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Baylor Football
The Awakening of the Beast
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Four games into Baylor’s 2016 campaign and the highlights of Shock Linwood’s Baylor playing career were beginning to be difficult to remember. The senior was averaging 54.3 yards per outing, had not scored a touchdown, and carried the ball only twice against Oklahoma State in the Big 12 opener.
The last the time 5-foot-9, 200-pounder received less than than seven carries was against Central Florida in the Fiesta Bowl as redshirt freshman. That season he was playing behind senior Glasco Martin and junior Lache Seastrunk.
Baylor acting head coach Jim Grobe did not hold back his feelings regarding Baylor’s all-time leading rusher's effort. ”I think Shock's role is to compete,” Grobe said prior to Baylor’s match up with Iowa State.
Linwood’s dedication on the practice field was lacking, Grobe specified.
“So I think going forward you gotta practice hard during the week and earn snaps and once you get in the game the better you play the more you're going to play.”
How did Linwood respond? In an oversimplified way of putting it, he woke up.
“He had been kind of asleep the last couple of games which is OK,” Baylor senior quarterback Seth Russell said.
Baylor fans might not tell Shock that he needs to pull an all-nighter against Kansas, but they might ask him to sometime during the final six games of the regular season if it means a repeat of his performance in Ames.
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Linwood toted the rock 25 times for a career high 237 yards against the Cyclones with a score. His 9.5 average was aided by a long run of 59 yards, but take it away and the senior still notched 7.4 per carry.
Rushing for at least 100 yards in a game had become a regular occurrence for Linwood during his freshman, sophomore and junior seasons, reaching the century mark a total of 14 times.
However, an injury limited him in the final four games of 2015, including missing the Russell Athletic Bowl. That stretch of eight games — four games to end 2015 coupled with the first four of 2016 — tied the longest streak of games in his career to not reach 100 yards of rushing.
“On the sideline, after I think the second quarter, I kind of went over and said, ‘This is the Shock I remember.’” Russell said. "He kind of laughed at me a little bit, but he’s here and I feel like he knows what his role is and it is huge for him to be able to step up like that for us.”
Grobe gave credit to running backs coach Jeff Lebby, the offensive line, and offensive line coach Randy Clements for the work they did with their units to allow for Linwood’s performance, but competition at the position might have been the tipping point.
“I think you go week-to-week and and whoever plays the best one week is probably the lead sled dog the next weekend, but that's a competitive situation right now,” Grobe said.
That competition begins with two running backs who rank among the top 15 in the Big 12 Conference in rushing.
“But now I've got a feeling that Terence Williams wants more snaps, so I think he'll have a great week of practice and he'll be pushing Shock and that's a good thing. ... Then JaMycal Hasty, we know he's got some special ability, too."
He added, “We’ve got a really good situation and I would think you're going into this week that Shock has earned the opportunity to start and at least initially get the most snaps.”
But make no mistake by thinking otherwise, Grobe had his hand in pushing Linwood to his best single-game performance as a Bear.
“That's the way you want to see kids respond, you know,” Grobe said. “Champions respond in a good way when they face little bit of adversity.”
Four games into Baylor’s 2016 campaign and the highlights of Shock Linwood’s Baylor playing career were beginning to be difficult to remember. The senior was averaging 54.3 yards per outing, had not scored a touchdown, and carried the ball only twice against Oklahoma State in the Big 12 opener.
The last the time 5-foot-9, 200-pounder received less than than seven carries was against Central Florida in the Fiesta Bowl as redshirt freshman. That season he was playing behind senior Glasco Martin and junior Lache Seastrunk.
Baylor acting head coach Jim Grobe did not hold back his feelings regarding Baylor’s all-time leading rusher's effort. ”I think Shock's role is to compete,” Grobe said prior to Baylor’s match up with Iowa State.
Linwood’s dedication on the practice field was lacking, Grobe specified.
“So I think going forward you gotta practice hard during the week and earn snaps and once you get in the game the better you play the more you're going to play.”
How did Linwood respond? In an oversimplified way of putting it, he woke up.
“He had been kind of asleep the last couple of games which is OK,” Baylor senior quarterback Seth Russell said.
Baylor fans might not tell Shock that he needs to pull an all-nighter against Kansas, but they might ask him to sometime during the final six games of the regular season if it means a repeat of his performance in Ames.
SicEm365
Rushing for at least 100 yards in a game had become a regular occurrence for Linwood during his freshman, sophomore and junior seasons, reaching the century mark a total of 14 times.
However, an injury limited him in the final four games of 2015, including missing the Russell Athletic Bowl. That stretch of eight games — four games to end 2015 coupled with the first four of 2016 — tied the longest streak of games in his career to not reach 100 yards of rushing.
“On the sideline, after I think the second quarter, I kind of went over and said, ‘This is the Shock I remember.’” Russell said. "He kind of laughed at me a little bit, but he’s here and I feel like he knows what his role is and it is huge for him to be able to step up like that for us.”
Grobe gave credit to running backs coach Jeff Lebby, the offensive line, and offensive line coach Randy Clements for the work they did with their units to allow for Linwood’s performance, but competition at the position might have been the tipping point.
“I think you go week-to-week and and whoever plays the best one week is probably the lead sled dog the next weekend, but that's a competitive situation right now,” Grobe said.
That competition begins with two running backs who rank among the top 15 in the Big 12 Conference in rushing.
“But now I've got a feeling that Terence Williams wants more snaps, so I think he'll have a great week of practice and he'll be pushing Shock and that's a good thing. ... Then JaMycal Hasty, we know he's got some special ability, too."
He added, “We’ve got a really good situation and I would think you're going into this week that Shock has earned the opportunity to start and at least initially get the most snaps.”
But make no mistake by thinking otherwise, Grobe had his hand in pushing Linwood to his best single-game performance as a Bear.
“That's the way you want to see kids respond, you know,” Grobe said. “Champions respond in a good way when they face little bit of adversity.”
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