Former A&M quarterback Matt Joeckel announces he will transfer to TCU
It didn’t take long for Matt Joeckel to find a new home.
The news that the fifth-year senior quarterback would transfer was announced Wednesday morning by Texas A&M and by Thursday night Joeckel tweeted that he would play his final season of eligibility at TCU.
I am now TCU Horned Frog. Go Frogs!
— Matt Joeckel (@MattJoeckel) April 17, 2014
Joeckel, who graduated in December, spent the last two seasons backing up Johnny Manziel at A&M and started last year’s season opener against Rice when Manziel was suspended. In total, he appeared in eight games in his Aggies career, completing 27-of-48 passes for 335 yards and two touchdowns. Joeckel was battling it out with sophomore Kenny Hill and freshman Kyle Allen to succeed Manziel before opting to transfer.
Joeckel now appears to be one of two candidates to start at quarterback for the Horned Frogs moving forward, especially after sophomore Tyler Matthews, a former four-star recruit, decided to transfer earlier in the week.
Matthews was competing with junior Trevone Boykin, who filled in for Casey Pachall over the past two seasons before moving back to wide receiver toward the end of the last season. Boykin, a dual-threat who threw for 1,198 yards and seven touchdowns, ran for 313 yards and seven touchdowns and also caught 26 passes for 204 yards last season, is now Joeckel’s main competition at quarterback unless head coach Gary Patterson decides to move Boykin back to wide receiver.
In the offseason, Patterson hired co-offensive coordinators Sonny Cumbie and Doug Meacham to install an uptempo offense with hopes of drastically improving the Horned Frogs’ offensive attack – an attack that has struggled since the school joined the Big 12 in 2012.
Cumbie was an assistant under former A&M offensive coordinator and current Texas Tech head coach Kliff Kingsbury last season and Meacham was A&M head coach Kevin Sumlin’s offensive coordinator at Houston. Joeckel appears to be a natural fit to run the offense.
TCU, who will also welcome true freshmen quarterbacks Grayson Muehlstein and Foster Sawyer in the summer, went 4-8 last year and missed a bowl game for the first time since 2004.
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