Following a stint in substance abuse rehabilitation, former TCU quarterback Casey Pachall has returned to the school and rejoined the team after completing his program.
According to head coach, Gary Patterson, Pachall took part in team meetings Sunday, a day before school resumed. He will begin taking classes when the semester begins on Monday and will fully return to the team following his arrest for a DUI in early October.
"He finished all of his in-patient work and has been in out-patient work up until Friday," Patterson told the paper. "He did everything we wanted him to do."
Following the incident in October, Patterson said that Pachall would have the chance to return to the team following his rehabilitation.
As a junior, Pachall threw for 948 yards with 10 touchdowns and one interception in TCU's first four games, but was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving and on Oct. 9 the school said Pachall was leaving TCU for treatment. Following the arrest, Pachall disenrolled in the school and was suspended indefinitely by Patterson.
According to the Associated Press, last year Pachall admitted to police that he smoked marijuana and failed a team-administered drug test. At the time, it was reported by ESPN.com that five players failed drug tests on the team, including junior linebacker Tanner Brock, junior safety Devin Johnson, junior defensive tackle D.J. Yendrey and sophomore offensive tackle Tyler Horn.
Patterson said that he did not know yet if Pachall would return to his job as the starting quarterback, but said that he will need to start working out after not throwing a football or lifting weights in "several months."
"He met with Campus Life and one of the reasons I feel so good about this is because they feel so good about it. They feel very comfortable with it," Patterson told the paper.
Pachall was solid for the Horned Frogs before leaving the team, completing 66 percent of his passes as the team started 4-0. He threw for 2,921 yards, 25 touchdowns and seven interceptions in 2011 as TCU's starting quarterback.
After leaving the team, Pachall was replaced by Trevone Boykin, who threw for 2,054 passing yards, with 15 touchdowns and 10 interceptions while completing 57 percent of his passes. TCU also went 3-6 with Boykin as the starting quarterback.
This past season the Horned Frogs went 7-6 and finished tied for fifth in the Big 12 with a 4-5 record. The team opened the season with four straight wins, including a 27-7 victory over Virginia. TCU lost the first game without Pachall to Iowa State 37-23, but rebounded to defeat Baylor 49-21 the following week.
TCU lost three of the next four games, including a 56-53 three overtime loss to No. 17-ranked Texas Tech. The Horned Frogs won a close 39-39 overtime game over West Virginia, but lost two of the final three games of the regular season, including a 24-17 defeat against Oklahoma. TCU won 20-13 against Texas on Nov. 22 before finishing with Oklahoma.
The team was bowl eligible and made it to the Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl before losing to Michigan State 17-16. Boynkin was just 13-of-29 in that game with 201 yards and an interception. The TCU offense struggled for most of the season without Pachall, ranking just 61st in passing yards and 68th in scoring.
Pachall was highly-recruited out of high school and threw for 2,808 yards with 31 touchdowns and 11 interceptions during his senior season at Brownwood High School in Brownwood, Texas.
The biggest questions about Pachall will be about his skills and his capabilities after coming back to the team. Can he be the same quarterback that opened the year 4-0? Patterson has left the starting job as an option for him, but he will have to prove that the rehab did the trick and that the team can rely on him in the future.
Pachall's best game of the season came against Kansas in Week 2 when he threw for 335 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions while completing 80 percent of his passes. The next week he threw his lone interception on the season against Virginia, but had three touchdowns and 305 yards passing while completing 21-of-32 passes.
Over his TCU career, Pachall has thrown 36 touchdowns and just eight interceptions and was seen as the bridge from former quarterback Andy Dalton, who now stars in the NFL with the Bengals.
