kevinwood said:

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Clay has been All-American level, with 58 total tackles this year, and the closest to him is 30 tackles by Bernard and 28 by Jordan Williams. God bless him, and may his journey of healing over the next year go well.

His replacement, unless the staff re-positions one of our safeties which I doubt, or re-positions our backup SLB Pitre, is:

Matt Jones, 2nd team MLB. Matt's athletic ability very nearly matches Clay's, including his 40 time.

And Matt was an absolute beast as a senior at a 6A TX high school last year.

In case you need an introduction to his "beastness" and body slams, which below is on full display, here it is:


https://247sports.com/Video/Matt-Jones-senior-highlights-8882033/


Stunningly, Matt had 27 tackles for a loss as a Senior, so the talent is there!

He apparently was expected to redshirt as he's only played 2 games this year, with 2 more to give, and word was he had a great Fall camp and really impressed the coaches.

While I believe Matt Jones has the talent and toughness to be All-Conference, he's just a Freshman, and one only needs to look at the improvement from Johnston since his Sophomore year to see how experience and increased strength training is so important for the Middle Linebacker spot.

So, the question is, can Matt be coached up in time to prevent a big drop off for the position. He doesn't have to fill the role of QB on defense, as one of the other LB's can do that -- he just needs to fill the role as MLB.

I think even as a Freshman he can do pretty well, but we'll need to have patience for him to better learn the position and our defense over the next few games. What other good options do we have, anyone know?

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Wichitabear said:

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Put him in and start the engine. We are about to play OSU.

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BearConscious said:

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Pitre, Solomon Turner, and Matt Jones are three LBs Baylor wanted to red shirt this year. Pitre played well in reserve Saturday and I think a redshirt for him is out of the question. I believe Turner is, or was injured. Matt Jones has played in at least one game thus far I think, maybe more. At this point, I think you play Pitre, giving your three LBs (Pitre, Jordan Williams, and Bernard) to play two positions and stay relatively fresh. If the coaches have enough confidence to play Jones and/or Turner, you save them for OU and Texas and whatever other games won't push them over the 4 game limit for a redshirt.

I have my doubts that neither Jones nor Turner have enough experience to not become a liability at this point. Jones played DE a year ago and whatever position Turner played didn't have the same responsibilities that the inside LB positions have at Baylor. A year from now, one or both of those guys might be dynamic players...but not this year.

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kevinwood said:

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Wichitabear said:

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Put him in and start the engine. We are about to play OSU.

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Indeed. Clay Johnston will help tutor him I presume and help get him up to speed.

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BearConscious said:

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Pitre, Solomon Turner, and Matt Jones are three LBs Baylor wanted to red shirt this year. Pitre played well in reserve Saturday and I think a redshirt for him is out of the question. I believe Turner is, or was injured. Matt Jones has played in at least one game thus far I think, maybe more. At this point, I think you play Pitre, giving your three LBs (Pitre, Jordan Williams, and Bernard) to play two positions and stay relatively fresh. If the coaches have enough confidence to play Jones and/or Turner, you save them for OU and Texas and whatever other games won't push them over the 4 game limit for a redshirt.

I have my doubts that neither Jones nor Turner have enough experience to not become a liability at this point. Jones played DE a year ago and whatever position Turner played didn't have the same responsibilities that the inside LB positions have at Baylor. A year from now, one or both of those guys might be dynamic players...but not this year.

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