The No. 17 TCU Horned Frogs find their stable of running backs a bit thinner than they'd like after losing Waymon James to a season-ending knee injury.
James, a junior out of Sherman, Texas, injured his knee in the fourth quarter of the Horned Frogs' 20-6 victory at Kansas on Saturday. He had 17 carries for 168 yards and a touchdown in 2012, and is eligible to apply for a medical redshirt which would give him two more seasons of eligibility for the Horned Frogs.
Senior tailback Matthew Tucker is the top candidate to carry the bulk of the load for TCU's running game, while freshman B.J. Catalon and senior Aundre Dean could see time in the backfield as well.
TCU head coach Gary Patterson lamented the thinning backfield situation in a comment to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram:
"A year ago I had three tailbacks that had a chance to be draft choices and now you have a possibility to be down to one of them. In my profession you can't worry about the guy that goes down. It's got to be about the next guy needs to step up. Matthew had the best spring and summer of all of them. He's been a great running back for us for a while."
TCU (2-0) will will host Virginia (2-1) on Saturday at Amon Carter Stadium.
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