCU focus and master what they do.

“You do the best you can get to ready and then I think you have to focus on yourself,” Dykes said. “And I think from a preparation standpoint, I think we feel pretty good about where we are.”