Brandonite helps TCU to CFB playoff

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 29/12/2022 (680 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Those seventeen seconds could have been chaos. They could have ended Texas Christian University’s run to the College Football Playoffs.

But thanks in part to Brandon’s Barret Dufour, the time it took for the Horned Frogs’ offence to give way to the kicking unit and snap the ball resembled a Formula One pit crew. Kicker Griffin Kell drilled the 40-yard field goal, and TCU escaped Baylor University with a 29-28 win and an 11-0 record.

While the Frogs lost the Big 12 Conference championship game, 31-28 in overtime to Kansas State two weeks later, they maintained the No. 3 seed in NCAA Division I FBS football and earned a date with No. 2 Michigan in the Fiesta Bowl on Dec. 31.

Dufour — who spent seven months as a performance intern with the TCU football team and flew down to Arizona for the big game this week — won’t take credit without pointing out his near-critical error a few minutes earlier.

The Brandonite’s in-game role was to round up defensive players who play special teams when the offence neared fourth down, and vice versa.

He nearly cost his team the game when Baylor had a fourth and two on its own 25. Dufour put 12 men out and the extra player raced off the field seconds before the snap. Failing to do so would have meant a Baylor first down and a chance to kneel out a shocking upset victory.

“To go from almost blowing it to winning it … and it being your fault, game-wise, that was pretty big,” Dufour said with a chuckle.

While you’d think players know their roles and should be ready for such situations, Dufour explained they’re often going over adjustments with coaches on the sideline. Or they are young backups, more likely to get caught in the intensity and excitement of a game and make mistakes.

Dufour has been around the game long enough to see all kinds of chaos. He played for the Vincent Massey Vikings before graduating in 2004, then coached under the late Kevin Boyd at Crocus Plains in 2008 and 2012.

The 36-year-old went through the master’s of science program at West Virginia University from 2017 to 2019, focusing on sport coaching, then worked as a strength and conditioning intern at Georgia Tech in early 2020 before COVID-19 hit.

He trained the Southwest Cougars under-15 AAA hockey team during the 2021-22 season while also working with a few Brandon U15 hockey players.

Then the TCU job came up and he was off to Fort Worth, Texas, unaware the program would reach unprecedented heights a few months later.

“We went down in May, a new staff with an old team and they got real close,” Dufour said.

“The expectations weren’t what they were, then the team just got momentum and one thing led to another.”

His performance intern role meant first-guy in, last-guy out and doing some of the little things that don’t garner praise.

Dufour set up the GPS units players wear at practice and satellite beacons on the field. During sessions, he monitored speed and load metrics. That allows the team to track the top speeds of players, fatigue and more in great detail.

During lifts, he measured the velocity of barbells and force metrics while assistant director of human performance Kyle Bolton coached.

Per NCAA rules, only full-time coaches can provide instruction, so Dufour had to refrain from helping in that way.

The long days led to results. TCU piled up wins over Oklahoma, West Virginia, Texas, and anyone in its path before the conference final. Quarterback Max Duggan was named a finalist for the Heisman Trophy. The Horned Frogs are two (upset) wins from a national title.

Dufour did his job to help them get there.

“There’s a lot of work,” Dufour said, “… but when you’re actually doing all that stuff, you get to go on the road with the team, fly with them, stay in hotels, then on game day, NFL scouts at practices, 100,000 people in the crowd, it’s a pretty good day at work.”

» tfriesen@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @thomasmfriesen