The 2025 season marked an end to the Josh Hoover era in Fort Worth. After nearly three seasons as the team’s starting quarterback, Hoover is moving on from the Horned Frogs, opting to enter the transfer portal prior to the Alamo Bowl. It was at the Alamo Bowl in San Antonio where backup quarterback and former Vanderbilt starter Ken Seals, making his first start at TCU, led the Horned Frogs to a 30-27 overtime upset over ranked USC.
Seals completed 29 of 40 passes for 258 yards with one touchdown, one interception and one rushing score as TCU rallied to stun the Trojans for its second bowl victory in two years. It was the final collegiate game for Seals, a sixth-year player who will depart from the program after writing a storybook ending. The Horned Frogs ended the season with a 9-4 record and as the team prepares for the 2026 campaign, who is next up under center?
Hoover leaves TCU as one of the program’s most prolific passers. The redshirt junior, who led the Horned Frogs to a 9-4 record and a New Mexico Bowl win over Louisiana in 2024, completed nearly 66 percent of his passes this season, throwing for 3,472 yards and 29 touchdowns with 13 interceptions and four fumbles lost. While he shined against opponents like UNC, SMU and Baylor, Hoover struggled in big games this season, turning it over multiple times against Arizona State, Iowa State and Houston. Hoover threw 33 interceptions over three years.
Hoover, who has committed to continue his career at Indiana, has been the starting quarterback at TCU since 2023. Taking over for injured starter Chandler Morris, Hoover showed promise, tossing 15 touchdown passes with nine interceptions and throwing for 2,206 yards. In 2024, Hoover elevated his game and became one of the top quarterbacks in the Big 12, setting TCU’s single-season passing yards record (3,949) with 27 touchdowns. Turnovers remained problematic, though, as Hoover threw 11 interceptions and lost six fumbles last year.
At Indiana, Hoover will likely replace Heisman Trophy winner and projected top draft pick Fernando Mendoza. With Seals also departing, TCU will have a new permanent starter under center for the first time since 2023. The Horned Frogs will also undergo major changes on offense, as coordinator, associate head coach and quarterbacks coach Kendal Briles departed for South Carolina and running backs coach Jimmy Smith left for Georgia Tech.
TCU has since hired former UConn offensive coordinator Gordon Sammis, former UConn running backs coach Antonio Wilcox and Brad Robbins, who worked with both Sammis and Wilcox at UConn, to spearhead the new-look offense. The Horned Frogs went into the transfer portal and signed Harvard quarterback Jaden Craig, an experienced player and one of the top FCS players available. A proven winner at Harvard, Craig is a senior who threw for 2,587 yards, 25 touchdowns and only seven interceptions in 2025. A three-year starter at Harvard, Craig has 6,075 career passing yards on a 60.9 percent completion rate with 52 touchdowns and 12 interceptions.
Craig is an early candidate to be TCU’s starting quarterback in 2026. But don’t count out true freshman and four-star recruit Adam Schobel, who flipped his commitment and signed with the Horned Frogs after Ty Hawkins flipped his commitment from TCU to SMU. Schobel, a TCU legacy whose father and uncle played for the Horned Frogs, didn’t see game action in 2025. However, the 6-foot-5-inch Schobel has size and was one of the top signal callers of the 2025 class. Schobel and Craig will be the top quarterbacks to watch as spring camp approaches.
Looking to the future, TCU signed two high-schoolers in the 2026 class, Jack Daulton of The Woodlands and Jayden Maples of Frisco Wakeland. Both Daulton and Maples are three-star prospects, with Daulton ranking higher on the team’s 2026 recruiting class list. Maples threw for 3,075 yards and 36 touchdowns this season, while Daulton threw for 3,452 yards and 46 touchdowns with 1,895 rushing yards and 26 scores in high school.
TCU currently rosters two quarterbacks, freshman David Potter and redshirt junior Jacob Porter, who are eligible to return in 2026. Porter has been with the Horned Frogs for four seasons and has one career appearance, while Potter has not appeared in a game. Altogether, TCU projects to have at least six quarterbacks (Craig, Schobel, Daulton, Maples, Potter and Porter) on the roster next season.
