Following its 12-game regular season schedule, Baylor is headed to the offseason with a momentum that can be found by those willing to dive into the game film and see the progressions made consistently on both sides of the balls. Those unwilling to do so will sit through the offseason with the thought that there are too many large steps to be made before Matt Rhule will find similar success of recent seasons.
There are steps to be made, gaps to be filled, and talent to be brought in, cultivated and grown. But that's that part of any process, Baylor just happened to be behind the curve when Matt Rhule arrived last December. His staff rallied the troops to pull together 27 signees in two months with three additional impact transfers that were ineligible play in 2017.
Now it's time to watch 23 of those 27 freshmen to go through their first offseason program and three former U.S. Army All Americans be welcomed to the depth chart.
“If we’re not tough enough, we have to spend the offseason getting tougher," Rhule said. "If we’re just not talented enough, then we have to continue to develop. We have to really take this as an honest look at ourselves and say, ‘where are we deficient?”
"I also think you get through the league, and you see, ‘okay, how strong are we compared to everybody else? How fast are we compared to everybody else? Where do we need to improve? Where do we need to focus our recruiting?’ We’ve played a lot of veteran teams, and I’m not talking about our youth."
Baylor fans, tip your hats to Taion Sells, Brian Nance, Mo Porter, Jordan Feuerbacher, Davion Hall, Tyrae Simmons, Taylor Young, Chance Waz, Quan Jones, KJ Smith, Ishmail Wainright, Daniel Russell, Blake Murphy, Tyler Jaynes, Iain Hunter and Johnathan Hockman for the undeniable leadership they showed over the last 12 months.
Now it's time to see how the masterplan should fit together after a season full of disappointment.
"(The season has) meant a lot to me in terms of learning Baylor," Rhule said. "We’ve changed practice schedules as we’ve tried to make sure that we push our players, but at the same time don’t sacrifice their grades and give them the best opportunity to be in study hall. There’s been a lot of learning curve from the league to our players to just how things work here, and I think we’ve settled in on a lot of things."
Defensive install still on course
Rhule bringing Phil Snow's defensive scheme down to Texas, one that was marked as the third-ranked defense nationally at Temple in 2016, was one of the most intriguing pieces for Baylor fans after seeing a high-flying offense be the showcased unit for the previous nine seasons.
Unfortunately, that plan on defense didn't result in immediate success in Waco. The improvement made throughout the course of the season was noticeable, but it shouldn't come as a surprise that it wasn't in full swing in 2017. A depleted roster should receive partial blame, but Baylor defensive coordinator Phil Snow said to open spring practice that his defense would require significant time to install, much less be understood entirely.
"We’re just going to put in our base this spring and I’m not sure we will complete that," Snow said. "But we’ve got to be smart on not going too fast. But I want to introduce what I want to introduce, right? So that over the summer and fall camp they’ve heard the terminology and have lined up in certain defenses and then we will get into our third-down packages and second and long in fall camp."
Redshirt senior safety Taion Sells noted the differences in what the scheme asked of the defense compared to what they had previously learned.
“It’s a complicated defense," Sells said.
"In the last defense there wasn’t that many calls and checks we had to make. In this defense, by formations and different formations they come out in, we have to make different checks. That’s the most complicated thing about it."
As the season progressed it became evident that the defense was better understanding what was being asked of them as the execution, specifically on third downs, one of the last areas to be installed in fall camp. Through the first seven games of the season, the Baylor defense was giving up 44-percent conversion on third downs. Through the final five, the Bears gave up less than 35 percent.
Rhule mentioned in the spring the complication of the defense beginning not only with a thick playbook, but also the need for Snow's players to learn what opposing offenses were attempting to do before ever beginning on defense.
"Coach Snow’s is pretty thick, but a lot of it’s because Coach Snow starts out by making the kids all learn the offensive formations then makes them all learn the offensive routes," Rhule said. "So if you play defense for Coach Snow you learn offense before you ever begin to learn defense and that’s part of a comprehensive building of a player."
As the scheme continues to marinate through another offseason, Rhule believes the trend will continue in even more of a positive direction.
"This will continue to develop through the offseason," Rhule said. "It’ll continue to develop through the spring. They’ll look back in a year and be like, ‘oh my goodness, look where we were to where we are now."
Offensive issues not unexpected with scheme changes, personnel issues
After a 2017 offseason where the Bears saw a host of offensive linemen leave the program, it became evident that the Bears offense would go as the offensive line would go. And that has proven to be true.
The Baylor offense finished the season ranked as the No. 5 unit in Big 12 play behind Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, West Virginia and Texas Tech, and just ahead of TCU. However, that was despite an offensive line that helped crank out less than 110.0 yards rushing per game, best for eighth in the conference, and finished ranking ninth in red zone offense, scoring just five rushing touchdowns once getting inside the 20-yard line.
But it wasn't only the personnel deficiencies that caused struggles in key running situations. Offensive line coach George DeLeone and junior offensive lineman Blake Blackmar each addressed the change in scheme on the offensive line in the spring.
Shifting from an offense that was focused primarily on tempo to one that asked players to use technique to win individual battles, the group of linemen needed to dismiss multiple years of coaching to make room for something brand new.
“It’s been humbling because you have been doing one thing the last couple of years and gained some success and have developed a lot of habits and you kind of have to break a lot of those habits and start over from square one," Blackmar stated in the spring. "So there’s always some headbutting and you always go back to your old habits which may have been good under the old system and now they’re not exactly helping you."
DeLeone felt similarly on the offensive line as the group made their way through spring drills.
"These kids were excellent in their system, but the system is different," DeLeone said. "They were well coached and did a hell of a job in the previous system, ours is just a little bit different. The biggest changes are going to be - I think up front just from a fundamentals, technique standpoint, you talk to 10 different line coaches you will have 10 different ways to do things, but my way is one of the 10."
As much as been made of the playbook for quarterbacks, running backs and receivers, Blackmar noted the workload for the offensive linemen being something that would take some time to learn.
"It’s something you can go back to if you have a question or look over right before we have practice ‘cause there’s a lot more to this offense than the old offense," Blackmar said. "At least for us, I know the quarterbacks had 12,000 reads and all that stuff that made the old offense work, but this is most definitely a much larger of an offensive scheme for the offensive line to handle, but I think it’s coming along well.”
Similar to the defense, the offensive line has found improved success from the early portion of the season to the end, just as was expected when a more in-depth scheme was being implemented.
Excluding their season opener against FCS Liberty, a game which the Bears lost, the Bears rushed for less than 85 yards per. Through the final seven, the Bears improved that average by nearly 30 yards per game despite playing a much tougher schedule. It was still a far cry from where the group hopes to be, but with the personnel issues at hand, the progress was more than fair.
Experienced transfers, another offseason will give Bears maturity
As the old saying goes, the best part about freshmen is they become sophomores. Considering the circumstances, that can be applied to the entire Baylor roster who will enter an offseason program with a year of a brand new offensive and defensive system under their built.
The fact that the group is young (28 of 44 players listed on Baylor's depth chart for the season finale against TCU were freshmen or sophomores) is just a bonus in terms of the system being in place without much turnover after the first season.
"You have to kind of in your mind say, ‘what will we look like when we’re a veteran team?" Rhule said. "What will we look like when we have three senior offensive linemen out there next year?’ I think going through the league helps you say, ‘what can our guys do? Where do we need to improve?"
While it's tough to project exactly what depth chart breakdowns for 2018 will look like, the team will naturally be older and more experienced when transfers Jake Fruhmorgen (OL/JR), Christian Beard (OL/JR), James Lockhart (DL/JR) and Jalen Hurd (WR/SR) are eligible to play.
“I think Christian Beard, sitting out coming in from UCF. He would have helped us this year. Jake Fruhmorgen. Started two years at Clemson. When you have a great player like Mo [Porter] graduating, we are hopeful that Jake can come in and help. Jalen Hurd was like 400 yards away from being Tennessee’s all-time leading rusher. He’s an elite athlete and an elite player. He’s a competitive, competitive, competitive football player. I think he’ll bring a tremendous amount to the team. James Lockhart sat out this year after spending two years at A&M. I don’t know that there is anyone more bought into our process, the way we practice, the way we do things, the attention to detail. He’s down there on the scout team defense and he makes the scout team defense guys do everything that Phil [Snow] makes the defense do. He’s training them right now."
Key Bears returning from season-ending injuries
Chris Platt and KJ Smith were set to play big roles for the Bears on offense and defense in 2017, but both players saw their seasons cut short with injuries.
Platt, a junior wide receiver, tore his ACL in the fourth game of the season against Oklahoma after catching 16 passes for 401 yards and five touchdowns. Smith, a senior defensive end, saw his season cut short after the first game of 2017 when shin splints put him on the sideline for good.
While Platt is on his way to recovery and set to return for his senior season, Smith is now in the process of filing paperwork in order to receive a sixth year of eligibility from the NCAA. Head coach Matt Rhule mentioned the significance of a player like Smith opting to return to the program.
“I would say this, I think the fact that KJ would like to come back and play for us is such a significant statement by him. I think he was grateful that we wanted him back. I said, ‘Are you kidding me?’ KJ Smith is a good student, he’s a really good person. He’s been hurt all year, and all he does is every Monday night when the d-line comes to my office and gets chicken and watches football, he’s there. He sits in every meeting, he’s there to support his teammates. He’s battled through the adversity. So, we’ve never really seen K.J. healthy. But, when he’s healthy, he’s a really, really good football player. So, there’s a very positive football effect."
Along with Platt and Smith, the Bears will also see the return of linebacker Clay Johnston to the defense. Johnston, who battled through the season with a hand and foot injury, totaled 54 tackles, 9.0 tackles for loss and 1.0 sacks in Baylor's first eight games of the season.
Charlie Brewer finishes freshman campaign showing high upside
Despite playing less than three-quarters of the game against TCU, freshman QB Charlie Brewer continued his hot streak since taking over the starting role when Zach Smith went out with a shoulder injury against Texas.
In four starts against Iowa State, Kansas, Texas Tech and TCU, Brewer averaged 308.8 yards passing on 70.7-percent passing with 10 touchdowns and three interceptions. Brewer also put up 107 yards rushing in the four contest.
But it was the performance in the season finale that should excite Baylor fans for spring football and the 2018 season. Prior exiting the contest with 1:33 to go in the third quarter, Brewer completed 19 of 29 passes for 301 yards and rushed 9 times for 59 yards despite being sacked multiple times.
However, like all freshmen will do, Brewer showed a tendency of turning the ball over in the four games which he started despite all of the positives put on display. Along with the three interceptions in the four games, Brewer put the ball on the ground in key situations against Texas Tech and TCU.
“Both optimists and pessimists contribute to our society. The optimist invents the airplane and the pessimist the parachute.” — Gil Stern
