TCU’s offseason conversation has mostly orbited the offense, and that makes sense. A new offensive coordinator and a new signal-caller tend to grab the headlines, especially with a 2026 season carrying real weight. But if the Horned Frogs are going to steady themselves, the defense will have to do some heavy lifting - and Andy Avalos is the coordinator expected to hold that side together in his third year in the program.
That’s where Paul Oyewale comes in.
TCU has its entire defensive front back from last season, and Oyewale may be the piece that changes the ceiling of the group. He has been in Fort Worth since the program’s 2022 national championship run, though that year came as a redshirt observer.
By 2023, he was finally on the field full time, and he made it count. He played in 11 of 12 games that season, tied for second on the team in sacks and finished fourth in tackles for loss.
Then came the setback. A lingering lower-body injury wiped out his entire 2024 season, eventually leading to surgery at the end of the year. He was dressed for the whole fall camp and even practiced midway through the season, but the injury still took the wind out of what looked like a possible second-year leap for the Houston native.
“For me, it's just about remaining grateful,” Oyewale tells me. “At the end of the day, the injury happened, it is what it is, but at the end of the day, you just got to be involved, just be grateful that I still have an opportunity to play, still have an opportunity to be part of this team and help them in any way I can.”
Last season was his first step back. Oyewale finished with 7.5 tackles for loss, third on the team, and tied for fourth in sacks with two.
He also added a forced fumble. After a strange offseason stretch that included his name popping up in the transfer portal, he is back for 2026 - and the people around the program have already noticed a difference in camp.
“I think he's healthier than he's ever been,” Dykles told the media after day one of fall camp. “I think he's in a really good state of mind mentally.
I think he was in pain for a long time, couldn't figure out what it was, and I think he was frustrated. He was trying to work himself out of that, and I think he is a different person now.
He's got confidence, he's healthy, I think he got off to a good start this spring, was really good over the summer, and we expect big things out of him.”
At 6-foot-4 and 265 pounds, Oyewale stands out physically right away. He also brings a visible edge, working constantly, pushing teammates and carrying the kind of ferocious approach Avalos wants from his defensive line. For TCU, the hope is that his play matches that presence.
There’s another side to him, too, and he doesn’t hide it. Oyewale has leaned into an aspiring influencer role, including going live on his Instagram during Big 12 Media Days. He says that side of him is less about attention and more about impact, especially with younger fans watching.
“A lot of my followers are younger kids, so it's about showing them that there is more to football than just being on the field,” Oyewale said. “There's the different side of football, and also giving them the encouragement that you know, my football story wasn't straight, it wasn't straight like everybody else's. You know, your dreams can be achieved if you just continue to pursue them.”
He says he tries to keep that world separate from the field.
“I try to keep them separate, you know, being on the football field, the mentality as a defensive lineman and all that kind of stuff,” Oyewale continued on. “But at the end of the day, I am who I am, I care about the younger generation, I care about people, and I want them to have hope at the end of the day, that's just kind of my goal off the field.”
That off-field purpose seems to have carried into a stronger on-field outlook, too. With a season back under his belt and, by the sound of it, the healthiest stretch of his career, Oyewale enters 2026 with confidence and a clearer sense of direction.
TCU doesn’t need him to do everything. It needs him to be the disruptive force coaches envisioned when he arrived.
If he stays healthy, Oyewale has a real chance to help anchor a defense that believes it can climb back among the Big 12’s best. And if that happens, the biggest offseason storyline in Fort Worth may not belong to the offense after all.
In Other News...
TCU Offense Faces One Huge Question Entering Sonny Dykes Reset
TCU heads into a fresh season with a different look on offense, and the overhaul goes well beyond one familiar face leaving the room. Sonny Dykes is working with a new offensive coordinator, a new quarterback and a new lead receiver, all while the staff reshapes the unit with an eye toward a more balanced attack. After the way the Frogs have been built around production on that side of the ball, the transition carries real weight for a team trying to keep pace.
Jaden Craig steps in under center as the latest answer at quarterback, but the bigger question may be how quickly the offense settles into its new identity. Jeremy Payne is expected to be a central piece of that plan, giving TCU a path toward leaning on the ground game more heavily than before. If that adjustment clicks, the Frogs could still move the ball efficiently under Dykes, but it is the fit between Craig, Payne and the new scheme that will define how high the ceiling really is. [Read more 🡒]