TCU’s Young is OK not being the star
December 31, 2009
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Jimmy Young had just gotten used to being TCU’s premier receiver when co-offensive coordinator Justin Fuente came to him and told him that he’d lose some touches this season.
Young, who led the Horned Frogs with 59 catches for 988 yards and five touchdowns in 2008, was far and away TCU’s top target. The next closest receiver, Ryan Christian, had 30 catches for 321 yards. No other TCU receiver had more than 300 yards.
But as TCU has looked into ways to better its passing game this past offseason, Fuente said they realized that they had several players that could be the same threat as Young if given a chance. So the coaching staff encouraged quarterback Andy Dalton to work with all of them in the spring and summer, get comfortable with all of them and take the opportunity to spread the ball to different targets.
“We felt like coming into the season that we had several good players and that we were going to be able to be balanced no matter who was getting the ball,” Fuente said. “Jimmy Young caught a bunch of balls for us last year and some of the other guys didn’t catch as many. Jimmy’s caught less balls, but helped us win more games and done a better job. That’s something we talked to Jimmy about and he’s embraced it.”
Jeremy Kerley leads the Horned Frogs in receiving with 467 yards and three players have at least 400 yards receiving; Bart Johnson has 398. Six players have double-digit catches this season and all of those players have at least 200 receiving yards. No player has more than 38 catches.
“The kids started to realize that the guys playing next to them are pretty good too,” Fuente said. “They had a chance to make plays. And then obviously, when you’re having team success it eases that. When you’re winning ballgames, everybody’s happy anyway. I think that helped in the transition. But it also took the kids to buy into what was going on.”
Young acknowledged that it took him a little while to warm up to the idea especially after narrowly missing a 1,000-yard season the year before. But as soon as he started seeing results, Young was fully on board. He’s second on the team in receiving with 29 catches for 449 yards and three touchdowns.
“Once [Fuente] told me, it was OK and I set myself up for it,” Young said. “But once it developed and we were winning, I was as happy as anyone. It was more of a team thing for me. I understood how it would work out and it worked out well. We’re undefeated, we’re able to spread the ball around more and it’s just a positive thing. It definitely took time for me to get used to it,” Young said. “But we were winning, that was it. I was pleased.”