Four Frogs sign NFL free-agent contracts
Four TCU football players have signed National Football League free-agent contracts.
Safety/return specialist Brian Bonner joined the San Diego Chargers, where he will be a teammate of former Horned Frog and 2006 NFL Most Valuable Player LaDainian Tomlinson. Linebacker David Hawthorne is headed to the Seattle Seahawks, while defensive end Chase Ortiz and safety David Roach signed with the Cleveland Browns and New Orleans Saints, respectively.
TCU has now had 34 players ink NFL contracts in the seven-year tenure of head coach Gary Patterson.
Bonner was a two-time first-team All-Mountain West Conference selection as a return specialist. He became only the second player in MWC history to be a first-team return specialist in more than one season. Bonner also earned All-MWC accolades at safety in 2006.
Bonner had 535 punt return yards in 2007, falling just 15 yards shy of breaking TCU's single-season record of 549 set by Davey O'Brien in 1937.
A Beeville, Texas, native, Bonner placed third on TCU with a career-best 78 stops in 2007. His tackle total increased each year with the Frogs. Bonner started 20 of his last 21 games in a TCU uniform.
Hawthorne made 38 career starts as a Frog, including all but three contests over the last three seasons. The Corsicana, Texas, native totaled 186 tackles at TCU.
Playing as a graduate student in the 2007 campaign, Hawthorne finished second on TCU with 84 tackles while placing third with five sacks. He nearly doubled his previous career high of 43 stops in 2006. Hawthorne's tackle total improved each season with the Frogs.
Ortiz was named the State's Best Defensive Lineman in 2007 by Dave Campbell's Texas Football. He appeared on the final watch list for the Ted Hendricks Award as the nation's top defensive end.
Selected by his teammates as TCU's 2007 Dan Rogers Most Valuable Player, Ortiz was the Frogs' first three-time first-team all-conference player since wide receiver Mike Renfro from 1975-77 in the Southwest Conference. Ortiz was just the fourth defensive player and seventh overall in MWC history to be a three-time first-team pick.
A League City, Texas, native, Ortiz led TCU and ranked among the MWC and national leaders with nine sacks, 16.5 tackles for a loss and three forced fumbles in 2007. He had a tackle for a loss in 10 of 13 games, including three multi-sack efforts. Ortiz closed his TCU career with 20.5 sacks, placing fifth on the Frogs' all-time chart.
Roach was a second-team All-MWC selection as he placed fourth on TCU with a career-high 76 tackles in 2007. He tied for second on the Frogs with seven pass break-ups, including two in the 20-13 Texas Bowl victory over Houston.
Roach, from Abilene, Texas, forced two fumbles on the year and had an interception at Texas.
Like Hawthorne, Roach was a graduate student in 2007 as he started all 13 games. He was moved from weak safety to free safety, a position he occupied in 2006, prior to the Nov. 3 contest with New Mexico. The Frogs proceeded to defeat the Lobos, 37-0, en route to four wins in their final five games.
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