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Baylor Football

Toledo Quarterback Dequan Finn Commits to Baylor

December 17, 2023
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Toledo transfer quarterback Dequan Finn has committed to Baylor following his official visit over the weekend. The 6-foot-2, 210-pound prospect has one year of eligibility remaining.

This past season, the first-team All-MAC and MAC Most Valuable Player selection accounted for 2,657 yards and 22 touchdowns through the air while adding 563 yards and seven touchdowns on the ground. He led the Rockets to an 11-2 season and an appearance in the MAC Championship Game.

In his three seasons as the starting quarterback for Toledo he has totaled nearly 7,000 yards passing and 63 touchdowns to go along with 1,700 yards and 25 rushing touchdowns. During that time, has led Toledo to a 7-6 season, a 9-5 season (MAC Championship), and an 11-2 season.

According to the Athletic, he is the No. 3 rated veteran quarterback behind Oklahoma’s Dillon Gabriel and Oregon State’s DJ Uiagalelei. On3 rates him as the No. 11 overall quarterback in the transfer portal while 247 has him No. 8 overall.

With incumbent starter Blake Shapen heading to Mississippi State, Finn will compete with Sawyer Robertson for the starting quarterback role.

Discussion from...

Toledo Quarterback Dequan Finn Commits to Baylor

19,245 Views | 59 Replies | Last: 4 mo ago by boykin_spaniel
bear2be2
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Karab said:

bear2be2 said:

contrario said:

bear2be2 said:

Ewalker80 said:

Reverend said:

I can't find a single thing you said that I believe has been proven. But everyone thinks they know what they think they know.


Nine top 32 defenses in a row as DC. 7-8 years of that (I can't recall when he received his last contract with LSU) was enough proof to make Dave the highest paid coordinator in the country. So it was more than enough proof for the people paid millions to judge the competence of football coaches based on their records and reputation, and the demand for his services is the most objective evidence available about how he was viewed by those most knowledgeable.
Aranda's track record as a DC is very good. If he'd been hired as our DC (was never going to happen), everyone would be happy. Unfortunately, he's our head coach who is being forced to take on the DC duties because he fired a good one and hired an absolute dud and now must balance his head coaching duties (which he was already struggling to handle) with those of a position coach/coordinator.

This could work out. Or it could be a monumental failure as a guy who couldn't handle moderate bites starts biting off way more than he can chew.
Briles was effectively our OC and there are many other examples. I'm sure that is part of your "this could work out" statement. We will see, it might be better for him to have the D to focus on and only have to make high-level decisions on offense.
It's much easier to do on the offensive side. You see a lot of head coaches keep offensive playcalling duties. You see it far less frequently on the defensive side.

And frankly, most of the offensive coaches who maintain OC duties have terrible defenses because they don't/can't focus on that side of the ball or their overall head coaching duties enough -- see Briles, Riley, Kinne, etc.


Didn't Gary Patterson call his defensive plays?
He was in charge of the defense, definitely. I don't know if he explicitly called the plays on game days, though. I'm sure he had a heavy say, but he always had a DC on staff.
TWD 1974
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Karab said:

bear2be2 said:

contrario said:

bear2be2 said:

Ewalker80 said:

Reverend said:

I can't find a single thing you said that I believe has been proven. But everyone thinks they know what they think they know.


Nine top 32 defenses in a row as DC. 7-8 years of that (I can't recall when he received his last contract with LSU) was enough proof to make Dave the highest paid coordinator in the country. So it was more than enough proof for the people paid millions to judge the competence of football coaches based on their records and reputation, and the demand for his services is the most objective evidence available about how he was viewed by those most knowledgeable.
Aranda's track record as a DC is very good. If he'd been hired as our DC (was never going to happen), everyone would be happy. Unfortunately, he's our head coach who is being forced to take on the DC duties because he fired a good one and hired an absolute dud and now must balance his head coaching duties (which he was already struggling to handle) with those of a position coach/coordinator.

This could work out. Or it could be a monumental failure as a guy who couldn't handle moderate bites starts biting off way more than he can chew.
Briles was effectively our OC and there are many other examples. I'm sure that is part of your "this could work out" statement. We will see, it might be better for him to have the D to focus on and only have to make high-level decisions on offense.
It's much easier to do on the offensive side. You see a lot of head coaches keep offensive playcalling duties. You see it far less frequently on the defensive side.

And frankly, most of the offensive coaches who maintain OC duties have terrible defenses because they don't/can't focus on that side of the ball or their overall head coaching duties enough -- see Briles, Riley, Kinne, etc.


Didn't Gary Patterson call his defensive plays?
him or the towel girl...
Karab
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bear2be2 said:

Karab said:

bear2be2 said:

contrario said:

bear2be2 said:

Ewalker80 said:

Reverend said:

I can't find a single thing you said that I believe has been proven. But everyone thinks they know what they think they know.


Nine top 32 defenses in a row as DC. 7-8 years of that (I can't recall when he received his last contract with LSU) was enough proof to make Dave the highest paid coordinator in the country. So it was more than enough proof for the people paid millions to judge the competence of football coaches based on their records and reputation, and the demand for his services is the most objective evidence available about how he was viewed by those most knowledgeable.
Aranda's track record as a DC is very good. If he'd been hired as our DC (was never going to happen), everyone would be happy. Unfortunately, he's our head coach who is being forced to take on the DC duties because he fired a good one and hired an absolute dud and now must balance his head coaching duties (which he was already struggling to handle) with those of a position coach/coordinator.

This could work out. Or it could be a monumental failure as a guy who couldn't handle moderate bites starts biting off way more than he can chew.
Briles was effectively our OC and there are many other examples. I'm sure that is part of your "this could work out" statement. We will see, it might be better for him to have the D to focus on and only have to make high-level decisions on offense.
It's much easier to do on the offensive side. You see a lot of head coaches keep offensive playcalling duties. You see it far less frequently on the defensive side.

And frankly, most of the offensive coaches who maintain OC duties have terrible defenses because they don't/can't focus on that side of the ball or their overall head coaching duties enough -- see Briles, Riley, Kinne, etc.


Didn't Gary Patterson call his defensive plays?
He was in charge of the defense, definitely. I don't know if he explicitly called the plays on game days, though. I'm sure he had a heavy say, but he always had a DC on staff.

Sure, just like the offensive coaches you mentioned had an OC on staff and like how Aranda has a DC.
bear2be2
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Karab said:

bear2be2 said:

Karab said:

bear2be2 said:

contrario said:

bear2be2 said:

Ewalker80 said:

Reverend said:

I can't find a single thing you said that I believe has been proven. But everyone thinks they know what they think they know.


Nine top 32 defenses in a row as DC. 7-8 years of that (I can't recall when he received his last contract with LSU) was enough proof to make Dave the highest paid coordinator in the country. So it was more than enough proof for the people paid millions to judge the competence of football coaches based on their records and reputation, and the demand for his services is the most objective evidence available about how he was viewed by those most knowledgeable.
Aranda's track record as a DC is very good. If he'd been hired as our DC (was never going to happen), everyone would be happy. Unfortunately, he's our head coach who is being forced to take on the DC duties because he fired a good one and hired an absolute dud and now must balance his head coaching duties (which he was already struggling to handle) with those of a position coach/coordinator.

This could work out. Or it could be a monumental failure as a guy who couldn't handle moderate bites starts biting off way more than he can chew.
Briles was effectively our OC and there are many other examples. I'm sure that is part of your "this could work out" statement. We will see, it might be better for him to have the D to focus on and only have to make high-level decisions on offense.
It's much easier to do on the offensive side. You see a lot of head coaches keep offensive playcalling duties. You see it far less frequently on the defensive side.

And frankly, most of the offensive coaches who maintain OC duties have terrible defenses because they don't/can't focus on that side of the ball or their overall head coaching duties enough -- see Briles, Riley, Kinne, etc.


Didn't Gary Patterson call his defensive plays?
He was in charge of the defense, definitely. I don't know if he explicitly called the plays on game days, though. I'm sure he had a heavy say, but he always had a DC on staff.

Sure, just like the offensive coaches you mentioned had an OC on staff and like how Aranda has a DC.
Aranda has a DC in name only currently. Powledge's one-year track record says he's utterly incompetent in that role.

All of the other coaches mentioned here had veteran coaches who had proven their value at those positions.
Reverend
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Admittedly, Aranda was a competent DC. He apparently turned his DC switch off when he became a HC. Now, in effect, he's both. We've got no choice but to wait to see how that turns out.
TinFoilHatPreacherBear
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Reverend said:

Admittedly, Aranda was a competent DC. He apparently turned his DC switch off when he became a HC. Now, in effect, he's both. We've got no choice but to wait to see how that turns out.


He's not a good headcoach. Only hope is he has zero say on offense and game time calls. He has low football IQ and almost no situational awareness. If he has to make an in the moment vital game time call, he's going to get it wrong 99% of the time. Not even sure I trust him to run the D in game due to these same factors.

I think our OC will be effectively be our game time coach. Well I hope that's the case.
Daveisabovereproach
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TinFoilHatPreacherBear said:

Reverend said:

Admittedly, Aranda was a competent DC. He apparently turned his DC switch off when he became a HC. Now, in effect, he's both. We've got no choice but to wait to see how that turns out.


He's not a good headcoach. Only hope is he has zero say on offense and game time calls. He has low football IQ and almost no situational awareness. If he has to make an in the moment vital game time call, he's going to get it wrong 99% of the time. Not even sure I trust him to run the D in game due to these same factors.

I think our OC will be effectively be our game time coach. Well I hope that's the case.


Have you seen him on the sidelines during games? He stands there motionless with a 1000 yard stare like he's having a Vietnam flashback
Karab
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TinFoilHatPreacherBear said:

Reverend said:

Admittedly, Aranda was a competent DC. He apparently turned his DC switch off when he became a HC. Now, in effect, he's both. We've got no choice but to wait to see how that turns out.


He's not a good headcoach. Only hope is he has zero say on offense and game time calls. He has low football IQ and almost no situational awareness. If he has to make an in the moment vital game time call, he's going to get it wrong 99% of the time. Not even sure I trust him to run the D in game due to these same factors.

I think our OC will be effectively be our game time coach. Well I hope that's the case.


Okay, Aranda has proven to be a terrible HC so far but claiming he has low football IQ is absolutely the worst take I've seen on this forum outside of all the gay movie talk in the other thread
TinFoilHatPreacherBear
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Karab said:

TinFoilHatPreacherBear said:

Reverend said:

Admittedly, Aranda was a competent DC. He apparently turned his DC switch off when he became a HC. Now, in effect, he's both. We've got no choice but to wait to see how that turns out.


He's not a good headcoach. Only hope is he has zero say on offense and game time calls. He has low football IQ and almost no situational awareness. If he has to make an in the moment vital game time call, he's going to get it wrong 99% of the time. Not even sure I trust him to run the D in game due to these same factors.

I think our OC will be effectively be our game time coach. Well I hope that's the case.


Okay, Aranda has proven to be a terrible HC so far but claiming he has low football IQ is absolutely the worst take I've seen on this forum outside of all the gay movie talk in the other thread


OK, we're talking about a head coach here, so what makes you think he has high football IQ for his role?
Smashmouth
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Holy Toledo! Love this guy. He's a winner.
Eli
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Ever since Dave Aranda was hired at LSU, his defense has gotten progressively worse. 7 years of failure. Our pathetic recruiting class is ranked 15 out of 16 Big 12 teams. Without some big portal pick ups to catch Finn's passes and protect him, there is no reason to believe that Baylor will improve at all next year. We can attribute the Big12 title to Matt Rhules recruiting classes. Unfortunately we have run out of his recruiting classes. Our recruiting classes have gotten progressively worse. Our defense has gotten progressively worse. Everything about our program has gotten worse under Aranda. Buying him out would've been the best financial decision to get our program back on track. Who would we hire if we fired Aranda? Simple, anybody but Dave Aranda.
ZachTay
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Eli said:

Ever since Dave Aranda was hired at LSU, his defense has gotten progressively worse. 7 years of failure. Our pathetic recruiting class is ranked 15 out of 16 Big 12 teams. Without some big portal pick ups to catch Finn's passes and protect him, there is no reason to believe that Baylor will improve at all next year. We can attribute the Big12 title to Matt Rhules recruiting classes. Unfortunately we have run out of his recruiting classes. Our recruiting classes have gotten progressively worse. Our defense has gotten progressively worse. Everything about our program has gotten worse under Aranda. Buying him out would've been the best financial decision to get our program back on track. Who would we hire if we fired Aranda? Simple, anybody but Dave Aranda.
100%

When you fail to hire a proven head coach into a D-I P5 head coaching job you get these results. It's not complicated.
ImABearToo
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Hope Mack still has trolls on this board, good stuff right here.
“Life is short, eat desert first!”
boykin_spaniel
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Kirby Smart, Pete Carroll, Jonathan Smith, Ryan Day, Phil Fulmer, Mike Leach, Dabo Swinney, Mike Elko, etc
bear2be2
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boykin_spaniel said:

Kirby Smart, Pete Carroll, Jonathan Smith, Ryan Day, Phil Fulmer, Mike Leach, Dabo Swinney, Mike Elko, etc
That's a short list for the number of years it spans. And half of the names on it coached at blue bloods, where it's almost impossible to fail.
jikespingleton
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Won't matter who we have at QB if the guy doesn't have time to throw
blackie
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jikespingleton said:

Won't matter who we have at QB if the guy doesn't have time to throw
He can slow down that rush with his ability to run. Something that Shapen was missing. Having a QB with his ability will make the OL look better whether they are or not and his running ability should give him more time to throw as the defense can't ignore his legs.
PacificBear
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One year of eligibility???? WTdoublefuuuck are we doing?? If this guy is so good why not declare for the draft?? Just get rid of Dave now.
Daveisabovereproach
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PacificBear said:

One year of eligibility???? WTdoublefuuuck are we doing?? If this guy is so good why not declare for the draft?? Just get rid of Dave now.

Because he's a scrambling quarterback that's played in the MAC. Not trying to put him down because I think it was a good pickup, but the guy is a longshot to be drafted

My hunch is that Dave's strategy is to get to six wins next year and that that's the benchmark for success. Linda has said in a previous interview that she didn't see the 2022 season as a complete failure because we still managed to get to a bowl game
PartyBear
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If she used the term "not a complete failure" that isn't the same as saying "success". Y'all need to get these things y'all make up in your heads like we only want to win 6 games out of your heads.
PacificBear
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Our fans are acting like we just landed a big 10 Ohio state qb? We have sunk to a new low. Lower than the Steele era! We were good 2 damn years ago and now we're poaching the MAC?? We need a new coaching staff with higher expectations or we will be a MAC team.
blackie
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PacificBear said:

Our fans are acting like we just landed a big 10 Ohio state qb? We have sunk to a new low. Lower than the Steele era! We were good 2 damn years ago and now we're poaching the MAC?? We need a new coaching staff with higher expectations or we will be a MAC team.
And from Party:
Quote:

Y'all need to get these things y'all make up in your heads like we only want to win 6 games out of your heads.

What we got was a QB that was recruited by a MAC team when a freshmen. He has had 4 years to develop into the top player in the MAC. The list of schools that the "experts" figured he would land at are not the sisters of the poor, but solid P5 teams. None of us know how the kid will perform next year, but his ability should not be dismissed because of the team he has been playing for. In this portal, plenty of P5 teams, good P5 teams are pulling players from the G5.

This from 247:

Toledo quarterback Dequan Finn, the 2023 MAC Player of the Year, is expected to enter the transfer portal, 247Sports' Matt Zenitz reports. The prolific signal-caller figures to receive interest from numerous Power Five programs as one of the top quarterbacks available early in the transfer cycle.

Finn joins the transfer portal rankings as the No. 18 overall player and No. 7 quarterback, checking in immediately ahead of Oklahoma quarterback Dillon Gabriel and Ohio State signal-caller Kyle McCord, and behind Georgia product Brock Vandagriff.

It is not just football, but even in basketball too many people judge a player and a team by what conference they are in and do so out-of-hand. And posters here are experts in doing it, especially in basketball, where not infrequently they end up in the elite 8 if not better. A G5 is not going to consistently beat P5 teams, although some do in particular seasons, but they have plenty of experienced players that could start at P5s.

Take Party's advice.
Fre3dombear
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PacificBear said:

Our fans are acting like we just landed a big 10 Ohio state qb? We have sunk to a new low. Lower than the Steele era! We were good 2 damn years ago and now we're poaching the MAC?? We need a new coaching staff with higher expectations or we will be a MAC team.


This is the engineered plan. It's the enemy within. One sees it everywhere these days. People just gotta look at their bank accounts lol
boykin_spaniel
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Good grief dude. Dequan Finn is a 4* transfer. Did you actually think we'd get DJ Lagway? Finn was MAC player of the year. Steele wouldn't have sniffed such a player. This portal pickup ranks right up there with Ika for our best ever.

Some of y'all act like we were signing 5* prospects a few years ago. We were not other than a couple one offs under Art. Our recruiting rankings haven't changed under Aranda just development or evaluation or both.
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