Quote Highlights: QB hints, offensive line depth, safety development

SicEm365 gives you a weekly reader's digest from the most recent round of interviews from Baylor's fall camp. Head coach Matt Rhule was the the lone interview following practice on Monday.

---

On Tuesday practice and leadership

“Practice was not very good today. It was a soft football team out there. Camp's been hard and today’s the last day of classes. A bunch of guys feelings sorry for themselves today. Any time I say that, there’s a bunch of guys that do rise to the occasion. You saw a bunch of guys try to do that, Taion Sells, Taylor Young, Brian [Nance], a bunch of guys but I think overall, the lack of leadership on offense really showed itself today. And that’s a good thing to me because when you see it, you can correct it.”

On leaders emerging beyond quarterbacks

“Leadership comes in all forms. You’d probably like one of your offensive linemen do it. Be a sort of reason and you need an offensive skill player that just plays with such amazing effort, that everyone wants to be like him. Really, the guy for us that does that a lot of the times is Jalen Hurd. But he’s obviously sitting out this year. He’s a guy that makes everyone around him better with his effort and the way he practices.”

On defense’s leaders

“Taylor [Young] and Taion [Sells] are two guys that sort of always standout but we have guys on the d-line that are giving tremendous effort, trying to get better. Ira Lewis is a guy that always stands out to me, really transformed his body and has become a really good player. I think there are plenty of kids like that on defense. Eric Ogor’s a guy that’s like night and day from when we first got here.”

On the deciding factor for the starting QB

“It’s really who's the guy who gets [everyone around him] to play well. I think both quarterbacks (Zach Smith and Anu Solomon) played really well today. So that was a positive. They made a lot of good plays and gave receivers a chance to make plays on the ball…Charlie’s had a really strong camp, so I don’t want to dismiss him. Preston Heard’s had a really strong camp.”

“I think the young o-line’s getting better. Our receivers, I think have a really good chance to be a really good group. And I think our two young backs [John] Lovett and [Trestan] Ebner and you know, Dru Dixon, we have three young running backs that we think can be potentially starting running backs in the Big 12.“

On the status at safety

“We have a bunch of guys hurt at safety. I think we have three scholarship safeties practicing. So a lot of respect for the other kids, there’s three kids that are non-scholarship players that are [impressing.] Jairon McVea is an outstanding player. [Jarrod] Koym, Connor Stanton, that group overall has allowed us to practice really well.
“[Davion Hall’s] day-by-day. Raj [Preciado], he got hurt in the summer so he’s probably another week, maybe. And Henry Black’s maybe another week. So it’s all sorta day-by-day.”

On the offensive line depth

“I think Ryan Miller, as a freshman has really stepped up. He went with the ones all day today [at center] which let’s us play [Sam] Tecklenburg at guard. I think Tecklenburg has naturally become a very good offensive lineman very quickly. You know, Mo [Porter], [Blake] Blackmar, and [Patrick] Lawrence are consistent guys. Some of the young kids have done a really nice job. Tyrae [Simmons] is bouncing around a bunch of positions. But all the young kids are. [Henry] Klinge’s a guy that’s two-deep, so we’re getting a lot of help from those guys. They have a long way to go but they’re getting better.”

On walk on Dru Dixon

“Well, Ty Smith was at Air Force Academy and Ty Smith was an offensive lineman, really good young offensive lineman and he was an Air Force prep. So, he didn’t want to go to the Air Force Academy so he came on his visit to talk to us about walking on and when he did that, Dru came with him and so Dru was just sitting there and they said, ‘Hey, we think we want to come.’ And they got into school and I think Dru and Ty are both going to play for us at some point. And Dru is running guys over. He’s 240 pounds. He’s like Mike Alstott.”