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Jones talks Baylor offer
In the Dec. 6 Baylor Blitz, we spoke with McKinney North 2015 running back Ronald Jones II about him hoping that he would be in touch with Baylor and maybe get an offer.
What a difference two weeks makes.
On Tuesday night, Jones spoke with Baylor assistant Jim Gush who relayed the staff was offering him. There are a lot of possibilities that Jones (6-0, 185) presents. He's considered an all-purpose back, who also has pretty soft receiving hands.
"Coach Gush and I just talked and he said they all thought I could be pretty explosive in their offense,'' Jones said. "They love the fact that I'm a track guy and that I can use my speed pretty well wherever I am on the field.''
Not long after Baylor offered, Oklahoma followed with its on Wednesday. But when it comes to the Bears Jones said he has been a big fan of Bears' running back Lache Seastrunk because he thinks his style is pretty close to Seastrunk's.
"He's one of my favorites,'' Jones said. "He takes a pounding, but I love his fight because he keeps playing hard every time. That's the way I want to play.''
Jones rushed for 2,406 yards and 39 touchdowns (9.9 ypc) this year as McKinney North went 7-5. Jones hasn't been to Waco yet but he said he's talked to Baylor about coming to a junior day in early 2014. That will be his first trip.
But don't look for him to commit anytime soon. There's probably a solid chance he'll keep adding to his offer list within the next 2-3 months.
-Kevin Lonnquist
Filling Big Shoes
Jarell Broxton accepts the assignment that Baylor is likely to give him in 2014 - consensus All-American guard Cyril Richardson's replacement.
The heralded Richardson, who Art Briles has said should be the first offensive lineman taken in the 2014 NFL draft next May, will vacate his left guard position. Broxton (6-6, 325) started developing a relationship with Richardson ever since he visited Waco this past summer. The Lackawanna College All-American signed his NLI with Baylor on Wednesday and is expected to report around Jan. 10.
"None of this bothers me about having to try and do what he has done,'' Broxton said. "He's a great player. I want to be a great player. I know it's not easy. But I'm going to try and do that. I had to fill big shoes at Lacakawanna so I'm used to that. I think I was one of the best guards in the national junior college ranks.''
One of the best tests Broxton had during the season was in October against 4-star defensive tackle Cory Johnson who signed with Kentucky on Wednesday. In that game, Broxton held his own and graded at 91 percent in that game.
"After taking on someone like him, it gave me a lot of confidence,'' Broxton said. "I knew I could block this guy.''
While he has several more weeks of down time, he's going through some strenuous workouts with his cousin Marcus Newby, who is playing for Nebraska.
-Kevin Lonnquist
From baseball to Kaz
Bakersfield College linebacker Grant Campbell, who signed with Baylor on Wednesday, didn't have any college football opportunities coming out of high school.
But he had baseball. A four-year year starting center fielder at Bakersfield Garces Memorial , the only chance to continue his athletic career was to play college baseball at Cal-State Bakersfield. It only lasted a year. Plus, Campbell didn't lose any eligibility.
He arrived at CSB in the fall of 2011 and didn't play any in the spring of 2012. Why? Because his heart was always on football, and he wanted to find a place that would give him a chance. He transferred over to Bakersfield College in the summer of 2012 and immediately became an important piece of the defense.
"I always felt like I was cheating myself if I really didn't see this football thing through,'' Campbell said. "I was better at football than baseball. I was pretty good at baseball. I was the cleanup hitter.''
Baylor witnessed that dream. Campbell should report the week of Jan. 6. What helped sell Campbell was when he met strength and conditioning coach Kaz Kazadi.
"That played a huge role in me committing to Baylor,'' he said. "I had a great talk with him because he told me what he expects mentally and physically. I talked to the coaches who really credit a lot of their success to him. You can see how the players really working for him.''
-Kevin Lonnquist
Locke being patient
Beaumont Central 2015 defensive back James Locke should know Baylor inside and out. He was in Waco three times during the 2013 season.
There's no question, he's developed a pretty good relationship with defensive backs coach Carlton Buckels.
"I talk to him just about every week,'' Locke said. "I think we get along great. I went to their spring game, a camp and the game against West Virginia.''
However, Baylor still hasn't extended an offer yet. Locke said the coaches may want to watch him go through spring football before they decide what they want to do. He's fine with that. Locke already has two other offers from Northwestern and SMU.
"I'm just going to keep working and proving to them that I can play for them,'' he said. "I like Baylor a lot. They're getting some really good defensive backs to play for them.''
-Kevin Lonnquist
We're calling it: James Lockhart will commit to Baylor
I don't know when. But everything that I'm getting from him points to the Ennis 2015 defensive lineman doing this. There are several reasons for this:
· Lockhart has been to at least 4 Baylor home football games this year.
· He's pretty good friends with Baylor 2014 RB commit Terence Williams.
· Lockhart witnessed the Baylor defense grow this year and now has verification that the program wants to reach new heights on both sides of the ball.
· He's talking to someone on that staff weekly.
· Most importantly, he said last week that he considered Baylor his leader. Now, he did use the phrase "as of now". And that's fine. Why show all your cards when you have some time.
If I had to take a guess, I think he's probably going to do it when Baylor has its first junior day in 2014.
-Kevin Lonnquist
First impressions of UCF
Though I did see parts of a few UCF games this year, I never watched them intently, not thinking they would be Baylor's bowl opponent. So I did that this week instead, watching the replay of then unranked UCF's 38-35 upset Louisville, ranked No. 8 at the time.
This might've been the most impressive comeback win for any team in college football this season. UCF trailed 28-7 midway through the third quarter before rallying for 24 straight points and a 31-28 lead. Trailing for the first time all game, Louisville drove right down for a touchdown to regain the lead -- but UL left three minutes left.
UCF used all but 23 seconds of those three minutes, getting the game-winning touchdown on a two-yard touchdown pass. Louisville did get to midfield in two plays on its final drive, but its Hail Mary it the turf with no time left to seal UCF's amazing comeback.
QB Blake Bortles gets most of the attention, at least from a national perspective. And he's very solid. But somewhat similar to Baylor in that the running game makes the offense that much more dynamic, UCF RB Storm Johnson is the key to the offense.
He was ranked the third-best running back in the 2010 class, played sparingly as a true freshman at Miami, then transferred to UCF in 2011. He sat out that year, rushed for 507 yards last season, then had a breakout season with 1,015 yards and 11 TDs. HE reminds me of Glasco Martin -- big, strong, runs upright -- but he's more explosive and has better lateral movement.
Because of that, look for UCF to use him in the passing game against Baylor (he had 29 catches for 261 yards and 3 TDs this year). Against Louisville, UCF twice used him on screen passes, including one instance where UCF faked a inside receiver screen, then went to the opposite side of the field to Johnson on a screen for a 20-plus yard gain. He also made a huge play on a dump off pass against Louisville, cutting back across the field to transform a short gain into 28 yards.
Either Johnson or freshman William Stanback (a smaller, more slashing style of runner) are usually in a one-back spread formation most of the time. I think I counted three times in the first half that UCF had a tight end or fullback in the game. Mostly, though, it's one back, two split wide either side. Bortles will use a lot of play action.
When you think of a typical spread offense, you should think of UCF. There's not a whole lot of downfield passing, at least not against Louisville. Rather, UCF would send its outside receivers on verticals but usually throw to one of its two inside receivers, both who usually ran out routes or tried to find a space in the zone. Bortles is rarely under center.
UCF's offensive line had its best game of the year against Louisville. UCF didn't give up a sack to a Louisville team with the seventh most in the nation, and UCF averaged 6.1 yards per carry.
The defense runs something similar to Baylor's 4-2-5. Was hard to tell if the third linebacker was more of a big safety, similar to Sam Holl. UCF blitzes a lot, mostly sending linebackers up the middle.
I did notice that UCF's cornerbacks usually gave up a lot of space to the outside receivers, yet the safeties (or nickel backs) would crowd the inside receivers at the line of scrimmage. I think that's something Baylor's outside receivers would feast on.
Granted, this was arguably the best game UCF played all year, but I came away very impressed. UCF's offense is balanced and efficient, the kind that can take its time moving down the field. The defense is aggressive. After watching this game, I believe even more now that UCF will have a decent shot at the upset. Perhaps next week when I watch its game against South Florida will change my mind.
-Jake Shaw
Emptying the Notebook
>Several Baylor 2015 recruits said they have talked to the coaching staff about coming to Baylor's first junior day. The program typically holds its first the Saturday before National Signing Day (Feb. 5). So it's looking like its Feb. 1. That appears to be the same date Oklahoma will have its first junior day.
>The football team will arrive in Phoenix on Dec. 26 and start going through workouts leading up the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl in Glendale.
>Heard that when Longview 2015 RB Jamycal Hasty met with the Baylor coaches recently on the high school campus, the meeting went really well. It is sounding like Hasty could be leaning in Baylor's direction.
>While he has some time, Port Arthur Memorial 2016 RB Kameron Martin shared with us that he was pretty excited that Baylor's interest in him continues to be pretty strong. "I love them,'' he said. We'll just have to see how that plays out.
>Baylor RB Lache Seastrunk really told students at the school student union "that I really want to come back" for his 2014 season. But many believe his decision has far from been made. Underclassmen have until Jan. 15 to declare for the 2014 NFL draft.
>Most indications are that Texas' search for Mack Brown's replacement will last into January because the two national championship game coaches, Florida State's Jimbo Fisher and Auburn's Gus Malzahn's, won't play until Jan. 6. We still have every reason to believe Baylor's Art Briles is under consideration for this position. To what extent likely will not be known for a couple of weeks. I know some of you don't like reading this but we all have to acknowledge the fact that his name is in the mix whether it's deep or not. Even OrangeBloods keeps mentioning his namae for the job. What we can tell you, though, is that when it comes to Baylor really wanting to hang on to coaches it wants to, the university has historically done a very good job of keeping them.
>Baylor AD Ian McCaw tweeted out this interesting fact connecting the growth in Baylor athletics Economic impact study says @BaylorAthletics has $373.3M impact on Central Texas economy and creates 2,200 jobs. The story is also on the athletic department web site.
-SicEmSports
