2010 Heisman Hopefuls: Andrew Dalton
Success, history, and tradition are often things which recruits attribute to influencing their final decision in what university they intend on playing football for. One of the most historic, tradition rich schools in the nation comes from a state full of historic football schools. The school in question here would be none other than Texas Christian University, home of the Horned Frogs, in Fort Worth, Texas.
Some of the all-time greats played there college ball at TCU including Bob Lily, Sammy Baugh, Davey O’Brien and more recently LaDanian Tomlinson. Over the years they have won two national titles and 15 conference championships.
Current head coach, Gary Patterson, has been heading up the program for the last 10 years, accumulating a record of 85-28. Since taking over the team in 200 he has taken the team to eight bowl games, winning five. The team’s most recent season saw him lead the Horned Frogs to an undefeated season and its second top ten finish in a row.
With such history, tradition, and success the draw in attending and playing football at TCU is obvious. Perhaps that is what convinced current quarterback Andrew Dalton to become a Horned Frog.
High School
The athletic pro-style quarterback was somewhat of an under the radar recruit going into his senior year of high school in Katy, Texas. As a senior he built off the promise of his junior year by having a breakout season.
Dalton would end up losing only one game as a senior, going 14-1 and ending the year in the 5A state finals. For the season his statistics were strong; he completed just over half of his passes, throwing 161 completions on the year against 254 attempts for 2877 yards and 42 touchdowns with only 11 interceptions. Over the span of his career he ended up throwing for 3555 yards, 52 touchdowns, and just 17 interceptions.
Following his successful senior ear, the accolades came pouring in. was a finalist for several awards including the Texas Football 5A Player of the Year and the Touchdown Club of Greater Houston’s Offensive Player of the Year. The Houston Chronicle named him the Offensive Player of the Year for the Houston area and several publications listed on their top lists for recruits among the nation and state. Rivals.com would name him the 23rd best pro-style quarterback in the nation.
With all the attention there would be naturally have been a number of colleges showing interest. Many did, but in the end he accepted an offer from Texas Christian University to become a Horned Frog.
College
Dalton would be redshirted his freshman year in 2006, still travelling with the team as the emergency quarterback. He would not see his first action until the 2007 though.
Upon taking over the starting job in 2007 Dalton would seized of it and never looked back. He played well his first year at the helm, completing 222 of 371 passes for 2459 yards and 10 touchdowns along with 11 interceptions. His best statistical game came against Stanford in a thrilling 38-36 win; Dalton would threw his second 300+ yard day completing 68% of his passes for 344 yards and two touchdowns.
He missed time in 2008, but would go onto throw for over 2000 yards again finishing the season with 2242 yards, 11 touchdowns, but most importantly dropping his interception total to just five.
Dalton would start to draw consideration for the Heisman after leading the Horned Frogs to an undefeated regular season in 2009. His leadership ability and decision making were much improved over his past seasons. While his statistics were not exactly eye popping, it was his efficiency in leading the team that began to draw notice.
TCU has had only one Heisman winner, one of the first ones, quarterback Davey O’ Brien in 1938. For Dalton to be the second, voters will likely expect to see him continue with TCU’s winning ways, but also increase his statistical output.
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