TCU Football: Three Players Selected To 2023 Freak List

Three more TCU Horned Frogs have been placed on another preseason watch list. This time it was Bruce Feldman’s College Football Freaks List for the 2023 season. Making the list from the Frogs are wide receiver Savion Williams (No. 56 on the list), offensive tackle Brandon Coleman (No. 61), and linebacker Shad Banks Jr. (No. 77).

The Freaks List spotlights those whose unique physical abilities generate buzz inside their programs. TCU's three selections tie for third-most nationally. Feldman writes about college football for The Athletic. He’s been compiling the list for almost 20 years. He started by listing ten players, and now the list has grown to 100.

“The original idea was to spotlight the players whose athleticism blew the minds of folks inside their own college programs,” Feldman wrote in his article in The Athletic. “At first, there were just 10 Freaks. Now, this has turned into something so much bigger, as I’ve expanded it to try to cover all of college football beyond FBS, with submissions from schools, coaches, teammates, parents, NFL scouts, and agents.”

Other Big 12 Players to make this list include Monaray Baldwin (Baylor), Jowon Briggs (Cincinnati), Miles Cole (Texas Tech), Dontay Corleone (Cincinnati), Gabe Hall (Baylor), Jaylon Hutchings (Texas Tech), Byron Murphy (Texas), Chidozie Nwankwo (Houston), Deshawn Page (Cincinnati), and Kingsley Suamataia (BYU),

Here is what Feldman wrote about each of the Horned Frogs:

No. 56 – Savion Williams, wide receiver

“We had Quentin Johnston on here last year, and Williams is the next Horned Frog Freak wideout. He’s bigger at 6-5, 215 pounds, and as Williams told me in January, ‘I’m faster than him. He’s got the jumping. I’ll give him that.’

Williams, though, jumps well, too, having hit 10-6 on the broad jump and posted a 40-inch vertical. In 2022, Williams made 29 receptions for 392 yards and four touchdowns. The former high school quarterback has incredible arm strength. He can throw it farther than all the TCU QBs. ‘He threw it about 20 yards further — it was like every bit of 80 yards,’ quarterback Chandler Morris says. ‘And with no warm-up. That’s just straight God-given, dude.’ “

No. 61 – Brandon Coleman, offensive tackle

“The 6-6, 320-pounder who was born in Virginia but grew up in Berlin, Germany, moved back to the U.S. in 2016. He has emerged as a top NFL prospect. He started 15 games at left tackle and was rated by PFF as the third-highest-graded returning offensive lineman in the Big 12. Coleman, unrated by the recruiting sites coming out of high school, has an impressive 35-inch vertical jump and regularly runs 18 MPH. He squats 600 pounds, benches 400, and power-cleans 375.”

No. 77 - Shad Banks Jr, linebacker

“He might be the only linebacker in Power 5 — or maybe all of FBS — who is back deep returning kickoffs. He averaged 27 yards on three returns last season. And this is no small linebacker. Banks, who started two games at linebacker in 2022 and made a career-high ten tackles against Kansas State in the Big 12 title game, is 6-1, 250 pounds, and a former two-time Junior Olympic national triple jump champion. He consistently runs 21 MPH and has been clocked at 4.4 in the 40. He also vertical-jumped 38 inches.”