By Jeff Wilson
Frogs Today senior writer
FORT WORTH — The adage early on in a camp, any camp, is that a player can’t win a job on Day 1 or in Week 1, but he can lose one.
The saying applies to NFL training camp, MLB spring training or any other sport.
How does a player lose a chance to be a starter? By trying to do too much too soon and ending up with an injury that forces him to miss an extended stretch.
The good news is it appears as if no TCU player eliminated his chances at serious playing time by getting himself hurt in the first week of fall camp.
As for the other part of the adage, well, it’s a cautionary tidbit for players, coaches, fans and media as position battles continue into Week 2.
These camps are long. They progressively become more difficult. Offenses and defenses learn to execute better, the playbook gets deeper, aches and pains present, and fatigue sets in. So does monotony at times. Players who traditionally are slow starters catch up pretty quickly.
So no matter how good a player looked last week at his position or in 11-on-11 work, be it quarterback or anywhere on the field, no player took an insurmountable lead in a position battle. It’s entirely possible that no player even took a small lead.
A player will be judged on his full body of work, and not all of it is seen on the practice field.
Some curious things happen that first week. A second-teamer is going to play with the first team as coaches try to create depth. Coaches are evaluating players who weren’t around for spring drills and might throw them onto the first team to see if the eye test matches the recruiting film.
Those are nice nuggets to pack away, but they might not have as much significance as you might think.
As badly as TCU coaches and fans want to know the first-team depth chart for the Sept. 2 season opener at Colorado, there is still ample time to make an informed decision.
And as the saying goes, no one wins a job in Week 1.
Women’s soccer accolades
All fall sports teams are gearing up, but the first one to play this season will be the women’s soccer team.
The Frogs will play host to Wisconsin at 7 p.m. Aug. 18 at the Garvey-Rosenthal Soccer Stadium. Just a guess, but the Badgers might find things a little toasty in Fort Worth.
The defending Big 12 champions were ranked seventh in the United Soccer Coaches Top 25 preseason poll. The Frogs won the regular-season and tournament titles last season and reached the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament. They finished ranked ninth nationally with a 19-2-3 record.
Seven all-conference players return from last season, including Goalkeeper of the Year Lauren Kellett. Also returnings is Messiah Bright, a United States Coaches Association All-American, is the only player in TCU history with a 40-points season (17 goals, six assists). She was a semifinalist for the MCA Hermann Trophy.
What to watch this week
Yes, the Frogs Today Daily show will be back at fall camp this week, filming a show each day. If you missed any of the first five episodes, head over to our YouTube channel and get caught up. We’ll have the standard hour-long Frogs Today show, too.
But our Frogs Films premiere is another you won’t find anywhere else — Dennis Franchione: They Call Me Coach.
This one has been in the works for a while. We caught up with Coach Fran in late November at his home west of Austin and spent more than an hour talking about his career, focusing on the TCU years from 1998-2000. It was a great run, until the end, and we get into all of it in great detail.
Give it a watch. It is worth your time.
The lighter side
Throw the book at ’em: One of the top barbecue restaurants in the state was short on brisket Thursday after a burglar struck la Barbecue in Austin and swiped some $3,000 in brisket.
The heinous crime was caught on security camera, as the dastardly thief hit the smokers around 4 a.m. The la Barbecue staff thinks it might have been an old employee who struck.
It’s probably hard to pawn a load of brisket, but surely the crook left something for police to work with.
If the thief is found and goes to trial, he better hope the judge is a vegetarian.
Classic country flashback: This one has a personal touch to it.
I actually got to know Charley Pride, the country music pioneer and former Negro League baseball player. He would spend time each year at Rangers spring training, where he would work out in the outfield and get on the field some during his younger years.
He had slowed down in his 70s and 80s by the time I started covering the Rangers, but his mind was still fairly sharp. He would perform a concert each spring in the clubhouse for players, coaches and staff, both before and after he became part of the ownership group.
This song is one of his many hits, and arguably his best-known song.
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Bad golf shots: The shot tracer is a game-changer for bad golf shots. Enjoy.
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Jeff Wilson, jeff@frogstoday.com
