TCU football notebook: Sonny Dykes provides injury update on Hauss Hejny, wide receivers

While the Horned Frogs were able to get out of Palo Alto with a 34-27 win over Stanford last Friday, TCU was unable to get out of the game unscathed injury wise.

During his weekly press conference, TCU head football coach Sonny Dykes provided an update on a number of injured Horned Frogs, starting with true freshman quarterback Hauss Hejny.

“Hauss is going to be out a couple weeks,” Dykes said. “Maybe a little longer. It’s kind of hard to tell right now, but he’s actually way ahead of where he would be at this stage.”

The former Aledo star played multiple snaps for the Horned Frogs against the Cardinal, but got banged up on a running play. He was in a walking boot on the sideline during and after the game.

While it’s encouraging that the injury doesn’t sound serious, it’s a bit of a blow that Hejny won’t be able to play on Saturday against Long Island. The game against the Sharks was going to be a great opportunity for Hejny to lead the offense in the second half, but now that will mean more reps for Vanderbilt transfer Ken Seals.

Another player that went down was Major Everhart, who fell awkwardly during a return against the Cardinal. Dykes didn’t specify the nature of the injury, but did provide an update on his timetable to return.

“Major’s kind in the same boat (as Hejny),” Dykes said. “It’s probably gonna be at least a few weeks and then we’ll kind of see how he progresses.”

Everhart is the latest receiver to get banged up after JoJo Earle and Dylan Wright didn’t play against the Cardinal, leading to Jack Bech to get the start at outside receiver.

Dykes anticipates the starting rotation of Savion Williams, JP Richardon and Bech to remain the same when facing Long Island, but expects to get more players reps against the Sharks.

“We expect Dylan to come back, we expect JoJo to come back,” Dykes said. “So between those two I think it’s going to give us a pretty solid 3-deep and allow us to rotate more guys. Jack played 70 plays, that’s probably too many, but he has the ability to do that.

“I think Jordyn Bailey will have an increased role, we’re excited about some of the things he can do. I really like the group and they’re getting better, I expect Eric McAlister to get more reps this week. I think it’s going to be a good rotation.”

Bailey, the younger brother of former star running back Emani Bailey, will likely take over kickoff return duties in place of Everhart for the next few weeks and he’s also an intriguing playmaker in the slot.

McAlister’s lack of reps was surprising against Stanford, considering how well he played throughout spring and fall camp. At one time he looked like a potential starter, but there’s still plenty of time to move up the depth chart as the receivers get healthy.

With the schedule getting tougher with back-to-back games vs. UCF and at SMU, the Horned Frogs will need to settle on a solid rotation at receiver sooner than later. The game against LIU should provide more clarity at the position.