89 Days till Kickoff: Baylor’s #89 Drake Dabney

As always, keep track of both the stats and roster countdowns in the Offseason Hub!

Drake Dabney, a tight end from Cypress, Texas, is entering his junior season at Baylor and has two years of eligibility remaining. He is a business major and made First-Team Academic All-Big 12 in 2021. His goals for the year are to be a more dominant blocker and to get better in the passing game. In Jeff Grimes’ tight-end friendly system, Dabney will have plenty of opportunities to make an impact on the field in 2022.

Given the disparity in returning production and experience between the tight end group and the wide receivers, Dabney will get plenty of snaps and targets through the 2022 season. With Ben Sims lined up at TE as well, Dabney should have room to flourish as a non-primary target in the eyes of defenders.

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Dabney celebrates a catch.

In 2021, Dabney played in 14 games and started 8 of those. He had ten catches and two touchdowns on the season. In the back and forth game against TCU (11/6), Dabney started and caught a touchdown for 21 yards. His best statistical game of the season came in the hard-fought win in Manhattan over Kansas State (11/20), where he recorded two catches for 22 yards and a touchdown. He caught passes in both the Big 12 Championship (12/4) and the Sugar Bowl against Ole Miss (1/1).  

Dabney saw action in six games in 2020 and totaled six receptions for 57 yards and a touchdown. He had his first three career receptions in the loss to Iowa State (11/7) for 37 yards and a touchdown. Dabney added three more receptions for 25 yards against Texas Tech (11/14).

In his senior year at Cy Ranch High School, he had had 35 receptions for 476 yards and seven touchdowns. Dabney was the nation’s No. 25 tight end and No. 83 player in Texas, according to 247. He chose Baylor over TCU, Arizona, and Arizona State. 

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Dabney catches a touchdown against TCU.