No Need To Panic

Tomorrow Begins Today

I think we all can agree that this season hasn’t gone exactly the way the Frogs planned.

After the end of last season the future was bright. Professor Chaos was set to return to a bigger offensive role. Josh Boyce (aka the Dark Knight), Brandon Carter, and Sky Dawson were set to lead one of the best, deepest, and fastest receiver cores in the country. The running back group was hands down the best in the country. The defense was going to be a year older, loaded with talent, and their unquestioned leader was returning in Tanner “Mom from Weeds” Brock. The team wasn’t complete, but they were pretty damn close.

What happened next is almost beyond explanation, however I will try.

In the movie The Replacements, with the immortal Keanu Reeves, Reeves’s character speaks of a concept called “quicksand.” Effectively, for those of you who haven’t seen the movie (although if you haven’t then I probably don’t much care for you as a person), quicksand is when something goes wrong and then the harder you fight it, the more goes wrong and the deeper in you find yourself, until finally you can’t breathe.

This concept is also on display with a friend of mine. For his sake we will call him by an alias, the Notorious B.O.Z.

Now the Notorious B.O.Z. is one of the best drinkers I have ever had the pleasure of shotgunning with, but with great beer gut comes great inability to control one’s bladder. Just recently the Notorious B.O.Z. pissed our couch while he was blacked/passed out following the Tech game. This issue of pissing oneself whilst passed out has escalated through time because the harder the Notorious B.O.Z. tries to fight it, the worse it gets. Like quicksand.

That part isn’t actually that relevant, but I am still a little mad at him for pissing our couch so I threw it in. Hopefully he reads it and gets pissed.

But basically, the TCU team pissed itself with the drug bust last spring that left us without our starting linebacker, and nearly without Professor Chaos (as I referenced in the Chaos Theory when describing how he lived with a drug dealer when most players live with drug users). The quicksand kicked in when Ed Wesley left, Ross Forrest and Waymon “Pringle can-dick” James were lost for the season. The ultimate teabag came when Chaos decided to get plowed and go for a cruise on a casual Wednesday night.

So here we sit at the crossroads drowning in quicksand, our heads just above the surface and our pants soaked in piss.

The only way to recover is to keep your faith and, instead of dwelling on the past and what the present should have been, look to the future.

The Frogs have done just that. And how bright that future is.

In the absence of Professor Chaos, we have been introduced to the revelation that is Deuce Boogie. As Forrest fell, Fields rose (more on that in a second). And as the offense looked for new wrinkles, they discovered Cam White and Ladarius Brown. Catalon has even been allowed to work out his fumble problems in Waymon’s absence.

What is happening is we are watching a championship team grow up before our very eyes. Is it pretty? No, at times it is rough, and it can be sad thinking of what could have been. But I implore you, look to the future and don’t take for granted what we are witnessing.

As soon as next year, this team could easily be the most skilled, most electric, explosive, and most tightknit group in the country. The amount of adversity that this team is enduring is unfathomable for 18-20 year olds who likely did not expect to play this season. But they are enduring it together, and figuring out that not only can they perform at a high level against top competition, but the things they can accomplish together are off the charts.

Just think, Devonte Fields would be just a rotation freshman, and now he is looking at potentially being named an All-American. Deuce Boogie would barely be seeing action, and now we are getting to watch the electric Deuce Boogie down every weekend. Ladarius Brown was working his way into the rotation, but it was accelerated by injuries to the player ahead of him and need for wrinkles in the offense.

While all of this may be difficult this season, it is all building up towards the next few seasons.

Next seasons skill positions on offense could well look like this:

-          QB: Boogie/Chaos if he comes back

-          RB: Catalon/Waymon/Aaron Green (he’s gonna be amazing) all splitting time.

-          WR: a deadly rotation of Boyce/Carter/White/Brown/Ja’Juan Story

If that doesn’t give you a semi then you just simply aren’t a sports fan.

The fact is this. GMFP hasn’t given up on this season, and so neither will I. However, I would be lying if I said that I wasn’t looking ahead to the future.

And how bright that future is.