By Kevin Lonnquist
Publisher
Welcome to the start of another year, 2023 to be precise. We hope that whatever you did on New Year’s Even was done in accordance with good judgment and minimal risk of danger.
As the RJB’s mother Maureen used to say, “New Year’s is for amateurs.’’ You could start off a new year with the traditional “Auld Lang Syne”. But the RJB won’t do that.
Besides, there was a great debate at the end of the 1989 movie “When Harry met Sally” about that song.
Harry: What does this song mean? My whole life, I don't know what this song means. I mean, 'Should old acquaintance be forgot'? Does that mean that we should forget old acquaintances, or does it mean if we happened to forget them, we should remember them, which is not possible because we already forgot?
Sally: Well, maybe it just means that we should remember that we forgot them or something. Anyway, it's about old friends.
So the RJB will bring you back to the two top crooners of the 1940s and 1950s in Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby who rang in the new year their way.
Login to view embedded media
*****
It’s time for some brutal honesty about the Baylor 2023 QB situation. It’s not very good right now.
Hopefully, all of us acknowledge this. And if you don’t, then you probably have not wanted to acknowledge the frustration of this or really don’t know. But if you’re paying $10 per month for continuous Baylor information, then you should know.
Based on the way things have been going since Dave Aranda’s program officially entered the portal market on Dec. 21 – the day
Austin Novosad signed with Oregon – this has been a game of playing catchup.
I’m not trying to be the sour apple or the rain on a parade. But given what you have read since national signing day from the stories I’ve posted to my posts in threads to the movement of other big-name portal QBs and from whatever else you’ve read, I’ve been trying to prepare you for the market Baylor finds itself in and the reality.
For starters, Baylor was late to it. The portal opened on Dec. 5. Again, not its fault. At the time, Novosad appeared to be solid. But as Dec. 21 crept closer, coaching changes transpired and Novosad became cozier with Oregon, Baylor football found itself in a QB situation like playing musical chairs. When the music stopped, there wasn’t a chair available.
I mean available for finding impactful signal callers who would be considered contenders for the 2023 starting job.
It should bother you a lot that there is one scholarship QB (
Blake Shapen) on this roster. Within the last six months, three QBs left,
Gerry Bohanon (South Florida), highly touted walk on
CJ Rogers (put on scholarship at Texas State) and
Kyron Drones (Virginia Tech).
With the exception of grad transfers
Brennan Armstrong from Virginia and
Spencer Sanders from Oklahoma State, there isn’t a QB in the portal that you can say would arrive in Waco and contend to be the starter Labor Day weekend.
For beginners, I don’t believe Armstrong and Sanders would come to Baylor unless they were told they would be the starter – not compete with Shapen but start – and then had a great NIL deal to compliment that. They have long histories of starting at their old place. They would not start over.
What’s out there are the likes of Oregon’s
Jay Butterfield and Purdue’s
Brady Allen. Quarterbacks who had tremendous high school careers, arrived at their colleges with high expectations but for whatever reason could not crack the lineup and drifted.
With the portal deadline closing Jan. 18, there’s always the possibility of a name surfacing and Baylor making a move. However, there is the likelihood this program is going to add a QB or two for depth.
That would be too bad because that position needs competition in the worst way.
I heard it too many times over the last year that when you saw Shapen go through a practice, he was nails. Throws were crisp. Timing with receivers and running backs on target. He looked comfortable. Heck, Aranda said it to the media at practices and the receivers backed that up.
When it translated to a game and it was on the line, something didn’t follow. Maybe it was confidence. Maybe it was the yips. Maybe he struggled reading defenses. Whatever it was, you don’t commit 12 turnovers in the last eight regular season games because of just having a bad day here and there.
A trend developed. How far it’s come since completing a Big 12 championship game and AT&T Stadium record 17 passes to start a game.
Really, the best thing to happen to Shapen in the spring of 2022 was Bohanon. They fought for the starting job and Shapen rose to the occasion because he had to be pushed. When Bohanon left, Shapen didn’t have to look over his shoulder. Perhaps he needed that uncomfortable feeling.
Everyone knew Drones wasn’t going to be a threat. What everyone needed to know about Drones was if he could be credible if Shapen became injured. We kind of got that answer against West Virginia.
I do believe that Shapen will take great care this offseason reviewing everything that occurred in 2022 and work as hard as possible to learn from mistakes and be better for it. He could be better this coming fall and all the criticism would be silenced.
However, if you’re the Baylor coaching staff, you can think that and believe that. But you better not put your chips in the middle of the table publicly saying that. You need to show your fan base as well as your bosses – AD
Mack Rhoades – that you know you have a problem with this room, and you will make it the best you can possibly make it.
Now, all Aranda,
Jeff Grimes and
Shawn Bell must do is find someone who will actually make this better both from an optics standpoint and a competition standpoint.
Time isn’t on their side.
Let’s make it a great week!
miamihurricanes.com
