TCU Horned Frogs football recruiting 2014 updates

The TCU Horned Frogs are off to a strong start in the 2014 recruiting cycle, having already landed six commitments in the class, the second-most in the Big 12 and good for second in the conference in the 247Sports Composite team rankings, as the move to the Big 12, improvements to the facilities in Fort Worth, and success on the field all pay dividends for the rising recruiting power.

Foster Sawyer, Fort Worth (Texas) All Saints quarterback

6'5 | 215 pounds | *** | no. 20 pro-style quarterback nationally | no. 40 player in Texas

Undefeated in his only season at All Saints, Sawyer has ideal measurables for the position and ended a recruitment that came down to the Horned Frogs, Alabama Cirmson Tide, and Oklahoma State Cowboys by choosing TCU in early April after showing well at the Dallas Elite 11 camp, where he showed off pinpoint accuracy in a drill testing the ability of the quarterbacks to throw on the run and didn't push his deep ball as much as he had last summer, perhaps in part due to strength gains made since then.

Zaycoven Henderson, Longview (Texas) defensive tackle

6'1 | 280 pounds | **** | no. 23 defensive tackle nationally | no. 35 player in Texas

Part of a successful Junior Day haul that also included quarterback Grayson Muehlstein, Henderson was a big get for TCU because he is one of the top two or three defensive tackles in the state of Texas in a year that doesn't feature a great deal of top-shelf talent at the position.

Henderson held six offers at the time of his commitment, including invitations to play at Baylor, Oklahoma, and Oklahoma State.

Grayson Muehlstein, Decatur (Texas) quarterback

6'4 | 195 pounds | *** | no. 37 pro-style quarterback nationally | no. 110 player in Texas

Somewhat of a surprising take because Fort Worth (Texas) All Saints quarterback Foster Sawyer was expected to be the top target for the Horned Frogs, in part because Sawyer is a local product who has family ties to the program, Muehlstein had attended a Baylor Junior Day, but did not have any other offers on the table when he committed to TCU in late February.

Like a fair number of TCU pledges in 2014 and in the last cycle, Muehlstein committed on the spot when he was offered.

And though Muehlstein is rated as a pro-style quarterback, he's plenty athletic, having run for over 700 yards as a junior. He also has the overall mobility to throw well on the run, aided by the fact that a big part of Decatur's offense seems to revolve around moving the pocket for him. On the move, Muehlstein does an excellent job of squaring his shoulders to the line of scrimmage and generating velocity through his lower body, though he also has a strong arm that allows him to fit passes into tight windows -- there's a bit of a gunslinger mentality about the Decatur product.

Justin Twine, Hemphill (Texas) running back

5'10 | 196 pounds | **** | no. 21 running back nationally | no. 42 player in Texas

The Horned Frogs nabbed the pledge from Twine in late January over an offer from Baylor. Listed as an athlete by Rivals, Twine plays quarterback for Hemphill, but that didn't stop him from gaining almost 2,500 yards and scoring 34 touchdowns in the run-heavy Hornets offense as a junior.

As good as Twine is on the football field -- good enough to earn that consensus four-star rating -- he's perhaps an even better baseball player as a middle-infield prospect and is apparently a candidate to turn pro if he's drafted highly enough, so SB Nation's TCU site, Frogs O' War, is worried about him never making it to campus. Even if he does, he may never see the football field.

Nick Foster, Keller (Texas) Fossil Ridge cornerback

5'10 | 170 pounds | **** | no. 32 cornerback nationally | no. 52 player in Texas

The local product ended his recruitment at the TCU elite Junior Day in early February, an event reversed for the top prospects on the Horned Frogs board. Though Foster did not report any other offers at the time of his commitment, he was receiving attention from most of the major Big 12 schools in the state of Texas and Oklahoma. With reported 4.42 speed, Foster could be yet another steal for a program that has evaluated the state of Texas as well or better than any other in recent years.

Emanuel Porter, Dallas (Texas) Lincoln wide receiver

6'5 | 190 pounds | *** | no. 92 wide receiver nationally | no. 117 player in Texas

Try this recruitment on for size -- a basketball standout his first two years in high school, Porter decided to pick up football prior to his junior season, earning an offer from the Horned Frogs due to his work in summer 7on7, then committing on the spot back in August of 2012.

Now considered a soft verbal, Porter has been receiving interest from Oregon and Texas. In other words, it sounds like the Horned Frogs have some work to do to keep the commitment from the consensus three-star prospect.

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National Signing Day is still more than nine months away. Verbal commitments are non-binding and change frequently.

For more on TCU Horned Frogs recruiting, visit Frogs O' War.

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