NFL
By: Mark T. Wilson
Remember watching the original Rocky and trying to figure out how he kept getting up after Apollo Creed kept knocking him on his a**? This is what it was like not only watching TCU this season but watching their Heisman candidate, Max Duggan. No matter what the opposing players or critics threw his way, the kid just kept rising to the occasion this season. And for his efforts, Duggan is one of the 4 finalists for the Heisman Award this weekend in NYC.
Texas Christian is 12-1 heading into the CFB Playoff matchup against Michigan and that’s in large part to their QB. Yes, it takes an entire team to get there but if Duggan wasn’t Duggan in the Big-12 Championship Game, there is a good chance that another team could have leap-frogged them and taken their spot. Yes, TCU still managed to lose that game but it could have been a whole lot worse if Duggan didn’t turn into Superman in the closing minutes of regulation and Overtime against Kansas State.
While he was already on the Heisman radar, that performance more than sealed the deal for most voters. Will he win? Well, he still has competition and the odds are stacked against him, but since when did that ever bother the toughest kid in college football?
Raised in Iowa, Max Duggan was named the Gatorade High School Player of the Year which earned him a scholarship from TCU.
In his freshman season, Max Duggan would lead the Horned Frogs to a 5-7 record. Once again, nothing to break the internet over. In his second season at the helm, the Horned Frogs would finish the year 6-4 and while the not-so-great records were on the even keel, Duggan was showing improvement.
Max Duggan Deserves His Spot At The Table
By his Junior season, injuries began to take their toll but then that mental and physical toughness that he has shown in his senior year began to creep out. The machine we know as Max Duggan was taking form last year. But still, TCU would finish that year with a record of 5-7. But then someone dropped their glass slipper which TCU found heading into the 2022 season and here we are.
In his senior year, Max Duggan put it all together. The most TDs passes he’s ever thrown before this year was 16. In 2022, Duggan passed for 30. The most yards he’s ever passed for in a season prior to 2022 was 2077 and that was as a freshman. In 2022, he passed for 3321. He was always a threat to run the ball but it wasn’t until that Title Game against Kansas State that he did it when it mattered most.
Not many can say they watched an actual TCU game. But Duggan is a walking highlight reel just waiting to happen. While the other finalists can hang their hats on programs with richer traditions such as USC, Ohio State, and Georgia, fans at TCU are hoping this is the start of things to come.
Just as Rocky did in the original movie, he took a hit and got back up. For three years, this was the motto for Max Duggan. Now, in 2022, he’s the one giving up the crushing blows just as Rocky did when he took the title away from Creed.
