Gary Patterson was busy.

After leading TCU to back-to-back top-10 seasons, the head coach was constructing his masterpiece. It featured a 47-7 win at No. 6 Utah. It concluded with a Rose Bowl victory over Big Ten champion Wisconsin. It ended with the Horned Frogs ranked second in the nation, having gone undefeated for the first time in 72 years.

In the midst of the coach’s magnum opus, Austin Aune caught his eye.

The star quarterback at Texas’ Argyle High School — roughly 30 miles north of Fort Worth — committed to the rising program. In June 2012, as an incoming freshman, he moved into Moncrief Hall to begin summer conditioning with the team.