TCU Football: 3 reasons Zachary Evans could be next LaDainian Tomlinson

3. TCU has been looking for the next LaDainian Tomlinson

Head coach Gary Patterson is a coach that likes consistency in his program. His first season as head coach of the Horned Frogs he had NFL Hall of Fame running back LaDainian Tomlinson in his senior season. Tomlinson finished his career at TCU from 1997-2000 as the program leader in career rushing yards (5,263) and career rushing touchdowns (54).

Tomlinson also finished first and second overall in TCU’s single-season rushing yards leader with 2,158 yards (2000) and 1,850 yards (1999), respectively. He is in the top six single-game rushing yards performance all-time. Finally, he is first and tied for second in single-season touchdowns accounted for in his senior (22) and junior (18) seasons. This propelled him to become the fifth overall pick of the 2001 NFL Draft by the Chargers.

TCU has been looking for their next star running back since the departure of Tomlinson. The closest impact player was running back Aaron Brown, who was 2005 Mountain West Conference Freshman of the Year (2005) and second-team MWC selection (2006).

Having Zachary Evans come into an extraordinarily successful and competitive program that has thrived from three-star recruits and lower-tier four-star recruits will be huge. Patterson is a coach that gets the most of his players and makes them into a College Football Playoff contending team like in 2014.