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Dave Wilson, ESPN editor
Ella Hamlinone of TCUThe “Underfrogs,” the students who joined the women’s basketball team in January 2024 to save its season, were awarded a full scholarship Tuesday.
A year ago, first-year coach Mark Campbell held open tryouts among TCU students after a rash of injuries and a player shortage forced the Horned Frogs to forfeit two games.
Four students – known as “Underfrogs” – join the team and helped TCU fight its way to the finish line, as a 14-0 start gave way to a 21-12 run.
On Tuesday night, Hamlin, the only member of that quartet to return this season, received a full scholarship from Campbell.
“Ella, we’re just so grateful to you,” Campbell said in a video of the moment in the locker room published on Instagram. “When there is adversity, most people run from it. The “Underfrogs”, adversity has struck, and you have decided to intervene.
Campbell chose a symbolic moment, after a victory 90-81 on UCFnearly a year after Hamlin first joined the team in last season’s Jan. 23 game against the Knights. Circumstances are different this season, with the 18-1 Frogs ranked 10th nationally.
An emotional Campbell thanked Hamlin for her role in helping get there, starting by joking about 25 cameras following the admittedly nervous Hamlin and her three other volunteer teammates — Sarah Sylvester, Piper Davis and Mekhayia Moore — for filming before their first game.
“I like you, Ella, more than you know,” Campbell said. “That game a year ago was the foundation of our program. …Thank you for stepping up and coming back and being an integral part of this team.
The sophomore guard from Granbury, Texas, about 40 miles from Fort Worth, bypassed scholarship offers at a small school to study nursing at TCU, then turned her life and job upside down time to join the team. This season, she is averaging 2.2 points but is appreciated by her teammates for her work ethic, attitude and energy.
‘There’s no one else who deserves this more than Ella,’ TCU star Prince of Sedona wrote on Instagram.