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Baylor Football Recruiting

Relationships, vision will define Baylor's chances with Gerry Bohanon

December 6, 2017
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There's no doubt that Chad Morris remembers Matt Rhule taking prized quarterback commit Charlie Brewer from Lake Travis out from under his nose in 2017. Now a year later, Morris has the opportunity to return the favor to Rhule as signs point to Morris focusing in on top Baylor QB target Gerry Bohanon‍ in Arkansas.

That might seem silly to make that assumption, but there's no way around the fact that Morris' first prospect to follow on Twitter after being named the head coach at Arkansas was Bohanon.

There is a lot of bad news that can come out of this for Baylor considering the Bears have seemingly gone all in on Bohanon dating back to the early summer. The Baylor staff has put all other potential offers on hold and only kept an open dialogue with prospects they are interested in. They canceled official visits for junior college quarterbacks, and without knowing all of the details, basically told a potential high school quarterback they needed more time on making a decision to offer.

Getting to the point, all of their dedication to courting Bohanon could lead them holding an empty bag on Dec. 20.

But there's a lot of good news, too, mainly because Baylor's staff has dedicated that time to his recruitment. 

A staff that prides itself in the relationship it builds with their players, something that is reflected on nearly a daily basis through interactions with former players, current players and future prospects, has never been more evident as it is in their recruitment of Bohanon.

With an incredible need for the 6-foot-3, 215-pounder to end up a Bear, what does the Baylor staff have to do to make that happen despite a forthcoming push from Morris? It's simple... keep doing what they've always done. And that begins with director of player personnel Evan Cooper who has been on the forefront of the recruitment for the entire six months.

Cooper will make a trip to Earle, Arkansas on Thursday to see Bohanon and move their relationship forward. Cooper's trip follows visits from co-offensive coordinators Jeff Nixon and Glenn Thomas earlier this winter as well as an official visit with his mother from Dec. 2 to Dec. 4 to visit with the entire staff.

The trip to Waco for his official visit was Bohanon's third visit of the fall. The four-star made a trip prior to the start of high school season and also make an in-season visit to see the Bears take on West Virginia along with his mother.

Not to mention that head coach Matt Rhule will also head to Arkansas to visit Bohanon within the next two weeks for his lone in-home visit.

There is little doubt that Bohanon knows his value to Baylor's 2018 class. In fact, he mentioned to SicEm365 how important his role would be in the offense after his visit to Waco earlier this season. With Cooper leading the way, along with the rest of the staff, Baylor has shown him the way and the plan to undoubtedly being the QB to lead the team in the future.

With that comes the fact that Bohanon also knows his path to the playing field is a plus as well. Not only is Baylor not actively pushing for another QB in 2018, the Bears will return just one to their roster for spring practice as junior Zach Smith elected to transfer, leaving only sophomore Charlie Brewer. Arkansas will return four juniors and two redshirt freshmen while also holding a commitment from four-star 2018 QB Connor Noland‍.

As any high school prospect does, Bohanon has eyes on playing in the NFL. QB coach Glenn Thomas, formerly the QB coach for the Atlanta Falcons and Matt Ryan, has sold Bohanon on his NFL background helping prepare him to play at the next level. Thomas pushed Ryan to new heights in his three years as his mentor, improving completion percentage, yards and touchdowns throughout his three seasons in Atlanta, and he will do the same for Bohanon.

Then there are relationships he's developed with the Baylor commits which we could discuss, but that might drag this out longer than it needs to be.

What Baylor has hoped to do with Bohanon over the last six months is build a foundation. A foundation that is solid and sturdy to withstand trials and storms.

Can Morris play the hometown hero card and knock that foundation to pieces in the next 11 to 14 days despite only having one in-home visit and no official visit remaining?

We will know in the next two weeks just how sturdy Baylor's foundation is.

 
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