Rhule gives rough timeline to set depth chart for season opener

Sixteen days out from Baylor's season opener against Abilene Christian at McLane Stadium on Sept. 1, head coach Matt Rhule has an idea of when his position coaches will begin to nail down their starting lineups, but first there is a lot more competition to be had to help iron things out.

Baylor returns 43 players to their 2018 roster with at least one game of starting experience. Of those, 28 have at least four games of starting experience. While that experience is extremely valuable, it doesn't mean anything is set in stone.

"Sometimes young people have an idea of, ‘oh, that’s my spot,'" Rhule said. "I don’t really believe in that. We have a standard of how you’re going to play and if you’re not, in terms of effort and preparation, if you’re not doing that you won’t start no matter what you did last year."

The work put in between now and then will provide the staff a great feel for which players will be plugged in where in the depth chart.

"In terms of settling on that first game, I think that will start to happen next Friday and Saturday," Rhule said. "We’ll try to have three more good days next Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, rest a little bit on Thursday and Friday, and do a little mock game on Saturday. 

Baylor offensive line coach Shawn Bell elaborated on the competitive nature that needs to carry on daily throughout camp to help those decisions to be made.

"I think every day is a competition," Bell said. "We’ve had guys that week one were lower and now after the last two practices moved up. That’s what it’s all about is competing every single day. 

"The day we lock in and say, ‘Hey, this is your spot,’ then we’re going to be a failure as a program. Every day is a competition, every day a spots up for grabs and I think our guys understand that we compete every single day.

Beginning August 16, that means roughly 10 more days of competition until a rough draft of a depth chart will be penciled in. 

"Coming in [next] Sunday I think the coaches will settle on, ‘Hey, here’s the guys that we’re going to play with in that first game," Rhule said.