RIFF RAM

Editor’s note: Andrew Coker saw his streak of 37 consecutive start end Nov. 18 against Baylor on Senior Day because of a knee injury. But he wants to play Nov. 24 at Oklahoma, where the team will spend Thanksgiving, to help the Frogs qualify for a bowl game. Win, and they’re in. 

Thanksgiving on a football team is one of those things that if you don’t look for it, you miss it. It’s almost like Christmas last year when we were in Arizona. I’m not saying we missed it, but we woke up and were like, “It’s Christmas Day. We’re in Arizona.” 

Photo by Percise Windom

But it is a time to be around the guys, just hanging out and enjoying each other’s company. It’s great. I remember one year we didn’t have Thanksgiving food, but we had burgers. For 18- to 22-year-olds, burgers and fries is good probably any day of the week.  

Senior Day was really emotional, honestly. I didn’t shed any tears out there, but I definitely did back in the locker room after the game. It was just sad because I’ve been here for so long and played so many games, and it’s one of those things where you don’t really think it’s going to come to an end. When it finally does, you’re like, “Whoa … I won’t play here ever again.” It’s a surreal feeling. 

But we did beat Baylor. It’s always good to beat a rival. Records don’t matter in a rivalry. It doesn’t matter if one team is 12-0 or 0-12. A rivalry game brings out the best of both sides, and we played very well the second half.  

Photo by Percise Windom

I hated not being out there, so I’m going to try to give it a go this week. There’s a lot going on in my right leg. I’m able to move more right now. It’s just how much load, in terms of weight, can I handle. On the offensive line, you’re trying to move people or not be moved. The movement is something I can compensate for, but I’ll have to get a feel for the load and weight. 

My role for the Baylor game was just to be a leader, communicate, be another set of eyes for my offensive line and the offense. I was just trying to communicate what I saw, what I thought and just be the best leader I could be to get the guys fired up. 

If you’ve seen the way that this league plays out, everybody’s good, right? In this league, you never know what’s going to happen week in and week out. We have to be the best version of ourselves against Oklahoma. 

When we play to our capabilities, it’s remarkable. We took a good Texas team and in the second half beat them 20-3. Last year we didn’t score 20 points against them and we were supposed to be better last year. But we know what we need to do to help us win this game. We have to stay away from mistakes, turnovers and shooting ourselves in the foot, and we’re very confident we can do it. 

Editor’s note: Offensive lineman Andrew Coker’s final season at TCU has reached a crossroads. He was injured Nov. 11 against Texas and needs surgery on his right knee but wants to see if he can play Nov. 18 against Baylor on Senior Day. It’s been an emotional week for the Frogs’ iron man, who has made 37 consecutive starts. 

Yeah, I got rolled up pretty good. I sprained my MCL, and then I have meniscus tears. The meniscus I’ve been dealing with all year, and I’ve put off surgery in order to play with my guys as long as I could. I’m going to need surgery. When do I get it?  

Photo by Percise Windom

Not yet. I’m going to give it a go and see what I can do. 

It was a pass play, and I was at the top of the rush. Oftentimes when you sit down on the bullrush, you put all the weight of that guy, plus your weight, as you’re trying to stop him. I think it was T’Vondre Sweat. He came for the quarterback, and he made a move where he spun and fell into my knee and ankle. I think it’s scary more than anything else. It was one of those things where I was like, “Oh, no!” But considering how it looks and considering what happened, I’m very fortunate. It could have been a lot worse. 

I went back into the game. The trainers worked to make me feel good enough to play. I wasn’t 100 percent, obviously, but it was one of those things where I thought to myself, “If this is it, I’m going to go out swinging.” 

The recovery period should be about six weeks, so it’s not terrible. One thing that sucks about trying to play at the next level is once you get done here, things start so fast with all training. It starts in January. I might be down for a little bit for the beginning of that, but hopefully I get built up pretty quickly and make it back. 

Photo by Percise Windom

It is what it is, though. I get emotional thinking about this injury because this place means a lot to me. I’ve been looking forward to Senior Day since I was a freshman. But it’s just part of football. I’ve played a lot of ball here, I made a lot of mistakes here, I did a lot of great things here and I had a lot of growth here. 

I’ve been around here for a long time, and fans know me. Some like me more than others. That’s what you get for playing O-line. It’ll be a sentimental day. 

Now, I need to be the best teammate I can be if I’m not playing. I need to help everybody on the field with whatever I see — technique things, anything that I think can help us win from me being on the sidelines or me being out at practice. 

I’m grateful. I’m grateful for just being here and being able to play with these guys. 

Editor’s note: Offensive lineman Andrew Coker will be squaring off Nov. 11 against Texas for the fifth time in his TCU career, and he’s 3-1 against the Longhorns. The Frogs, though, are 4-5 and looking for the right formula to turn close losses into victories. 

Growing up there were only three teams I was really watching. I don’t know why, but it was Texas, LSU and the University of Florida. As a kid, my two favorite schools were Texas and Florida. Actually, I was originally committed to the University of Florida in my sophomore year in high school.

As I started to get older and grow up a little more, I start learning about more college football teams. Texas recruited me and wanted me. I took an official visit to Austin right before signing day, but I still ended up coming here. That should tell you about my loyalty to TCU.  

Photo by Percise Windom

Everybody is excited to play, especially since we’re playing not only Texas but we’re playing a top-10 team. Everything, the attention to detail, is a little bit tighter. The excitement is up a little bit higher. 

We have played well against Texas. I wish I could tell you the secret. I don’t know it, though. This is my fifth year here, I’ve played them four times and lost once, and even that game was close. I don’t know what the secret is.

We know what’s in front of us now. I think looking at it as a three-game season is the best way. It’s really one week, one play, one rep at a time. When we start looking ahead, we start getting caught up in who we’re playing, when we’re playing and what we’re playing for and we lose our focus. What we try not to do that is say, “Oh, we’ve definitely got to beat these guys” or “we might not be beat them.” It’s just one week at a time. 

Photo by Precise Wisdom

It’s also how can we get better one rep at a time. That’s one of the things that we’re trying to get back to. Last year we did such a great job with that that. It didn’t matter who we were playing or where we were playing them. We played one game, and it was like, “Who do we have next week?” It wasn’t looking ahead like, “Oh, we’ve got these guys. It’s going to be a marquee matchup.” There wasn’t any of that. We’re trying to get back to that. We kind of lost our way a little bit, and that’s OK. That’s part of life. That’s part of sports. It happens. It’s how do we get back. 

This is what I’ve learned about football. We’re going to take everything one rep at a time until probably halfway through the third quarter. By then, the game’s probably going to be close. Someone’s got to make a play. And, then, going into the fourth quarter we’re going to have to execute in pressure situations and critical situations. That’s football. When you have two good teams play — I know our record might not show it, but we’re a good football team — it comes down to whichever team can execute in critical situations down the stretch. 

Courtesy of TCU Athletics

Editor’s note: Offensive lineman Andrew Coker and the TCU football team have had their routines disrupted by a midweek game Nov. 2 at Texas Tech. The key to making the adjustments and winning on the road is being mentally tough. The Frogs’ last game was a 41-3 loss at Kansas State on Oct. 21. 

When we lose like that everybody goes, “Well, what’s wrong with this team? What’s different about this team?” But in reality, we need to figure out, individually, what can we do to help this team. One player is not going to be able to change the whole team. What can I do? I know I can try to help lead better and try to set a better example, and I can try to encourage guys to do the same. 

Photo by Percise Windom

I’ve never played on a Thursday night. I remember whenever I used to watch other teams do it, and I’m like, “That’s weird. Thank God I don’t have to do that.” But now we’re able to do that. Thank God it’s coming after a bye week. I don’t think it’s possible for us to play a game on Saturday and a game on Thursday. That’s what they do in the NFL. 

 The bye week helped a lot in terms of preparation for Texas Tech. We don’t want to dwell on the last game, but we don’t want to just act like it never happened. There’s got to be some sort of middle ground where it’s learning from it enough and learning about ourselves enough to where we can make the change going forward. 

With the bye, we just took a little time off. It’s very nice. We don’t get to do that too often. This is the healthiest I’ve been probably since Aug. 1, before fall camp. Football is a grind. There nothing quite like it really. It’s hard to explain to somebody who hasn’t been through it just because it’s one of those situations where we’re going take hits in this physical game. And just from that alone, we will never feel how we felt in the offseason, and we will never feel like that all season. 

People also don’t understand the mental side because football is also such a mental game. It’s mental from the perspective of I have to know what I’m doing, where to be, how to do it and what time to be there. It’s more on the sports psychology side of having the confidence to do it right. A lot goes on between the ears. That all comes from repetition and training our minds just like we trained our bodies. 

Courtesy of TCU Athletics

From a sports psychology standpoint, what happens if a player loses his confidence? If he’s riding high, what does he need to do work on and stay on top that? It really took 3 1/2 years into my college career to figure out that was really the most important part of the game. 

Winning on the road is a mental thing. Being on this team for a long time, I’ve seen how this team attacks road games. It’s usually either one of two things: Usually we have either a road mentality where it’s us against the world, we band together, we’re here for a business trip and we have one goal, or it’s something more along the lines of we go on the road against a team we’re not sure we can beat, we don’t have a lot of confidence and we end up losing. 

So, I’m going try to do everything in my power to make sure that our team follows option A, where it’s all of us against the world. We’re going into a hostile environment to win a football game. We have to start fast and stay focused, and we if just play our game, we’ll do exactly what we need to do. 

Editor’s note: TCU Football is in the midst of its bye week, giving players their first week without a football game since before the season. Offensive lineman Andrew Coker is aiming to rid himself of aches and pains while catching up on life.

The goal for the bye week is always to get your legs back, get your body back, take a mental and physical break and just kind of relax. This is the first time since I’ve been here that our bye week is so late in the season. Usually it has been in Week 2 or 3, but in Week 8 we’re almost three-quarters of the way through the season.

Photo by Rodger Mallison

For the coaching staff, it’s getting their guys back. The coaches need to get some guys — guys like me and a lot others who play a lot of snaps — feeling better so we can make that last push through the end of season.

We really don’t put in any new wrinkles on offense. We clean up what we’ve been doing. By Week 8, we have a good idea of what kind of football team we have and who we are. We’re trying to grow on that and clean stuff up so that we can get better.

With a few days off from practice, I always try to make time for my girlfriend. With school, it’s usually either catch up or get ahead while you I can. I take a lot of time just to watch football, kick my feet up, take naps and walk my dog.

I have a pit-lab mix named Neegan. We rescued him. He’s a headcase. We got him three years ago, me and my ex-roommate. He had some pretty bad habits we had to get out of him really quickly. He’s fairly aggressive, which I think is reason why he was where he was to begin with. But I’m a big guy, so I can handle it. But, yeah, I love him to death. We train him a lot. He’s gotten a lot better.

Courtesy of TCU Athletics

School-wise, my class load isn’t too bad. I’m an MBA student, and I don’t if that’s been done by an active football player. I’m kind of the guinea pig. It’s not too bad right now. The classes are eight weeks long, and we just finished our first eight weeks. Now it’s like a new semester for the next eight weeks of classes.

In these eight weeks, I have three classes, and that will be changing because full-time is two classes. Right now I’m in global and environmental business, business analytics and business simulation. I was just in business reporting. I’m kind of over the numbers and over Excel. But it’s not too bad. The MBA professors also realize that a lot of the students work a real job and then they come to class. Football is my real job. The workload is not too bad. It’s just not easy conceptually.

This will be my last year here, but classes are also online. No matter where I’m am after this, I can always do classes online. I think I’ll be the first one in my family to get a graduate degree. It’s hard to play and go to grad school, but it’s not impossible. That’s really the question, “Is it doable?” I don’t think anybody thought this was going to be easy, but it’s doable. 

Editor’s note: The Frogs beat BYU 44-11 on Oct. 14 behind freshman quarterback Josh Hoover. Coach Sonny Dykes said leading to the game that players were desperate to turn the season around. Offensive lineman Andrew Coker breaks it all down in his weekly diary as TCU looks for a little revenge Oct. 21 at Kansas State. 

We started getting to that point of desperation, with the backup quarterback and were’re in a critical moment in the season where it can really turn one direction. I think that’s really what Coach Dykes meant by desperate.

It’s a turning point we had to make. We had to figure out what team we want to be, who we are as people and who they are as coaches, and I think we answered the bell.

Courtesy of TCU athletics

We had to throw the ball a whole bunch, but we knew that going in. BYU was a team that wanted to have one more player than we could block. They were a team that wanted to stop the run. So what we tried to do was spread them out early by throwing the ball to try to get them out of that, and they stayed in it. It worked out, though.

That was a good, 4-1 BYU team. They beat Arkansas at Arkansas. They’ve done good things. The fact that we can show up and play like that shows you what kind of team we can be. Now, we have to show up every day and keep getting better and keep dominating the little things, but that shows us what we can do.

Photo by Percise Windom

We have to stay focused. Football is the most humbling sport out there. I think all sports are poetic in humbling you, in a sense, but football is a most humbling. Just when you think that you figured it all out, and you’ve got the players, coaches, facilities and everything, it’ll drag you right back down.  

 We don’t have to worry about that with Josh Hoover. He has always been ready. Nobody prepares like that guy. You saw what he did last week, and it’s the same thing this week. He was texting me stuff that Kansas State was doing, and I hadn’t even watched tape yet and I watch it early. 

Sunday, we’re only watching the previous game. I usually watch it a little early, and he texted me before we even watched the last game’s film. “You see what K-State is doing?” I was like, “I’ve only watched four plays.”  

 You want to try to never circle games on the calendar, but this one means a little bit more. A lot of those Kansas State players have what we want. We don’t have a Big 12 championship ring because of them last year. That’s what we wanted, and they have one.  

They had a first-round pick at defensive end last year. They still have a good defensive end, and the defensive line, in general, is solid. They have they have a freshman linebacker who’s still trying to figure thigs out. Besides that, they have an older group. 

 They’re a good team. They’ve had some hiccups this year just like we’ve had. Whoever goes into the game and plays the cleanest ball probably is going win the game. 

Photo by Percise Windom

Editor’s note: Andrew Coker is in his fifth season with TCU Football and will be making his 34th consecutive start Oct. 14 against BYU. The Frogs (3-3) will be playing with backup quarterback Josh Hoover, who is subbing in for the injured Chandler Morris (knee) after he left the game Oct. 7 in a loss at Iowa State.

Everyone is in a good mood. You have to be because if you dwell on things, they’re only going to get worse. You have to try to find a way to recreate that environment of when we were winning. So that’s what we’re trying to do. It’s not like we’ve forgotten it. It’s just recreate what we had when it was good. As a captain, it’s part of my responsibility to try to help with the environment the best I can.

Photo by Percise Windom

When your quarterback goes down, the teams that go into a fire drill struggle. On the sideline, there was no sense of, “Oh, my God, what are we going to do? Who’s it going to be?” It’s more of just, “This is what we have, this is what we got, we have a good team and we’re going run with whoever we have at quarterback.”

It’s not like we’re going from somebody who’s an A player to and F player. Josh Hoover is a good player. He’s a really good player. We’ve just got to get him some confidence and get him some experience so he can showcase his talent.

He’s a committed player. He’s a great teammate. He’s an even better person. He wants to win and will do whatever it takes. I don’t think anybody prepares more in this entire facility, coaches included, than him.

I was telling him after the game, “I started as a redshirt freshman, and it wasn’t pretty. These are your first snaps out here. Some of them weren’t pretty, and some of them were pretty. Some stuff you did was really good.” I was like, “It’s going to take a lot of experience for you to get to where you’re so comfortable out there that it becomes second nature. You can prepare all you want, but actually being out there and getting all the reps is going to help you. So just take it rep by rep and day by day.”

At practice he was starting to feel more comfortable, which is good. Being an experienced player, I was just trying to let him know that just because you’re inexperienced, that doesn’t mean you can’t be good. Experience is going to help you, yes, but one play at a time. Don’t start looking ahead. Just do what you need to do in the moment.

Photo by Percise Windom

I think we did a great job in practice. Whenever he was back there, nothing changed. Do your job, he’ll do his and we all do ours. Nothing really changes. We need to do our job.

I am back at right tackle. We made the switch right before the Iowa State game. I think it helped us overall. With me at right tackle, it just gives us a little bit more experience off the edge. For the first time, it actually felt kind of weird being back over there. I played there for so long, and I played left for so long. I feel like I’m home, but I don’t feel comfortable at home. It was kind of interesting, but it was good. I’m getting back into it.

BYU is actually pretty good. I’ve never really watched them play. They have some good defensive ends, and their defense does some things that I haven’t seen before just because I’ve played so much Big 12 football, and now they’re in the league.

They always try to plus-one you in the box, which means they’re always going to have one more guy to block. You don’t see that much in the Big 12. Now that we run so much 11 personnel [one running back, one tight end, three receivers], we have six in the core or in the box. Well, they have seven. I haven’t seen that too often. It’s going to be different to see, but we have a good plan for it. 

Editor’s note: Andrew Coker, a captain on the TCU football team, said the Frogs must learn from what went wrong Sept. 30 against West Virginia and make the necessary adjustments before visiting Iowa State on Oct. 7.

Every time we have a loss, especially a game we should have won, we really do a lot of self-reflection. The coaches ask us to think critically about ourselves and our plays. They do the same for themselves. You hope it leads to a charge, especially losing two now for a team that has really high expectations. Hopefully it really, really lights a match and inspires a change.

Courtesy of TCU Athletics

I thought that we had a wake-up call against Colorado, but I guess we have another one. We just have to take that wake-up call and try to get back on the right track.

As an offense, we discovered that we have to be on the same page all the time in order for us to go. We shot ourselves in the foot too much against West Vitginia, especially in the third quarter. Too many self-inflicted mistakes that could have been avoided. As an offense, we realized that we cannot manage those mistakes, and those mistakes really, really hurt us. We have to do our best to stay out of those situations.

It’s really just a heightened attention to detail. We have to really, really focus on the things that we didn’t do well and find a way to do better. It’s nothing drastic to change.

Iowa State is probably going be a similar game to what we faced last week. They have a really good defense. We’re going to have to show up on offense. We can’t have dry spells like we did. It’s going to be a test, and we’re going to have to rise to the occasion.

They’re just solid on all three levels defensively. They don’t do anything too crazy or too flashy. They’re just solid.

They run the same defense we run, the 3-3-5. They’re kind of the originators of it. It’s very similar defense, but it’s also slightly different. It definitely helps that we see it in practice. It just helps seeing certain coverages and fronts. Although the personnel is very different, you know what to expect, in a sense. It’s very helpful.

Honestly, it’s a really, really good atmosphere up there. It’s a hard place to play and they play really well at home.

We’ve had a good week. I’m excited to see what we do. 

Courtesy of TCU Athletics

Editor’s note: Offensive lineman Andrew Coker likes the way things are coming together for TCU Football. The Frogs are averaging nearly 40 points a game in offensive coordinator Kendall Briles’ up-tempo scheme and have won three straight contests. The grind continues Sept. 30 against West Virginia. Coker will be making his 32nd consecutive start, which is as much a mental feat as it is physical. 

We’re doing what people would say is good, but we feel like we’ve left a lot out there, which is encouraging. It shows us how good we can really be whenever we put it all together.

We’ve just got to keep working every week and try to tighten up little things. Who knows how many points we can put up and how good we can be when we’re all doing the right thing.

There was a big emphasis on tempo with Coach Briles coming in and a new offense, but I didn’t think we were going to be that fast. At times I’m like, “Ooh, we’re going fast.”

Photo be Percise Windom

It’s good for us. Defenses can’t sub, so when their guys get tired, they have to stay in there. There are times when we’re out there and we’re tired, but they’re more tired than we are. They don’t get set, we might catch them off guard, they don’t have time to really dial up things, and they have to simplify their defense in order to get calls very quickly.

West Virginia is a really good team with a really good defense. I think they’re sixth in the country on third down. They’re really solid, physical guys. I haven’t watched much of their offense, but they hold the ball. They’re going to try to run it and take their shots. They’re a team that can beat you if you’re not ready.

The shorter your third-down distances, the more likely you are to get them. If we could just stay out of third down, that would be great, too. Just get first downs upon first downs. But being great on first and second will lead to good opportunities on third down. That’s our goal.

Photo by Percise Windom

The last day we were healthy was the first day of camp — especially the offensive line with as much banging as we’re doing. There’s a big emphasis on taking care of your body and what modalities to use — cold tub, active recovery, passive recovery, stretching, any treatment we have in a training room. 

 I’m just trying to take a professional approach to try to get my body back and my legs back. I do contrast tubs, hot and cold. I do BFR, which is blood flow restriction; passive recovery; and then I go in there and do whatever specific things I need. It’s usually a stem unit or any compacts, any muscle relaxation things like that to get the blood back to it. 

I think the mental part of it is, you’re not the only one. There’s plenty of guys hurting. If there are any guys younger than me or who haven’t started as much as me, it’s one of those things where I have to set the example.

I’ve started 40 games here. Hopefully I can set the example to where it’s like, ‘Coke’s banged up, he’s tired, but he’s still here doing it.’ So I try to set the example, but then also I have to set the example in my own head and not let my imagination get going.

Sitting out is really not an option. If those thoughts ever start to creep in, they get pushed down really quickly. 

Photo by Percise Windom

Editor’s note: Offensive lineman Andrew Coker played Sept. 16 at Houston, near his hometown of Katy, and TCU rolled to a 36-13 victory. Up next on Sept. 23 is the Battle for the Iron Skillet against an improved SMU team. The rivalry game always features some trash talk, and usually the team that wins is the one that stays the most composed.

It was good to be back in Houston. It was good to be home. A lot of those guys who played for Houston, especially on their defensive line, I knew. I talked to them throughout the game, going back and forth. It was fun.

That’s the best game we’ve played so far. We’ve just got to keep on stacking games and stacking games. In all honesty, as a team we felt like we left so much out there, especially on offense.

Photo by Precise Windom

We had three drives in a row where the first play was a penalty or big negative play. We feel like, as a team, if this is what we can do when we play decent, imagine what we can do when we play great and when we play mistake-free. So that’s the goal — to keep on chipping away, aiming toward that goal of playing perfect. That’s always the goal. Even though it’s never happened, that’s always the goal.

I think we’ve proven to everybody in this country that if we do what we’re supposed to do, we can beat anybody on our schedule. It’s that simple. If you do your job and have 11 guys pulling in the same direction at the same time, we’ll get where we want to get to.

SMU is a really good team. They’re always going to be excited to play us in a crosstown rivalry. We need to be excited to play them. It might be the best team that I’ve seen them have ever since I’ve been here. It’s going to be a good test for us.

They’re a lot better defensively this year than they were last year. Absolutely. They got a lot of transfers. They fly around. You can tell that they enjoy playing football and enjoy playing football together. It’s a good thing to see. But we enjoy playing good competition.

Usually when we play SMU, it’s about the time when the turning point of the season is — game three or game four. It’s at the time where if we win this game, a lot of good things can happen. I’m excited for it.

Courtesy of TCU Athletics

These rivalries are the games that you look forward to, that are exciting. It’s going to be a great atmosphere, a lot of talking back and forth. It’s going to be fun.

In our situation, there’s a lot of transfers. They don’t understand the rivalry as much as a guy like me would. I’ve been here for five years. Some guys are going to talk more than others. Some guys are going to talk all game. Some guys are going to stop talking. The last game I wasn’t a talker. Some games I am a talker. It just depends on what kind of switch gets hit that day, but it will come out of me sometimes. I’ve got to keep myself in check.

You want to say make no mistakes, but it’s football. We’re going to make mistakes. It’s how we respond to the mistakes, how we respond to adversity. We’re going to start fast, we’re going to get into the flow in the game, and then it’s about how we respond.