SAN ANTONIO —Oregon safety Charles Nelson was walking into a special teams meeting on Thursday morning and browsing Twitter when he first caught wind of TCU quarterback Trevone Boykin’s felony arrest and subsequent suspension from the Alamo Bowl for assaulting a police officer after a bar fight late last night.
“I saw it and I said, ‘Ah, this isn’t real,’” Nelson said. “Then I saw more and more people tweeting about it and I was like, ‘Wow, this is really serious.’
“It’s kind of hurtful for him because that was his last game. On the better side, for us, he’s not playing.”
Defensive coordinator Don Pellum was equally surprised.
“At first I thought it was a joke,” Pellum said, after a player reported the news to him.
Pellum said there was no “jump for joy” however, and he’s expecting “an even more fiery” TCU team to show up on Saturday.
He said the team’s preparation for the next-in-line quarterback won’t change.
“They lose some dynamics at the quarterback position, but there’s a lot of playmakers all over the place,” Pellum said. “We’re expecting the same offensive attack — maybe a wildcat quarterback — but we’re preparing for anything.”
Nelson echoed that the Ducks’ gameplan won’t be any different.
“They’ve played without (Boykin) before, so they know what they want to do, what they’re going to do, and they have a game plan for us.”
Still, the Ducks haven’t seen much of back-up quarterbacks Bram Kohlhausen and Foster Sawyer, given the small sample size, so they don’t know quite what to expect. On the season, Kohlhausen, a senior, has completed 27 of 43 attempts for 369 yards, three touchdowns and one interception in seven appearances. Sawyer is 10-of-26 for 155 yards with two touchdowns and three interceptions in three games.
“I wouldn’t say you take much time (watching tape of a backup quarterback), just because (Boykin) has been mostly their starter,” Nelson said. “But you’re not really preparing to face Boykin, you’re preparing to face a team.”
TCU offensive coordinator Doug Meachem said he is “leaning towards” Kohlhausen as the starting quarterback, but it’s “up for discussion.”
Kohlhausen nearly dug TCU out of a 30-13 deficit against No. 4 Oklahoma on Nov. 21. He replaced freshman quarterback Foster Sawyer in the third quarter after Sawyer had thrown three interceptions, and went on to complete 5 of 11 passes for 122 yards and two touchdowns. The comeback was spoiled, though, as the Horned Frogs lost 30-29 after Kohlhausen’s two-point conversion attempt was batted down with 51 seconds remaining.
“They have a chip on their shoulder right now with their starting receiver (Josh Doctson) gone and their starting quarterback gone,” Nelson said. I feel like they’re going to come out and make a statement.”
Defensive end DeForest Buckner said the Ducks “aren’t taking them lightly.”
The Ducks endured a similar setback a year ago when wide receiver Darren Carrington was suspended from the national championship game for failing a drug test. Nelson compared that situation to TCU’s current one.
“It’s different when it’s a quarterback being suspended and a receiver being suspended,” Nelson said. “You have other guys who have played in games as receivers, so it changes a little because (Carrington) was a starter, but it doesn’t change the other weapons that are out there.
“When it’s a quarterback, that’s a guy who’s been running the offense and running the line of scrimmage. Once he’s gone, you have somebody else come in and try to take his job. I feel like that’s gonna be a challenge.”
Follow Kenny Jacoby on Twitter @KennyJacoby