Wednesday, October 17, 2001

Frogs preparing as though Stilley will start at QB
By Brandon Ortiz
Sports Editor

Sean Stilley may not have had the prettiest line in Saturday’s box score, but he learned a lot.

Substituting for injured junior quarterback Casey Printers, Stilley threw interceptions on three consecutive drives during the Horned Frogs’ 48-22 loss to Tulane. But the lessons learned by Stilley, a junior back-up who entered this season with 10 passing attempts in his career, were immeasurable, he said.

David Dunai/SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER Junior quarterback Sean Stilley may start Saturday against Army. Junior Casey Printers suffered a bruised shoulder Saturday when he was sacked on the Louisiana Superdome turf.

“I grew up a lot last week,” Stilley said. “In one game I grew up a ton. Being in a game-like situation, you can’t work on that in practice no matter what you do. Having that experience will be very, very helpful.”

Stilley may get a chance to put what he learned to use for TCU (3-3, 1-1 Conference USA) Saturday against Army (1-4, 1-3 C-USA). Printers may not start Saturday because of a bruised shoulder and the Frogs are preparing as though Stilley will start.
Printers threw some in practice Tuesday, but his shoulder was still bothering him.

“It is getting a little better, but it is pretty sore right now,” said Printers, who did not rule out the possibility of starting. “I hope so. But right now Sean Stilley is the starter.”

Head coach Gary Patterson said the Frogs’ game plan will not change drastically if Printers does not start.

“The offense will not be much different,” Patterson said. “As far as the passing game, we won’t change much. He doesn’t mind running the option, so that is a plus for us.”

Offensive coordinator Mike Schultz said the Frogs will not simplify the offense for Stilley, who has played in 11 games in his career.

“When the offensive coaches sat down this week, not one time did we talk about Casey Printers or Sean Stilley or who the quarterback will be,” Schultz said. “We just put the game plan together.”

Shultz said Stilley ran the option well Saturday. The mobile 6-foot-4-inch Stilley ran for 46 yards on 11 carries.

With 2:20 left in the first half, Stilley led a nine play, 63 yard scoring drive. Stilley completed three-of-six passes for 38 yards to get the Frogs to the 10 yard line and set up a touchdown run by sophomore tailback Corey Connally.

“If you exclude maybe four or five plays, Sean Stilley played pretty solid,” Schultz said. “It was very exciting to see him go into the two-minute offense drill. He took the team down in less than two minutes and scored a touchdown before half, which was a big score for us at that time.

For the game, Stilley completed 15-of-32 passes for 183 yards and three interceptions. Patterson said Stilley tried to force passes on two of the interceptions. Stilley will have to avoid doing that against Army, Patterson said.

“The two deep routes that were intercepted, you just can’t throw those balls,” Patterson said. “You have to throw it away or take the sack. That is better so you can be able to punt. As I told him on Sunday, sometimes it is better to live to punt sometimes on offense than it is to give the ball back to them.”

Schultz said Stilley has learned from his mistakes.

“I know Sean has learned from those,” Schultz said. “There is no doubt. I know he will learn from those things and there is no doubt he will come back Saturday and you won’t see those kind of mistakes out of him.”

Notes:

Sophomore receiver Shane Hudnall broke his tibia and fibula in his right leg Tuesday in practice and is out for the season.

Hudnall was making a block when a defender rolled under his leg.

“That is a little bit of a setback,” Schultz said. “He is as good as anybody we have blocking the perimeter. He has great hands. He is a really nice possession receiver.”

Brandon Ortiz
b.p.ortiz@student.tcu.edu