Spring Football: Wiley, Everhart say offense gels well together
The fifth spring football practice took place on Monday morning for the defending national finalist Horned Frogs. Despite many changes in the offensive personnel, tight end Jared Wiley and wide receiver Major Everhart feel good about how the offense looks after the first week of spring drills.
“I feel really confident in myself,” Everhart said after Monday’s practice. “I think I came into this season with a different mindset and focused a little bit better and so I think I’m way more confident as opposed to last season.”
As a true freshman, Everhart saw action in two games in 2022 against Tarleton State and Iowa State, both without recording a reception. Only playing in two games preserved a redshirt season for the 5-foot-11 receiver, which makes him a redshirt freshman for the 2023 season.
In high school at Amarillo Tascosa, Everhart played in a triple option scheme and rushed for 1,647 yards and 15 touchdowns in his senior year before coming to TCU and being moved to receiver.
Things have changed for the young receiver with the change of Kendal Briles becoming offensive coordinator. Even so, he feels confident in the change and believes it will work out for the better.
“I like this offense,” Everhart exclaimed. “I like the tempo, I think it’s an advantage to my gameplay. I’m fast and so with us going fast, the defensive miscues become an advantage to my game play.”
Even with all of the changes, as far as scheme, it is the personnel changes that has many TCU fans concerned, but Everhart thinks everything is coming together quite nicely.
“I say we’re doing pretty well,” Everhart said with enthusiasm. “I say we’re doing good coming together as a team. I like to think that we’re seeing everybody getting good reps and I like what we’re seeing.”
After Everhart stepped away from the podium, tight end Jared Wiley took the stand and gave his thoughts on the offense and how his leadership role can help the team get back to the big stage.
“[The offense] has been great,” Wiley said. “I’m a big fan of it. Whenever [Kendal Briles] was at Houston, I was coming out of high school and I loved that offense when I was getting recruited at that point in time. Everything has just come full circle so I think I'm going to really enjoy it this year.”
The 6-foot-7 tight end out of Temple High School was heavily recruited as a tight end despite being the starting quarterback in his senior year of high school. He spent three years at the University of Texas before coming to TCU.
It was thought that Wiley may declare for the NFL draft after the 2022 season, but he decided to stay. When asked about his decision, he was well prepared with an answer.
“Honestly, I think last year was probably the first year that I ever just really had fun playing college football.”
Wiley continued “I had a blast, obviously. When you make a run like that you’re going to have fun anyway. From the first bit of fall camp when I really got back into it, I really never stopped having fun. So in my head I thought ‘Why would I not want to do that again?’ So in my head it was really a no-brainer for me.”
Despite the fun he had, Wiley feels the pressure, but also sees the potential.
“It’s definitely a lot more aggressive with us older guys,” Wiley acknowledged. “Knowing that where we need to get is so far away, and we have so much work to do. Like I said, we're only in spring with a brand new offense and a lot of new faces, so it’s really just up to us to keep pushing that.”
When asked about the brand new faces he had mentioned, Wiley made clear his confidence in the new offense that will take the field in 2023, but was realistic in the journey that is ahead.
“Obviously, there’s going to be some bumps in the road whenever you have a new team that has to come together,” Wiley said. “But, I’ve been really impressed with how we’ve rolled through these 5 or 6 days. So I’m very excited to see where we’ll end up after 15 practices.”
The Horned Frogs football program has never seen so much pressure, but the ones that face the pressure seem to be as calm and collected as ever. That will be on display at 7 p.m. Friday, April 15 at Amon Carter Stadium for the spring football game, where everyone can see this new offense in person for the first time.
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