TCU didn’t exactly make a splash when it landed John Hoyet Chance out of the transfer portal, but the Horned Frogs may have found one of their most useful additions of the season.
Chance, the junior punter from Louisiana Tech, has quickly gone from quiet pickup to real weapon. He’s already changing field position with booming punts and a kickoff leg that has TCU’s coaches paying attention ahead of Saturday’s Big 12 opener at Central Florida at 2:30 p.m.
The clearest evidence came in TCU’s 31-7 win over Arkansas State last week, when Chance launched multiple kickoffs out of the end zone. One of them nearly took out a cameraman stationed in the back of the end zone. That kind of leg changes the math in a hurry.
“Big [impact]. When you can kick the ball off to the end zone, that’s significant,” TCU head coach Sonny Dykes said Tuesday.
TCU ranked 11th out of 16 teams in the Big 12 in touchbacks on kickoffs last season with 35, but the Horned Frogs have almost reached half of that total (16) in just three games this season. Chance has also delivered eight punts at an average of 46.5 yards.
For Chance, the early success has come with a little personal satisfaction too. He said he had long hoped to wind up at TCU, and now he’s making an immediate imprint in Fort Worth.
“I think I’m bringing a pretty good weapon,” Chance said. “[Assistant coach Mark] Tommerdahl brought me in to get touchbacks; that’s what he wanted me to do.
Unfortunately, Arkansas State brought one out, which I’m frustrated about, but I’m trying to continue doing that. I’m really grateful for Tommerdahl bringing me here, I’ve always wanted to be at TCU and be a Horned Frog.”
Chance said TCU’s campus size played a role in his decision. He described himself as someone who fits better at a smaller school and said that setting helps him stay locked in on punting.
“I was always big on not going to a huge school where it doesn’t have 40,000 students,” Chance said. “I think I’m more of a small town type of guy even though I’m in DFW.
I think just being at a smaller school and not as much going on, I think that’s my style, and also growing up I was originally out of Dallas. TCU was always a great, great school I wanted to go to.
I’m just happy to be here.”
His path to this point started with soccer before he shifted his focus to football in high school. As a freshman, he learned from teammate Alex Auer, who later punted in college at Lamar after graduating in 2021. Chance said Auer helped shape him into the punter who would eventually become all-state, move on to Louisiana Tech and then transfer to TCU.
“He actually ended up being the best punter in Louisiana, and he taught me how to truly punt,” Chance said. “Then once I started getting good, I was like, OK, maybe I can take this somewhere, and I just continued to work at it.”
His father gave him a nickname that fits the way he punts: “Johnny Hang Time.” Chance said he likes the traditional style and the high, soaring ball it creates.
“I just love hitting traditional [punts] and hanging it up there,” Chance said. “Like the first one against Arkansas State, I just love putting it up there as much as possible.”
Chance’s value may not stop there. Dykes and the staff have started testing him on field goals, too, especially with junior kicker Kyle Lemmermann out for the second straight week. Chance said he handled field goals at Louisiana Tech as well, and the added work gives TCU another option if it needs one.
“They’re implementing me into some field goals as well, unfortunately, because of Kyle, and I also did field goals at Louisiana Tech,” Chance said.
He’s confident about his range, too.
“Wherever they put the ball down,” Chance said. “If it’s really necessary I could probably stretch it back to 65 if we really needed it.
Sixty and in I’m pretty confident. I just have to get the accuracy down since I hadn’t kicked a field goal since last season.
So, we’re working on that right now, but I’m excited for what it’s gonna be.”
Dykes likes the idea of having that kind of insurance, but he also knows there’s a limit to how much one player can do without wearing down.
“We got to be careful. We don’t want to kick him too much where he loses his pop and being able to punt and kick off for us,” Dykes said. “There’s always that kind of tightrope that you have to walk a little bit trying to make sure he gets enough kicking but not too much.”
That balancing act says plenty about how the staff views Chance. TCU isn’t just asking him to punt and kick off anymore; it’s at least considering him on field goals, too. For a transfer that arrived without much noise, that’s a pretty loud endorsement.
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