Just like the defensive linemen before them, the 2009 linebacking core will include just one starter from last year's trio. Overall, only five out of 11 starters from 2008's top-ranked defense will be returning for the Horned Frogs next season.

Departing seniors Jason Phillips and Robert Henson, who combined for 157 tackles, will try their hand at the next level. Phillips is the more likely of the two to be drafted at this weekend's NFL Draft, despite recent surgery on a torn meniscus in his left knee. Phillips suffered the injury during February's scouting combine.

What does it take to graduate in three years? Is it worth it? It's not for everyone, I can tell you that much. My journey at TCU began in January 2007. I will graduate in December. For those of you who are like me and can't stand math, that's two years and 11 months for me to earn my B.S. in strategic communications from the Schieffer School of Journalism.

During that time I will have completed 120 out of the 124 hours needed for my degree.

The National Rifle Association is offering free one-year trial memberships to all Americans in an effort to show lawmakers how many citizens support their Second Amendment right to bear arms. Although...

Editor's note: A response from Chesapeake was added to this story at 8:14 p.m. April 29.

Drilling for Chesapeake Energy Corporation's master development plan could begin sometime before the end of the calendar year, a university official said in an e-mail.

Brian Gutierrez, vice chancellor for finance and administration, wrote in an e-mail that the university views the plan as a positive agreement between campus, Chesapeake and the community.

It's amazing how history repeats itself, even when the history only happened last year.

President Barack Obama, in his infinite wisdom, made a budget in which we would no longer have subsidized loans made by private banks but by direct government lending instead.

The most infuriating thing is that we already tried this.

People complain about how banks gave loans to people that didn't need them and blame the banks for the economic mess. How is the government doing the same thing any different?

The women's tennis team left the indoor courts Friday with a little better idea of what it will need to work on before this week's Mountain West Conference Championships in Albuquerque, N.M., after a 4-1 loss to a No. 5-ranked Baylor squad.

The Horned Frogs, ranked No. 28, were on a six-match winning streak before suffering the loss.

The team got off to a good start when it claimed the doubles point but was unable to win any of the singles matches that followed. The team closed the season with a 7-1 record in the MWCand a 13-10 record overall.

Charge it. That's often a term you'd expect to hear at the mall, but what about at the Office of Financial Services?

As studies show an increase in the number of college students using credit cards to pay for college expenses, the university has seen the opposite, following the implementation of a 2.75 percent convenience fee last summer, said Brad Davis, business systems analyst for Financial Services.

Only one starter from the Frogs' 2008 defensive line will be returning for the upcoming season. But if you had to pick one player to return to the D-line in 2009, it would certainly have to be consensus All-American defensive end Jerry Hughes.

Hughes, a 6-foot-3-inch, 257-pound senior from Sugar Land, racked up a nation-leading 15 sacks last season to go along with a total of six forced fumbles, also the best in the nation. A relative unknown until his breakout 2008 season, Hughes started just one game during his first two years with the Frogs.