Glitch in the System: A reminder Blake Lynch is scary versatile

There’s more than a little concern surrounding Wide Receiver U outside of McLennan County.

ESPN ranked Baylor’s receiving corps as the worst in the Big 12 while the Bears topped the charts last year. With KD Cannon and Ish Zamora both leaving with eligibility for another round in Waco, it’s easy to see why.

The imported scheme from Temple that had not churned out a thousand-yard receiver under Matt Rhule doesn’t help matters either. From the outside (and for some more discerning BU fans as well), the WRU tag looks like a fading relic from another brighter but equally dark era.

But there are still a few holdovers from that era Art Briles ushered in that can keep a strand of the Nation’s Fastest Offense DNA alive. Among the most important is Blake Lynch.

Yes, Terence Williams and JaMycal Hasty are among the top recruits from the Briles’ era. Yes, Zach Smith was groomed behind two of Baylor’s top signal callers — over the past couple months, SicEm365 has discussed how they play into this season. But Lynch’s role may be among the most important if only for his versatility.

The redshirt sophomore has been showing that since his commitment to the green and gold in 2013.

This isn’t the first transition period Lynch as been a part of, either. He started his high school career as the quarterback at Troup High before taking on a broader role as a senior at Gilmer. There, he lined up under center, set up wide and even played safety.

With Baylor’s depth chart stretched thin with inexperience, Lynch’s ability as a pure athlete is his greatest strength and could serve something of a glitch for Baylor.

Baylor caught a glimpse of everything Lynch is capable of last season when he was put in the backfield, rushing for 58 yards on six carries against Oklahoma and the next game he found himself in line for one pass to take advantage of his unique background.

That’s not to say he’s going to be the star running back or even take snaps from the TBD quarterback but the foundation is there- Gilmer coach Jeff Traylor knew that much from one season with him.

“Any coach would be happy to have Blake,” Traylor said via the Waco Tribune-Herald. “He’s very intelligent, likeable, a high character guy and humble.

“He can catch, run, block, tackle, play receiver or in the secondary. He’ll do whatever Coach Briles needs him to do.”

Of course, Coach Briles didn’t need much from Lynch. When Lynch came to campus in 2015 he sat his first season in Waco as a redshirt to save his eligibility.

But the foundation of Traylor’s comment remains the same, being one of the players Rhule said he was most impressed with during spring practice. Lynch should be able to do whatever Rhule needs him to do too.

Sitting behind Cannon and Zamora along with redshirt junior Chris Platt, Lynch still found times to shine through. He was the leading receiver against SMU with 95 yards on six receptions, scoring on a 31-yard fly route from Russell to ignite the comeback win. By comparison, Cannon had 93 yards with a score on ten catches.



Lynch fell flat for a couple weeks buried in the depth chart again but was once again comparable with Cannon against Kansas State. The latter had 91 yards on nine receptions compared to Lynch’s six catches for 61 yards and a TD, holding a similar yards per catch average.

Most of the excitement from Lynch stems from his physical traits. At 6-foot-3 with track star speed while adding on 15 pounds of muscle since calling Waco home, he’s an exciting athlete all over the field.

The beauty of the situation for Baylor with Lynch is there’s little concern to bend to his abilities, his ability is the one that wraps around the situation.