drgnbkr
08-22-2007, 09:23 AM
From Fort Worth Startlegram today:
Young Dalton appears undaunted in his role as Frogs QB
By JENNIFER FLOYD ENGEL
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
You know the moment I am thinking about. I know you do. You've been listening to people talk about how the whole presentation/fundraiser/fill-in-the-blank project hinges on whether this one person can deliver when it hits you:
Oh no, they are talking about me.
Welcome to Andy Dalton's world, where everybody is definitely devoting serious think time to him.
Everywhere he turns lately somebody is talking about how TCU is this season's best chance to be a BCS party crasher, and do not fall asleep on the Frogs because they have a decent chance of upsetting No. 4 Texas in a couple of weeks, and about how the only real question is whether this young kid they have playing quarterback is ready.
Dalton is that young kid.
He is 19 years old, a redshirt freshman, has never taken a snap in a college game and is going to have a big hand in just how big the Frogs' season is.
It might be college, but it's still all about the quarterback.
So I attended practice Tuesday to check what the deer-in-the-headlights factor was on Dalton. You know, to see if he was ready for what and who were about to hit him.
What was immediately obvious is Dalton is undaunted.
"Don't worry about me," he said. "I'm excited. And I'm ready."
Former Cowboys coach Bill Parcells used to love to say "They don't know what they don't know" about his young players. It was his way of conveying the blissful ignorance that allows youngsters to dive in without fear. This seems very much to be the case with Dalton, and this is a good thing.
This kid kind of reminds me of Tony Romo in that regard. He doesn't seem to have entertained the thought he might not succeed. In his mind, why wouldn't he?
"I just have to go out and play and do what I am capable of," Dalton said. "I don't necessarily feel like I have to prove anything. I just have to go out and play to my capability."
What Frogs coach Gary Patterson has been pounding into Dalton's head during two-a-days, and especially since naming him his starter on Sunday, is he does not need to be John David Booty or Colt McCoy or Chase Daniel.
Nor does he have to be perfect. Nor does he have to be great or even really, really good.
What Patterson keeps telling him is he just has to be good enough to win on that day.
"I think if you do that and don't look at the expectations of the whole 12 ballgames, that is where all of the pressure comes," Patterson said. "Because really all you have to do is be the best team that day... and I think it starts with me. If I am sitting there putting pressure on Andy and on [backup QB] Marcus [Jackson] that 'You got to make the throws, you're the one that has to lead us down the field' ...what I always say is manage the games."
If it sounds like they're asking Dalton to be a bus driver, they kind of are. What he has to do is not make too many mistakes because this Frog defense has a chance to be really, really good. Possibly beat-Longhorn Nation good.
They are the known of this Frogs team. Its strength.
That nifty feature starts with All-America defensive end Tommy Blake. He had taken an unscheduled break from Camp Frog for a couple of days, thus my secondary purpose for visiting practice Tuesday. See for myself that he had returned.
He did.
He did not talk about why. He did not talk at all.
My understanding is the Frogs were behind this "no comment." While there were a few people who got their briefs in a bunch because of his mandated silence, I am nonplussed. The kid will talk when he wants to, about what he wants to, if he wants to.
Blake may just decide he wants his play against Baylor and Texas to speak for him and answer any questions anybody may have about his state of mind.
This, of course, is where Dalton comes back into this conversation.
He is going to head down to Austin in a couple of weeks with an opportunity to help legitimize guys like Blake, guys who have been busting their butts season after season trying to prove TCU is a big-boy program.
They are, of course.
And for anybody who still thinks the Frogs are a punch line, I will be happy to host a movie night at The Hate Household where we watch game film from Tech-TCU.
Or where we listen as college football analyst after college football analyst talk about the Frogs as key players in Wedding Crashers: BCS Edition.
There is no question everybody is talking about TCU's special potential and about the 19-year-old redhead who is instrumental in helping them achieve it. He is the unknown.
So does he ever have that moment?
Does he ever think to himself, "They are talking about me? About my team? About the team I am the starting quarterback for?"
"I think about that a lot," Dalton said. "I think about the games we have, starting with Baylor and then going to Texas. We are playing some great teams."
This is the moment where, if he were inclined to do so, he'd say: Oh no, they're talking about me.
He didn't. Quite the opposite.
"I am happy to be put in this situation," Dalton said. "It's just exciting. I'm ready for it all to start."
Mark me down as thinking the whole presentation/fundraiser/fill-in-the-blank project is going to be just fine in his hands.
Young Dalton appears undaunted in his role as Frogs QB
By JENNIFER FLOYD ENGEL
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
You know the moment I am thinking about. I know you do. You've been listening to people talk about how the whole presentation/fundraiser/fill-in-the-blank project hinges on whether this one person can deliver when it hits you:
Oh no, they are talking about me.
Welcome to Andy Dalton's world, where everybody is definitely devoting serious think time to him.
Everywhere he turns lately somebody is talking about how TCU is this season's best chance to be a BCS party crasher, and do not fall asleep on the Frogs because they have a decent chance of upsetting No. 4 Texas in a couple of weeks, and about how the only real question is whether this young kid they have playing quarterback is ready.
Dalton is that young kid.
He is 19 years old, a redshirt freshman, has never taken a snap in a college game and is going to have a big hand in just how big the Frogs' season is.
It might be college, but it's still all about the quarterback.
So I attended practice Tuesday to check what the deer-in-the-headlights factor was on Dalton. You know, to see if he was ready for what and who were about to hit him.
What was immediately obvious is Dalton is undaunted.
"Don't worry about me," he said. "I'm excited. And I'm ready."
Former Cowboys coach Bill Parcells used to love to say "They don't know what they don't know" about his young players. It was his way of conveying the blissful ignorance that allows youngsters to dive in without fear. This seems very much to be the case with Dalton, and this is a good thing.
This kid kind of reminds me of Tony Romo in that regard. He doesn't seem to have entertained the thought he might not succeed. In his mind, why wouldn't he?
"I just have to go out and play and do what I am capable of," Dalton said. "I don't necessarily feel like I have to prove anything. I just have to go out and play to my capability."
What Frogs coach Gary Patterson has been pounding into Dalton's head during two-a-days, and especially since naming him his starter on Sunday, is he does not need to be John David Booty or Colt McCoy or Chase Daniel.
Nor does he have to be perfect. Nor does he have to be great or even really, really good.
What Patterson keeps telling him is he just has to be good enough to win on that day.
"I think if you do that and don't look at the expectations of the whole 12 ballgames, that is where all of the pressure comes," Patterson said. "Because really all you have to do is be the best team that day... and I think it starts with me. If I am sitting there putting pressure on Andy and on [backup QB] Marcus [Jackson] that 'You got to make the throws, you're the one that has to lead us down the field' ...what I always say is manage the games."
If it sounds like they're asking Dalton to be a bus driver, they kind of are. What he has to do is not make too many mistakes because this Frog defense has a chance to be really, really good. Possibly beat-Longhorn Nation good.
They are the known of this Frogs team. Its strength.
That nifty feature starts with All-America defensive end Tommy Blake. He had taken an unscheduled break from Camp Frog for a couple of days, thus my secondary purpose for visiting practice Tuesday. See for myself that he had returned.
He did.
He did not talk about why. He did not talk at all.
My understanding is the Frogs were behind this "no comment." While there were a few people who got their briefs in a bunch because of his mandated silence, I am nonplussed. The kid will talk when he wants to, about what he wants to, if he wants to.
Blake may just decide he wants his play against Baylor and Texas to speak for him and answer any questions anybody may have about his state of mind.
This, of course, is where Dalton comes back into this conversation.
He is going to head down to Austin in a couple of weeks with an opportunity to help legitimize guys like Blake, guys who have been busting their butts season after season trying to prove TCU is a big-boy program.
They are, of course.
And for anybody who still thinks the Frogs are a punch line, I will be happy to host a movie night at The Hate Household where we watch game film from Tech-TCU.
Or where we listen as college football analyst after college football analyst talk about the Frogs as key players in Wedding Crashers: BCS Edition.
There is no question everybody is talking about TCU's special potential and about the 19-year-old redhead who is instrumental in helping them achieve it. He is the unknown.
So does he ever have that moment?
Does he ever think to himself, "They are talking about me? About my team? About the team I am the starting quarterback for?"
"I think about that a lot," Dalton said. "I think about the games we have, starting with Baylor and then going to Texas. We are playing some great teams."
This is the moment where, if he were inclined to do so, he'd say: Oh no, they're talking about me.
He didn't. Quite the opposite.
"I am happy to be put in this situation," Dalton said. "It's just exciting. I'm ready for it all to start."
Mark me down as thinking the whole presentation/fundraiser/fill-in-the-blank project is going to be just fine in his hands.