Story Poster
Photo by Todd Nickle
Baylor Football

Midweek Breakfast: Dissecting Baylor’s Green and Gold Game

April 26, 2017
4,423

Prior to Baylor’s Green and Gold game, I jotted down a few notes that listed out my expectations. Primarily, how has Matt Rhule affected the offensive juggernaut Bears? Who’s leading the quarterback battle, sophomore Zach Smith or graduate transfer Anu Solomon? And lastly, what will we see from the early enrollees, particularly Charlie Brewer and RJ Sneed?

Concerning the offense, we saw the immediate impact of Rhule’s new regime. Double TE sets, I-formation, TE with an H-back, and a whole lot of passing towards the TE across the middle of the field flooded McLane Stadium Saturday.

Sitting in the stands, it was a little weird not to see up-tempo, four and five wide sets. The game definitely slowed down and began to take shape, looking like an NFL game. Regarding the offensive concepts we saw this past weekend, Rhule stated that he “wanted to be multiple. I want people to have to defend so many different things.”

Quarterbacks

While the quarterback position is wide-open and will remain so until fall practices according to Rhule, most assumed the position was all but guaranteed to be Smith’s following his performance in the Cactus Bowl.I was not convinced, however.

However, following a 17-for-30 day for 162 yards and one touchdown performance on a bad ankle in the spring game, I started to see Smith emerge as a threat at the quarterback position. Rhule added the fact that he’s “been pleased with Smith all spring. He’s getting better and better and better and he’s going to be one heck of a quarterback.”

The only downside from Smith’s performance this weekend (and past season) was his speed. Finishing with three rushes for 10 yards, Smith showed little to no escape-ability while Solomon and Brewer both showed some quickness on their feet.

Even though Smith showed perhaps more talent, Solomon’s performance didn’t go unnoticed. While he only completed 50 percent of his passes for 86 yards, it was perhaps his quickness that stuck out to me the most. After the pocket collapsed, Solomon was able to get out and salvage a dead play multiple times.

Following the game, Rhule said Smith and Solomon are the front-runners for the starting gig; however, he did not rule out Brewer.

“Zach and Anu are slightly ahead, with Charlie short behind," Rhule said. "I feel good where Charlie is. If I needed him to go in and do it, he definitely could. He could wind up in the discussion.”

Brewer was one of the key early enrollees I wanted to see perform. I’m willing enough to say Brewer may have even performed the best out of the quarterbacks, completing 8-of-12 passes for 102 yards and two touchdowns through the air, including one to Ish Wainwright while also adding 44 yards on the ground.

The only damper on his performance Saturday was the fact that he was mostly going against the second string.

Sneed was the other early enrollee who drew a lot of attention during spring practices. He caught three passes for 45 yards including a nice 20-yd diving catch late in the fourth quarter.

Biggest Take Aways

While it’s hard to dissect the spring game and you can’t expect the same results in the fall, there are a few highlights I think that are important to take notice of.
   
Primarily, the offensive line is terribly thin. With no depth along the line, my biggest concern for the team coming into next season will be how healthy they can stay and if they can withstand top defensive lines in the Big 12.

Another position that lacks depth is the running-back position. This past weekend we saw JaMycal Hasty for only a few plays and no Terrence Williams. The game consisted mainly of walk-on running backs struggle to gain yardage. Along the line and at running back, the Bears are in desperate need of picking up a junior college transfer.

Another key note from this past weekend was a lack of a clear number one wide receiver. While defensive back convert Tony Nicholson (8-69-1) saw the most targets, the rest of the targets were evenly split between Marques Jones (2-54-1), Denzel Mims (5-51), Pooh Stricklin (2-26), and Sneed (3-45). While there is still hope somebody stands out next fall, I fear the fabled "WRU" may no longer be intact.

Off the Field

Matt Rhule is doing a better job at recovering and renewing the culture of football at Baylor better than anyone would have expected.

With the introduction of the 2017 signing class at halftime and the new spring awards show, Rhule is boosting player morale and creating an atmosphere around the program. While Rhule displayed his ability as a player’s coach, the promotion of 22-year staffer Clint Lewis was direct evidence as to why we love sports and definitely impacted the culture at Baylor for the better.

Lastly, while the spring game may have grabbed everyone’s attention, big time RB (future WR/TE) transfer Jalen Hurd (2,638 career rush yds, 20 tds) announced his intention to transfer to Baylor. Having to set out the 2017 season, the Bears look forward to having the 6-foot-4, 240-pound beast on the field in 2018.
Discussion from...

Midweek Breakfast: Dissecting Baylor’s Green and Gold Game

2,645 Views | 0 Replies | Last: 6 yr ago by Cameron Ziegler
There are not any replies to this post yet.
Refresh
Page 1 of 1
 
×
subscribe Verify your student status
See Subscription Benefits
Trial only available to users who have never subscribed or participated in a previous trial.