TCU continues to perform well in the recruiting world, recently welcoming in the Big 12’s third-best 2019 recruiting class. Unlike the top two schools in the rankings, however, TCU did not dig as deeply into the Lone Star state to build its 28-person class.

Less than half of the class comes from Texas, and veteran head coach Gary Patterson has an interesting stance on why TCU often searches nationally for some of its top recruits.

“I’ll be honest with you, I think we have more respect outside the state of Texas than we do inside of it,” Patterson said during an appearance on the 247Sports National Signing Day Show. “Here, we lose the arms race. We graduate 15 or 1800. The bigger state schools graduate 15,000. Outside the state of Texas, it’s almost like the university itself is 54 or 56 percent non-Texan. From the West Coast going up to the Midwest to the East Coast, the kids that come to school here are also not from in-state. I think we’re starting to see a little change. Texas is always going to be our No. 1 recruiting state. It always has been and you can evaluate. Year after year, we’re finding out because of social media and playing on national games how kids have watched us and see the kind of teams and level we play plus a private-school education makes a difference for us. We just keep pecking away at climbing the mountain.

Additions from out of state include four-star quarterback Max Duggan from Iowa and four-star defensive tackle Karter Johnson from Ohio. TCU’s quarterback room will be interesting this spring with Duggan on board as well as Alex Delton transferring in from Kansas State.

“Max is already here on campus,” Patterson said. “He’s a coach’s son, and he’s going to do a great job. He’s a quick study. He’s got a quick release and he’s a hard worker. He’s already been in our offseason program doing the things he needs to do. Him and Alex Delton, a grad transfer, both have been great additions to our place. Both are key guys, hard workers and guys that really like to study the film. They’re both going to make us better.”

Speed was a significant theme of TCU’s search in 2019.

“Speed wise this is one of the best classes that we’ve ever recruited if you just look at the whole group; wide receiver side, safety/corner side, even linebacker,” Patterson said on Signing Day via Horned Frog Blitz. “As we always do we went out and met needs. We took two grad transfers; we took a quarterback and a defensive end. We were really pleased with the kind of people they were. I really liked the things that were said about Alex Delton from his old teammates. It’s the usual TCU class; we filled needs and found a couple of guys that are surprises. I’m really pretty happy with the class.”