*This article is being updated live.
Less than 24 hours after Gary Patterson and TCU parted ways, members of TCU’s 2022 recruiting class have started to rethink their commitments to the Horned Frogs.
The unknown of committing to a team without a head coach or getting promised exposure has already caused almost the entire class to take action.
On Monday afternoon, three-star defensive lineman Trevon McAlpine announced that he would be decommitting from TCU and reopening his recruitment.
Reports from Jeremy Clark, 247sports.com’s TCU recruiting guru, said that McAlpine will “likely” not be the lone Frog commit to jump ship.
Hours later, wide receiver DJ Allen, TCU’s second-highest 2022 recruit, announced that he would be reopening his recruitment while maintaining his current commitment to the Frogs.
Later Monday evening, four-star wide receiver Matthew Golden, who is TCU’s third-highest 2022 recruit, announced that he was joining McAlpine in decommitting from TCU and reopening his recruitment.
Signs of recruiting fallout for TCU started soon after the Patterson news dropped, as eight of TCU’s remaining 10 commits in the 2022 class either posted or interacted with tweets that implied their surprise within 24 hours of the breaking news.
The top recruit of the class for TCU, Jaylon Gilbeau, was the first Frog recruit to comment, posting a tweet within an hour of the news breaking.
Gilbeau is a four-star cornerback from Memorial High School in Port Arthur, Texas, and ranks as the tenth-highest recruit in TCU history, per 247sports.com.
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Golden shared something similar via his own Twitter just a few minutes later.
Over the next few hours, Cade McConnell, Ja’dais Richard, Seth Martin and Major Everhart โ four more members of TCU’s 2022 class all tweeted their initial thoughts on Patterson’s departure.
Finally, Golden chimed in one more time this morning, putting out a cryptic tweet about his future. Joseph Adedire and Ajay Allen, two more TCU commits for 2022, retweeted the tweet in support.
Given Patterson’s legacy as a top 50 head coach in the history of college football, it is no surprise that recruits would find a Frog squad not led by Gary Patterson less appealing.
On Sunday afternoon, former TCU offensive tackle Jeff Olson (’07-11) took to Twitter to acknowledge the impact the legendary head coach had on getting players to come to Fort Worth.
This thought is also echoed by current members of the TCU football team, as safety T.J. Carter cited Patterson as the reason he transferred to TCU from Memphis this spring.
“Hall of fame coach,” Carter said to the media about Patterson earlier this fall.
TCU’s 2022 class currently ranks seventh in the Big 12, and even that uncharacteristically-low ranking is expected to drop in the wake of the Frogs losing their tenured leader.
