Here we go with the Mail Bag. Next we put it out there, don’t be shy. Ask.
Q: Regarding the remaining spots at WR for 2016 (let's say 1 to 2 spots), in your crystal ball how do you currently see things playing out? Maybe stated more specifically, do you see Baylor landing either Tyrie Cleveland or Tren Dickson (I realize Devin D. is the #1 remaining target)? Walk me through your current thoughts.
A: Keep in mind that I haven't connected with Dickson in several weeks, but I feel that other programs have an edge on Baylor at the moment. With Cleveland, him and his teammate - QB Dillon Sterling-Cole - have mentioned playing together at the next level. Should that end up holding true, then it won't be a good thing for Baylor.
I still believe Duvernay is the No. 1 target at wide receiver and the coaches could be done with a commitment from him.
If the two current wide receiver commitments teach us anything, then we can expect the coaches to continuously identify additional wide receiver targets. With the two commits in place, the coaches can be a lot pickier moving forward.
-Matt Clare
Q: Help me sort out where things currently stand with a few names: Tyler Lee's Zach Hall and Katy's Kyle Porter? Doesn't Kyle hope to visit Baylor sometime this summer? Will Kyle need to be willing to play in Baylor's secondary or would Baylor take him as an "athlete" (somewhat like a Denzel Mims) and then figure things out once he gets on campus?
A: Hall is supposed to be visiting very soon, possibly this weekend. The coaches are recruiting him at corner. His two offers are from Baylor and Texas Tech, and I believe that Baylor holds the lead. Hall is a prospect that could commit during a visit, so stay tuned.
Porter never does interviews, I had to track him down at a photo shoot here in Houston. That being said, he did mention the Baylor coaches are still recruiting him for all-purpose back or slot receiver role. I will be at the state 7-on-7 tournament next weekend and plan on talking with Porter again.
-Matt Clare
Q: Does Tyrie Cleveland have a specific date lined up yet when he would like to visit Baylor this summer? If so (or when that date gets set), should we be on potential commitment watch once he steps foot on campus?
Do you view TCU as a very serious threat to still land Cleveland? I know Tyrie hails from Florida, but are the Gators a serious threat to eventually land his services?
A: I see Cleveland ending up with Florida or Arizona State, see my response above. He does not have a specific date (he told Kevin probably late July), but he will be at The Opening and I'm certain some media on hand will get some additional information from him. But no, I don't see him committing while on campus and I don't see TCU as a threat to land Cleveland. They have Courtney Lark and those two prospects are very similar players.
-Matt Clare
Q: Back to the WR situation for 2016...........with our remaining targets Devin D., Tren Dickson, and Tyrie Cleveland, how much attention did each pay to Baylor landing Denzel Mims and Jared Atkinson? I realize each of these three is a highly skilled athlete in his own right; however, do these fairly two recent commitments have much of a bearing on the decisions that will be coming forth from Devin, Tren, or Tyrie?
A: I don’t know if the Mims commitment had as much impact as the Atkinson commitment did. Remember, Mims is being looked as an athlete so he can go to either side of the ball. That will be determined once he’s on campus. Atkinson may have more of an impact on Dickson because I think the Baylor coaches like them both them same. If you’re Dickson, I think it gets your attention, especially if you decide if you want to re-commit. But in the end I think he is ending up somewhere else. Duvernay knows he is in demand so these commitments won’t impact him at all. Like Matt said above, Cleveland’s chances of coming to Baylor don’t seem that great. But if he shows for his unofficial visit later this month, then that could change everything.
-Kevin Lonnquist
Q: Regarding the 2017 class, how serious is Baylor's interest in DeSoto speedster KD Nixon? I know Nixon attended a Baylor camp this summer in Waco and Kendal recently started following Nixon on Twitter. My understanding is that Nixon recently said his top 3 "dream schools" are Baylor, TCU, and Oregon. With Nixon around 5' 8 1/2" or so, is he potentially a tad bit too small to play in the slot for Baylor or will his 4.38 40 carry the day?
A: I believe Baylor looks at Nixon similar to how it looks at Lancaster 2017 WR Omar Manning. The staff doesn’t have to offer yet and may not do it for a quite some time. It didn’t help Nixon that he injured his hamstring at the June 7 camp. My guess is Baylor will take a look at him during the fall and see what it wants to do. Baylor will always look at great athletes regardless of their size. I remind of LB Taylor Young who is about 5-9 and RB Shock Linwood who is also about 5-9. Baylor’s coaches know how to develop their offensive talent and get maximum out of them.
-Kevin Lonnquist
Q: 1) Which redshirt freshmen can we expect to contribute this year on offense/defense? not really concerned with those that play special teams?
2) How do you predict the 2 deep will look in our def backfield?
3) who gets more carries this year...Terrance Williams or JJ?
4) Who do you 2 see as our "possesion receiver"? I will guess Hawthorne?
A: I’ll take these in order.
1.. On offense, I still like Blake Lynch’s chances of getting on the field. The fact that he got to Baylor in January and went through spring, has 6-7 months of working with Kaz Kazadi just gives me the feeling, he’s going to be used. On defense, I’m hedging here but if Baylor wants to use J.W. Ketchum on defense – it’s been talked about him playing safety – then I think he has the best chance.
2..I don’t secondary depth chart moving too much from what the school released in April. Look, there’s a lot of youth back there and the coaches really needed the spring to know what they had. It’s going to be a pretty important fall camp for Tion Wright. I really am interested to see what Taion Sells can do.
3..I think Johnny Jefferson gets more carries than Terence Williams. Baylor needs more home run plays in the running game this year. Jefferson has the best chance to do that.
4..Lynx Hawthorne is for sure one. Remember, he’s running first team at one of the IR spots. I think the other could wind up being Chris Platt. He’s also at the slot. But he’s the kind that can move the chains with the chance of always taking one the distance. I thought Platt had a pretty good spring.
-Kevin Lonnquist
Q: Regarding the remaining spots at WR for 2016 (let's say 1 to 2 spots), in your crystal ball how do you currently see things playing out? Maybe stated more specifically, do you see Baylor landing either Tyrie Cleveland or Tren Dickson (I realize Devin D. is the #1 remaining target)? Walk me through your current thoughts.
A: Keep in mind that I haven't connected with Dickson in several weeks, but I feel that other programs have an edge on Baylor at the moment. With Cleveland, him and his teammate - QB Dillon Sterling-Cole - have mentioned playing together at the next level. Should that end up holding true, then it won't be a good thing for Baylor.
I still believe Duvernay is the No. 1 target at wide receiver and the coaches could be done with a commitment from him.
If the two current wide receiver commitments teach us anything, then we can expect the coaches to continuously identify additional wide receiver targets. With the two commits in place, the coaches can be a lot pickier moving forward.
-Matt Clare
Q: Help me sort out where things currently stand with a few names: Tyler Lee's Zach Hall and Katy's Kyle Porter? Doesn't Kyle hope to visit Baylor sometime this summer? Will Kyle need to be willing to play in Baylor's secondary or would Baylor take him as an "athlete" (somewhat like a Denzel Mims) and then figure things out once he gets on campus?
A: Hall is supposed to be visiting very soon, possibly this weekend. The coaches are recruiting him at corner. His two offers are from Baylor and Texas Tech, and I believe that Baylor holds the lead. Hall is a prospect that could commit during a visit, so stay tuned.
Porter never does interviews, I had to track him down at a photo shoot here in Houston. That being said, he did mention the Baylor coaches are still recruiting him for all-purpose back or slot receiver role. I will be at the state 7-on-7 tournament next weekend and plan on talking with Porter again.
-Matt Clare
Q: Does Tyrie Cleveland have a specific date lined up yet when he would like to visit Baylor this summer? If so (or when that date gets set), should we be on potential commitment watch once he steps foot on campus?
Do you view TCU as a very serious threat to still land Cleveland? I know Tyrie hails from Florida, but are the Gators a serious threat to eventually land his services?
A: I see Cleveland ending up with Florida or Arizona State, see my response above. He does not have a specific date (he told Kevin probably late July), but he will be at The Opening and I'm certain some media on hand will get some additional information from him. But no, I don't see him committing while on campus and I don't see TCU as a threat to land Cleveland. They have Courtney Lark and those two prospects are very similar players.
-Matt Clare
Q: Back to the WR situation for 2016...........with our remaining targets Devin D., Tren Dickson, and Tyrie Cleveland, how much attention did each pay to Baylor landing Denzel Mims and Jared Atkinson? I realize each of these three is a highly skilled athlete in his own right; however, do these fairly two recent commitments have much of a bearing on the decisions that will be coming forth from Devin, Tren, or Tyrie?
A: I don’t know if the Mims commitment had as much impact as the Atkinson commitment did. Remember, Mims is being looked as an athlete so he can go to either side of the ball. That will be determined once he’s on campus. Atkinson may have more of an impact on Dickson because I think the Baylor coaches like them both them same. If you’re Dickson, I think it gets your attention, especially if you decide if you want to re-commit. But in the end I think he is ending up somewhere else. Duvernay knows he is in demand so these commitments won’t impact him at all. Like Matt said above, Cleveland’s chances of coming to Baylor don’t seem that great. But if he shows for his unofficial visit later this month, then that could change everything.
-Kevin Lonnquist
Q: Regarding the 2017 class, how serious is Baylor's interest in DeSoto speedster KD Nixon? I know Nixon attended a Baylor camp this summer in Waco and Kendal recently started following Nixon on Twitter. My understanding is that Nixon recently said his top 3 "dream schools" are Baylor, TCU, and Oregon. With Nixon around 5' 8 1/2" or so, is he potentially a tad bit too small to play in the slot for Baylor or will his 4.38 40 carry the day?
A: I believe Baylor looks at Nixon similar to how it looks at Lancaster 2017 WR Omar Manning. The staff doesn’t have to offer yet and may not do it for a quite some time. It didn’t help Nixon that he injured his hamstring at the June 7 camp. My guess is Baylor will take a look at him during the fall and see what it wants to do. Baylor will always look at great athletes regardless of their size. I remind of LB Taylor Young who is about 5-9 and RB Shock Linwood who is also about 5-9. Baylor’s coaches know how to develop their offensive talent and get maximum out of them.
-Kevin Lonnquist
Q: 1) Which redshirt freshmen can we expect to contribute this year on offense/defense? not really concerned with those that play special teams?
2) How do you predict the 2 deep will look in our def backfield?
3) who gets more carries this year...Terrance Williams or JJ?
4) Who do you 2 see as our "possesion receiver"? I will guess Hawthorne?
A: I’ll take these in order.
1.. On offense, I still like Blake Lynch’s chances of getting on the field. The fact that he got to Baylor in January and went through spring, has 6-7 months of working with Kaz Kazadi just gives me the feeling, he’s going to be used. On defense, I’m hedging here but if Baylor wants to use J.W. Ketchum on defense – it’s been talked about him playing safety – then I think he has the best chance.
2..I don’t secondary depth chart moving too much from what the school released in April. Look, there’s a lot of youth back there and the coaches really needed the spring to know what they had. It’s going to be a pretty important fall camp for Tion Wright. I really am interested to see what Taion Sells can do.
3..I think Johnny Jefferson gets more carries than Terence Williams. Baylor needs more home run plays in the running game this year. Jefferson has the best chance to do that.
4..Lynx Hawthorne is for sure one. Remember, he’s running first team at one of the IR spots. I think the other could wind up being Chris Platt. He’s also at the slot. But he’s the kind that can move the chains with the chance of always taking one the distance. I thought Platt had a pretty good spring.
-Kevin Lonnquist
