Elijah Bean

It was such a joy to get down to McLane on Saturday and I wanted to take a little bit to process all I saw at the practice and learned from others around the program while there. The elephants in the room remain quarterback and offensive line. I did a solid five minutes of video on offensive line drills and noted Klinge (precaution), Kimble (surgery), and Keith (minor issue) were held out. Byers was not there at all and I was later told he had an obligation to attend to and was excused. This left 10 players to practice, including transfer/walk-on Jacob Frater and true freshman Connor Heffernan. Both of these guys look out of place in the size category. The other 8 and the three there, but held out look like real DI OL. Starting OL started with Newman at C and Miller at RG. The issues I've seen with Newman at C continued with snaps being low and not consistent. The issues with him being late off the ball and being driven into the backfield also continued and Siaki Ika appeared to pick up the snap count and was dominating the LOS inside and leaving the RBs with little choice but to try to get around that mammoth pile of humanity or be tackled. Once that broke down, the rest of the DL fed off the miscues and made the play in the backfield or minimal gain. Miller moved to C after 4-5 series and the interior blocking improved. Taye McWilliams was able to pop a 40+ yards TD against the 2nd team DL as Miller crossed the NG, turned him, and then made his way to the LB in the hole. On this play, Newman kicked the DL outside. The previous play, Newman was 10 yards deep in the backfield tackling Rob Saulin's penetration. Galvin was solid and remains the best OL. Phillips had ups and downs at RT and Johncarlo Valentin is going to find his way into the mix. Mose Jeffery did not have a good day at RT and appears headed to LG or RG, depending on the C situation. Newman is a team captain, so the situation is one where Newman needs to step up his play or a captain could be on the bench. He has the ability, but it has to click.Micah Mazzccua has good size, but needs to not fall into the Khalil Keith mold of missing the game because he isn't a student of it. The OL still needs to improve and I can see the technique from Mateos drilling it into all of them, but there needs to be more dudes and not JAGS. The physical size is there. The coaching is there. It is on the players to execute now. Quarterback was a shock to see Blake Shapen run out for the first series. The RS Freshman has a lively arm and moxy, but it got the best of him on a seam route to Tyquan Thornton as Jalen Pitre was able to undercut it and take it back 50+ yards on the interception. Jacob Zeno came in and looked more poised than last year and was able to make plays and lead the team to scores against the 2nd team DL. The throws were essentially all good and he looked to take command in this practice. I'll state that once more, this practice. ONE PRACTICE.Gerry Bohanon came on third and took that amount of reps and struggled at times and flashing at times. Running behind the 2nd team OL was likely frustrating as pressure was coming from JACK and DL on each snap. In other practices, Bohanon has been best, per those around the program, so the battle isn't over between the three.Kyron Drones drips with ability, but his development will take a bit of time and he'll be one to watch going forward. He had a beautiful pass dropped in the end zone. The pass is one we would not have seen last year as it required a different arm strength.All four have more arm talent than Charlie, but each will need to become the winner he was at the DI level. Running backs were bigger. Much bigger than the previous two years. Nothing to add here as they're talented and just need holes. Wide receivers look to have taken a big jump. RJ Sneed was in the slot, along with Gavin Holmes and each made great plays. Holmes hauled in a TD across the middle and then left to have his foot/ankle retaped and was held out for the remaineder of the practice. Thorntion was back to running with his speed, but the one that popped off the field was Jackson Gleeson. The speedster from Mansfield looks to be healthy and serious to make an impression. I knew he was fast, but to see him accellerate and run away from a DB with an angle was special. Javon Gipson and Elijah Bean showed better than usual freshmen when compared to the current players on campus. Jaylen Ellis also had some athletic plays and a TD where he adjusted to the ball, threw the DB down, and then drug him into the end zone. DL is deep. Nothing to add, but extremely happy there.LB looked good/great.DB group looked good. Barnes got beat for a TD.Ask away

A view of the players with new weight gains since the Fall of 2020 and a few losses

Dave Aranda brings NFL Scout James Blanchard back to Baylor.