TCU quarterback Max Duggan will miss at least the start of the season.

TCU coach Gary Patterson said Thursday night that through their Covid-19 protocol they found a condition that Duggan has had his entire life.

“Because of all the things we had in place, Max had a condition he’s had his whole life and we caught it,” Patterson said. “Right now he’s in a good place and hopefully we get him back sometime during the season. We’ll be going forward with the rest of the quarterbacks. It’s something he was born with and we’re glad we found it, I can say that.”

The team is hopefully to get Duggan back at some point this season.

The TCU quarterback room is very thin when it comes to experience. Matthew Downing is the most experienced quarterback in the room besides Duggan and he last saw action in 2018 when he attempted 10 passes in mop up duty across four games while a true freshman at Georgia.

But Downing was running with the twos last season and is expected to be the starter when the season starts Sept. 12 vs. SMU.

“Downing has been the guy that’s getting all the one reps, so he keeps getting better and better,” Patterson said. “He’s a competitor just like his brother that played here. He’s smart, he understand the offense and he’s a competitor.”

Duggan threw for 2,077 yards and 15 touchdowns last season while running for 555 yards and six more scores.

Other quarterbacks of note are Stephon Brown and Eli Williams. Brown transferred to TCU from Independence Junior College where he completed 56.5 percent of his passes for 1,430 yards and 16 touchdowns and rushed for 546 yards and eight scores. Williams played in just five games his senior year of high school last year at Sepulpa, Okla., before a knee injury ended his season.