Baylor Spring Football Q&A: Who Becomes Baylor’s Go-To Receiver?

Two of our resident experts — Colt Barber and Grayson Grundhoefer — answer some of the top questions surrounding head coach Dave Aranda and the Baylor program as spring football continues.

The Bears are losing their top five pass-catchers from a season ago. With a lot of fresh faces and talented underclassmen in this group, which player do you think will step up the most?

Colt: The obvious answer is Dre’lon Miller here. Baylor didn’t bring him in to lack in targets, and the role for the No. 1 receiver is wide open. His friendship with DJ Lagway doesn’t hurt, and sometimes that connection plays out on the field. 

But Gavin Freeman is the guy I’m looking to break out this season in a big way. Maybe he doesn’t lead the team in receptions or yards or touchdowns, but he’s going to be in a system where he is utilized in a higher volume than he was at Oklahoma, and will have better QB play and offensive scheme to work with than he did at Oklahoma State. 

I don’t want to say Baylor has lacked toughness across the middle the last two years, because they weren’t, but I don’t think they were as tough across the middle as you would like to see in this scheme from the receiver position. Michael Trigg’s absence will open up some more targets in this area of the field, and I think Freeman has a strong final season in this scheme to counter Miller and maybe a guy like Louis Brown IV, who is expected to have a good season.

Throw in his potential impact on special teams, and it just feels like we will be talking about Freeman a lot. 

Grayson: This is a really interesting question to me because I think you could have three separate answers and be able to construct a decent argument. I am torn between Louis Brown IV and Dre’lon Miller. My heart wants to say that Miller’s talent, versatility and yards after catch will make him the best receiver on the team. But this spring, there is no doubt who the best receiver on the team has been: Brown IV.

So I am going to go with the information we currently have up to this point in the offseason. Brown IV has been the alpha, and his game fits really well with DJ Lagway as the two are going to connect down the field quite a bit this upcoming season. This means the touchdowns and yards should be there for Brown IV to be the most productive receiver on the team in what should be a very productive group.

To me, Brown IV has emerged as Lagway’s favorite target, and therefore, I am going to roll with him as the player who will step up the most. The redshirt year was really good for him and gave him this opportunity to step into a full-time role on a good offense. I am expecting a 700-plus-yard and eight-plus-touchdown season from Brown IV.