On October 19, 2019, TCU went on the road to take on the Kansas State Wildcats. Down seven points, TCU’s quarterback ran a draw up the middle, and got the first down, but he was not done there. He banged off a defender, stiff-armed another, and dove for the endzone for the touchdown. While TCU came up short 24-17, this punishing run was on highlight reels for months, and was the first many people had heard of Max Duggan, a freshman quarterback from Council Bluffs, Iowa. 

“I think [that run] shows competitiveness and competing on the field. Every time I step on the field I want to compete and do as much as I can to help our team win and to put us in a spot to be successful.” 

What many people did not expect is truly how much he would put his team in a position to win. After going a combined 16-18, expectations were not high for the Horned Frogs. Their head coach was fired, and many had them projected to finish in the bottom half of the Big 12 in 2022. Despite all this though, Duggan stuck around. 

“I wanted to be a part of that school and with those guys in the locker room and be at TCU whether that was as the backup or as the starter.” 

While Duggan did not start the season as the primary quarterback, Duggan got his chance when Chandler Morris went down with an injury and he ran with it. 

“Believe in yourself, work hard be a good teammate, be a great leader and I think if you do the right things, good things are going to happen,” Duggan said. 

Max Duggan carried this team to a 13-2 finish with an undefeated regular season and a Fiesta Bowl win, making TCU the first team in the college football playoff era to make the national championship after starting the year unranked. 

Despite the great year, their final game did not go as planned, losing 65-7 to Georgia in the national championship game. 

“There is a lot to learn from it, obviously were not going to let that game dictate how we see ourselves and how this program is going to go and take away from our season.” Duggan said.  

Duggan proved to be a fierce competitor throughout the whole season finishing with 3,698 yards and 32 touchdowns. 

These statistics got him an invite to the senior bowl as well as being the Heisman runner-up. 

Despite all of this, he is seen by many scouts as a third-round draft pick at best and nowhere near comparable to Alabama’s Bryce Young and Ohio State’s C.J. Stroud, but as he prepares for the Senior Bowl, that really is not on his mind. 

“Now is just a time to learn and compete, learn as much as you can; NFL systems, terminology, variations, verbiage and just compete with all these guys.” 

Max Duggan will play for the American team on Saturday and the Senior Bowl can be watched on NFL Network at 1:30 Central Time.