TCU returned in 2025 needing to replace both of its starting cornerbacks in JaTravis Broughton and LaMareon James. An All-Big 12 honoree last season, James led the Horned Frogs with 12 pass breakups, while Broughton, who transferred in after four seasons with Utah, tied for fourth on the team with three pass breakups in 2025.
The Horned Frogs brought several veterans back this season, but injuries slowed some of those players down. Redshirt senior Avery Helm, a starter for the Horned Frogs in 2023,
missed all of 2024 with a knee injury and struggled with injuries in 2025. Another redshirt senior, Elijah Jackson, transferred in from Washington, but only appeared in one game due to injuries. Both Helm and Jackson have gone back into the transfer portal.
Taking on a significant role was senior Channing Canada, who started alongside redshirt sophomore Vernon Glover Jr. A former top JUCO recruit, Canada played in 38 games over three seasons at TCU and started all 13 games in 2025. Canada posted 30 total tackles, two pass breakups and an interception in the Alamo Bowl.
Glover Jr., who missed all of last season with a knee injury, made a triumphant return to the Horned Frog defense. The former three-star recruit had six pass breakups in 2025 and recorded 41 total tackles over 13 games, all starts. Glover Jr., who led all TCU cornerbacks in tackles, re-signed with the Horned Frogs and will return for his redshirt junior season in 2026. With Glover Jr. back, who will take other on the other side next season?
As of now, six of the cornerbacks on the 2025 roster will not be on the team next season. That group includes senior Jevon McIver Jr., a key reserve over the last two seasons who played in 22 games and had seven pass breakups over two years at TCU. In addition to Jackson and Helm, Jonah Martinez and freshman Cameron Jamerson entered the transfer portal, further depleting the depth at the position. To alleviate the depth issues, TCU signed two transfer players this offseason, Central Michigan’s Kalen Carroll and Colorado’s Teon Parks.
Carroll, a redshirt junior who spent three years at Cincinnati before transferring to Central Michigan, could be a plug-and-play athlete at the cornerback position. Carroll started 14 games over his final two years at Cincinnati and started all 13 games for the Chippewas in 2025. Parks, meanwhile, is a junior who started his career with Illinois State. A two-year player at Illinois State, where he made seven starts, Parks started five games and made 10 appearances for the Buffaloes in 2025. Like Carroll, Parks should be viewed as a potential immediate starter.
Glover Jr., Carroll and Parks should spearhead the charge at cornerback in 2026, but there will be young players to watch as well. Sophomore Devondre McGee, along with freshmen Micah Strickland, Gil Jackson and Deon Mays, should fill out the depth chart. TCU will have a pair of 2026 signees arriving in Zachary Taylor, a three-star prospect who flipped his commitment from Wisconsin, as well as Brock King, another three-star prospect.
