Three months after leaving TCU to take care of personal issues that nearly derailed a promising collegiate career, Casey Pachall has finally made his long-rumored return.
Both head coach Gary Patterson and the quarterback’s father confirmed to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that Pachall is back on campus and is scheduled to begin classes Monday. Pachall took part in a team meeting earlier Sunday.
Pachall completed an out-patient treatment for substance abuse Thursday.
“He looks great,” Patterson told the Star-Telegram. “It’s like he looked when he was a freshman. Right now, we feel really good about this. It’s never going to be 100 percent perfect but there is a chance we did the right thing and made a difference. You’ve got to understand, everybody is going to be watching on this.”
Pachall was arrested in early October and suspended indefinitely by the football program following a drunk-driving charge. He left the school entirely a short time later to enter a rehab program.
At the time of a February drug sweep that caught up several Horned Frog football players, Pachall admitted to police that he had failed a drug test and used cocaine and Ecstasy within the past year.
Trevone Boykin replaced Pachall in the starting lineup early in the second month of the season, and the two are expected to battle for the starting job beginning in the spring. Pachall has one year of eligibility remaining.