Which is why I haven't really put to much into the losses this is a young inexperienced team that's only going to get better with the more reps they get

It's true, which is why we were picked to do so well last year. A ton of experience on both lines and completely flamed out. Just couldn't get anything sustained which was coaching and recruiting failure.

The freshman have shown strong potential but it isn't easy to stomach or trust with such a poor year last year.

Dave needs to get them up to speed quickly to turn it around. Ucf was huge for confidence. A good staff could turn a program around on a game like that

Why do we have such a young team? Given, this is year 4 for Aranda, and 2 years ago we won the Big 12. Seems like we should have much upper class depth right now, but we don't.

The large group of sophomores and freshmen were recruited AFTER we won the Big 12. So were the juniors and seniors who were transfers, who constitute about six (seven?) of our 2-deeps.

The remainder of the juniors and seniors were recruited BEFORE our championship year.

That means the majority of our 2-deeps are post-championship Aranda recruits BUT only those who are transfers are juniors or seniors yet.

We lost a lot of great players to graduation, the portal, & the pros the past couple years. Particularly noticeable were leaders like Pitre & Bernard.

BearlyBeloved said:

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I looked online for the current 2-deep depth chart. If what I found is accurate:

• Only 8 of our first-team and 2 of our second-team are Seniors.
• 6 of our first-team and 18 of our second-team are Freshmen or Sophomores.
• That leaves 8 Juniors on the first-team and 2 on the second-team
• On special teams (kickers and returners) ALL are Freshmen or Sophomores except Monaray Baldwin (Junior)

We are younger than I realized.

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Why the portal needs to be utilized

Any way we can get Matt Jones back for one more year?

BylrFan said:

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BearlyBeloved said:

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I looked online for the current 2-deep depth chart. If what I found is accurate:

• Only 8 of our first-team and 2 of our second-team are Seniors.
• 6 of our first-team and 18 of our second-team are Freshmen or Sophomores.
• That leaves 8 Juniors on the first-team and 2 on the second-team
• On special teams (kickers and returners) ALL are Freshmen or Sophomores except Monaray Baldwin (Junior)

We are younger than I realized.

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Why the portal needs to be utilized

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We utilized it pretty extensively this year. Unfortunately, we under-utilized it the offseason before. Rhule's last two classes didn't yield much in terms of rotation talent. We needed to address that after 2021 and we didn't. That's left us pretty young at multiple position groups each of the last two years, even though we did a much better job with our most recent transfer class.

BylrFan said:

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BearlyBeloved said:

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I looked online for the current 2-deep depth chart. If what I found is accurate:

• Only 8 of our first-team and 2 of our second-team are Seniors.
• 6 of our first-team and 18 of our second-team are Freshmen or Sophomores.
• That leaves 8 Juniors on the first-team and 2 on the second-team
• On special teams (kickers and returners) ALL are Freshmen or Sophomores except Monaray Baldwin (Junior)

We are younger than I realized.

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Why the portal needs to be utilized

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I think he (Aranda) admitted he did not use the portal effectively prior to last season, and that he had learned from that mistake. The man is not a dummy.

Quinton said:

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It's true, which is why we were picked to do so well last year. A ton of experience on both lines and completely flamed out. Just couldn't get anything sustained which was coaching and recruiting failure.

The freshman have shown strong potential but it isn't easy to stomach or trust with such a poor year last year.

Dave needs to get them up to speed quickly to turn it around. Ucf was huge for confidence. A good staff could turn a program around on a game like that

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This is my hope. We've got some good young talent on this roster. If Aranda and Co. can finish this season strong, there will be legitimate reasons for optimism going forward. But we have to win enough down the stretch to create some confidence within the fan base that Aranda can win with that talent.

I feel much better about that prospect now than I did before Saturday, but we still have a ton of work to do obviously.

blackie said:

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BylrFan said:

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BearlyBeloved said:

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I looked online for the current 2-deep depth chart. If what I found is accurate:

• Only 8 of our first-team and 2 of our second-team are Seniors.
• 6 of our first-team and 18 of our second-team are Freshmen or Sophomores.
• That leaves 8 Juniors on the first-team and 2 on the second-team
• On special teams (kickers and returners) ALL are Freshmen or Sophomores except Monaray Baldwin (Junior)

We are younger than I realized.

---

Why the portal needs to be utilized

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I think he (Aranda) admitted he did not use the portal effectively prior to last season, and that he had learned from that mistake. The man is not a dummy.

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Aranda has the makings of a great leader: intelligence, learning from mistakes & humility. (Those are traits of the men who I think were the greatest presidents in U.S. history: Lincoln, Washington, & Reagan in that order.) Despite frustrations & disappointments, we should be grateful we have him. He is a real blessing for Baylor. But we must be patient.

historian said:

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blackie said:

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BylrFan said:

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BearlyBeloved said:

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I looked online for the current 2-deep depth chart. If what I found is accurate:

• Only 8 of our first-team and 2 of our second-team are Seniors.
• 6 of our first-team and 18 of our second-team are Freshmen or Sophomores.
• That leaves 8 Juniors on the first-team and 2 on the second-team
• On special teams (kickers and returners) ALL are Freshmen or Sophomores except Monaray Baldwin (Junior)

We are younger than I realized.

---

Why the portal needs to be utilized

---

I think he (Aranda) admitted he did not use the portal effectively prior to last season, and that he had learned from that mistake. The man is not a dummy.

---

Aranda has the makings of a great leader: intelligence, learning from mistakes & humility. (Those are traits of the men who I think were the greatest presidents in U.S. history: Lincoln, Washington, & Reagan in that order.) Despite frustrations & disappointments, we should be grateful we have him. He is a real blessing for Baylor. But we must be patient.

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"Patient" ? I like Aranda too , but we HAVE TO WIN NOW! Dave Aranda is in his 4th year. The slow rolling collapse after beating ou in Norman last year, losing to AF in the bowl game, then to TX ST is totally unacceptable.

I do think the Bears can pull off the win against tech. They played their most complete game last year in the victory over tech in Lubbock. But this win is essential-- not only for our program but for Waco's economy.

Even though, this will be a meeting of two 2 and 3 teams, this is a big game for our season, our recruiting going forward and our future in our now gigantic conference.