NOTE I: Mesquite Poteet linebacker Malik Jefferson, the Rivals No. 22 national recruit, is expected to take an unofficial visit to Baylor Friday afternoon. This would be at least the second unofficial visit for Jefferson. His last known visit was last July as he was traveling to the Leander for the state 7-on-7 tournament.
Jefferson could not be reached for comment, but in the past he has spoken highly of the Baylor football program. He has already collected 22 offers from some of the nation's top program. Our plan is to provide some reaction from Jefferson following his visit.
-SicEmSports
NOTE II: SicEmSports has learned that everything seems to be a go for Abilene Cooper LB/S Cordell Dorsey to come to Baylor. He is expected to arrive in June. Now, this is the tricky part. Because this remains a numbers game, it's probably going to take some roster attrition to get him to the campus. But there's typically been about five-six players who have moved on after the spring semester.
Dorsey, who could not be reached for comment, was arrested on a sexual assault charge in September, 2013. However, he was no-billed by a grand jury on Feb. 20 and cleared of that charge.
We reported last month that the Baylor coaching staff had to do some due diligence to make sure it was comfortable with continuing its recruitment. That appears to be settled. Dorsey has been biding his time in the interim working out and maintaining his conditioning. He graduated from Cooper back in December.
In an unrelated note, there is no change in Wylie LB/S TK Rockwell's status. Rockwell is still trying to collect a qualifying test score. He committed to Baylor but did not sign on Feb. 5. We'll keep you posted as more information becomes available.
-SicEmSports
Second Junior Day is Saturday
As we have reported, Baylor's second junior day is set for March 22. Unlike other junior days, this one is considered a little more an invitation-type of setting. But this will still be a day filled with 2015 and 2016 star power.
Here is the list of prospects SicEmSports knows plan to attend.
>Ryan Newsome, Ath, Aledo
>Richard Moore, LB, Cedar Hill
>Billy McCrary III, Ath, Leander
>Jalen Guyton, WR, Allen
>Greg Little, OL, Allen (2016)
>James Lockhart, DE, Ennis
>Jordan Tolbert, DB, Fort Bend Ridge Point
>Jaylon Jones, DB, Allen (2016)
>JaMycal Hasty, RB, Longview
>DaMarkus Lodge, WR, Cedar Hill (that's really still iffy but we'll put him down for now)
>Chad President, Ath, Temple
>Blake Lynch, Ath, Troup
>Jared Mayden, DB, Sachse (2016)
>John Humphrey Jr, Ath, League City Clear Falls
>Connor Dyer, OT, Mesquite Horn
-Kevin Lonnquist
Three questions about Nebraska
Predicted to finish last by some writers and publications, Nebraska stunned the Big 10, finishing fourth in the league thanks to a hot streak to end the season. That earned the Huskers (19-12/11-7 Big 10; RPI 48) an 11 seed in the NCAA tournament and a date with 6th-seeded Baylor on Friday at 11:40 a.m. in San Antonio. To get more background on the Huskers, we posed three questions to Robin Washut, the primary basketball beat writer for Husker Online.
SicEmSports: How much experience does Nebraska have against teams primarily zone defenses, and how have the Huskers fared?
Washut: It's funny, because even teams that aren't generally zone oriented have gone out of their way to play as much zone as possible against Nebraska this year. That's really been the recipe to beating the Huskers this season: pack the paint and force NU to beat you with perimeter shots. If those jumpers don't fall early, Nebraska has a tendency to get frustrated and get away from its offensive game plan. Tim Miles feels good about his plans to attack Baylor's 1-3-1, but it's going to come down to how well the players stay patient and continue to attack the lane with the ball. Getting Baylor's bigs into early foul trouble would be huge.
SicEmSports: Nebraska wasn't quite the same team on the road as at home ? how much of an issue could that be on Friday?
Washut: Nebraska was 15-1 at home this season and just 4-10 away from Pinnacle Bank Arena, and the Huskers have been a fairly emotional team on both ends of the spectrum. When the home crowd rallied behind them, which it did as well as any fan base in the Big Ten this season, the players stepped their game up to a whole new level. When adversity hit them on the road, though, they let their emotions get the best of them and got frazzled and frustrated. To their credit, they've won three of their past five games away from home, but the most recent road outing was a loss to Ohio State in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament where they blew an 18-point lead with 10 minutes remaining. This game all depends on how well the Huskers maintain their focus and composure when things start to go against them.
SicEmSports: What would you say were the main reasons Nebraska made a huge leap this year into the NCAA tournament?
Washut: If you ask Miles or any player what happened to turn the season around, they'll all tell you it was when they all decided to fully buy in to playing together as a team and put team goals ahead of individual success. When Nebraska was 0-4 to start league play, it was a team that had no role definition and a group of players that simply hadn't figured out how to play together. That all changed after a team meeting following their blowout loss at Michigan back in early February. Point guard Deverell Biggs, who was the team's third-leading scorer at that point, was dismissed from the team before the Huskers' road game at Northwestern, and that helped allow more defensive role players like Benny Parker and David Rivers to see the court and give scorers like Terran Petteway, Shavon Shields and Walter Pitchford more command on offense. Nebraska has been a completely different team ever since that point.
-SicEmSports
Why I like the Bears today
If you've read my work enough, you'd know that while I did go to Baylor, I'm not exactly the homer type who predicts Baylor to win every game. While the overall athletic program is on a high level right now, I've seen Baylor blow too many chances at winning marquee games, and sometimes that makes me a little gun-shy on picking the Bears. But after number-crunching, I really like Baylor in today's round of 64 game against Nebraska.
Here's why:
A dead downtown: One of the most common ways to crack a zone is hitting from downtown, something Nebraska doesn't do all that well. The Huskers get 17.8 points per game from three-pointers, which might sound like a decent amount, but that arks them 192nd out of 351 teams. Baylor, conversely, ranks 65th with 22.2 points per game from 3.
Weakness against weakness: Along that line, Nebraska is not a terribly efficient offensive basketball team. While Baylor ranks 22nd nationally in this statistic, Nebraska ranks 225th in the county. The Huskers are one of just more than 100 NCAA teams that don't average at least one point per possession. That's a key statistic since Baylor's defense ranks low in efficiency, even if the Bears have played much better of late. Nebraska is even worse away from Lincoln, ranking in the bottom 50 in the nation in offensive efficiency when on the road.
No second chances: But perhaps out of any statistical advantage for the Bears, none stands out more than Nebraska's inability to grab offensive rebounds. Nebraska averages only 7.4 offensive boards per game, ranking them 309th out of the 351 teams. And considering that Nebraska's top three scorers all shoot 43 percent or worse from the field, Nebraska is missing a lot of shots -- and rarely getting second chances.
Of course, what I haven't mentioned is that Nebraska is a very good defensive team. The Huskers challenge shooters well and are great at keeping the offense in front of them. But I'd rather take my chances in a close game than see Baylor need to win a shootout. That might be the case if Baylor advances to play Creighton (a team totally unlike Nebraska), but it won't be today. Give me Baylor 69, Nebraska 61.
-Jake Shaw
Thank you, Mr. President
Temple's Chad President plans to travel to Waco to watch Baylor's practice and take part in the Bears' second junior day. He was at Tuesday's practice and watched the Baylor quarterbacks work out. President also spent a lot of time with offensive coordinator Phillip Montgomery.
But there's a sense of calmness because President is now seen as the quarterback for the 2015 class. The pathway opened two weeks ago when Stephenville's Jarret Stidham committed to Texas Tech. For President, every visit continues to solidify his relationship with the Baylor coaches.
"It just feels like home,'' President said. "Being on you future campus in present time is something you can't buy. Just a blessed feeling. It's hard not to stay away.''
And he will be arriving early. He is a December graduate so he can get on the campus next January.
President continued his road back from the ACL he tore back in September. Last month, he was cleared to run track events. On Wednesday, he was cleared to start going full speed with cutting movements.
When Temple starts spring football workouts in May, the Wildcats' coaching staff plans to have President go through everything. But their workouts are designed so their quarterbacks will not have any contact. That's a standard practice.
President said his focus will be working on the intermediate routes. He wants to be more proficient with his touch, velocity and throwing through windows.
With all of the talk about Stidham's status, President said he watched it but said it didn't matter if Stidham had committed to Baylor or not.
"If he would have committed to Baylor, it wouldn't have changed my decision,'' President said. "Baylor would have had two great QBs coming for 2015. That's how I would have looked at it. I feel like I'm the No. 1 QB in the 2015 class. Many people haven't seen me play QB so they get the misconception that I can't play the position. Now, a lot of people are expecting a lot from me so I can deal with it.''
-Kevin Lonnquist
Going back to Lackawanna
When his Lackawanna teammate and good friend left for Baylor, massive OT Paris Palmer -- by massive, I mean 6-9, 305 -- made sure to tell Jarell Broxton to put in a good word for him with the Baylor coaches. Turns out the coaches already knew about him. And the coaches finally pulled the trigger on an offer on Tuesday.
"A couple months back I told Jarell I was interested in Baylor," Palmer said. "I told him to tell the coaches about me. "He said they had already asked him about me. I can't say I expected the offer -- it did kind of come out of left field -- but they had been talking to my head coach and O-line coach."
"It felt good," Palmer continued, talking about the offer. "Especially knowing there's a familiar face there. It feels great."
A handful of other major programs have offered, including Ohio State and Miami, as have some mid-major programs. He's happy to get them in, but he said recruiting is on the back-burner right now. He wants to do everything he can to ensure he graduates in December as planned.
"I'm just remaining focused on my grades and making sure everything is fine academically," he said. "Lackawanna is my main focus. I don't want to get ahead of myself and get caught up in recruiting. Grades and my GPA -- I need to get them straight."
He said he might take one official visit this spring -- he's not sure where yet -- and will take the rest this summer. But he also said he might not commit until the end of his sophomore season at Lackawanna.
As for his size, he's hard to miss. But being so big also means he needs to be athletic to defend speed rushers. He says that's no problem.
"When you see me, I have a very athletic build," he said. "I'm not a prototypical fat offensive lineman. I have a lean body. I have real quick feet and athletic feet. That helps me a lot in pass blocking."
-Jake Shaw
Baseball plays host to No. 20 Oklahoma State
Baylor baseball ends a season-long, seven-game home stand this weekend as No. 20 Oklahoma State comes to Baylor Ballpark. All three games will be televised and are set for 6:30 p.m. CT Friday on FOX College Sports, 2 p.m. Saturday on FOX College Sports and 1 p.m. Sunday on FOX Sports Plus.
Baylor (11-9, 2-1 Big 12) will be playing its second Big 12 series while the Cowboys (15-6) will be playing their first league series of the season. The Bears are coming off a 2-1 series win last weekend vs. No. 23 Texas Tech and a 9-3 win on Tuesday against Houston Baptist.
On Friday, LHP Brad Kuntz (3-0, 1.73 ERA) is the scheduled starter followed by right-handers Austin Stone (2-1, 1.29) on Saturday and Dillon Newman (2-1, 3.08).
The Bears won two of three in the Big 12 opening series last weekend against Texas Tech.
-Kevin Lonnquist
Emptying the Notebook
Receiving the commitment of guard Kobie Eubanks on Tuesday did not mean Baylor's 2014 recruiting has finished. Regardless of Isaiah Austin's status, the Bears still need another big man to go with this class. One player the Bears are pursuing is Lee College 6-8 forward Deng Deng.
-SicEmSports
Jefferson could not be reached for comment, but in the past he has spoken highly of the Baylor football program. He has already collected 22 offers from some of the nation's top program. Our plan is to provide some reaction from Jefferson following his visit.
-SicEmSports
NOTE II: SicEmSports has learned that everything seems to be a go for Abilene Cooper LB/S Cordell Dorsey to come to Baylor. He is expected to arrive in June. Now, this is the tricky part. Because this remains a numbers game, it's probably going to take some roster attrition to get him to the campus. But there's typically been about five-six players who have moved on after the spring semester.
Dorsey, who could not be reached for comment, was arrested on a sexual assault charge in September, 2013. However, he was no-billed by a grand jury on Feb. 20 and cleared of that charge.
We reported last month that the Baylor coaching staff had to do some due diligence to make sure it was comfortable with continuing its recruitment. That appears to be settled. Dorsey has been biding his time in the interim working out and maintaining his conditioning. He graduated from Cooper back in December.
In an unrelated note, there is no change in Wylie LB/S TK Rockwell's status. Rockwell is still trying to collect a qualifying test score. He committed to Baylor but did not sign on Feb. 5. We'll keep you posted as more information becomes available.
-SicEmSports
Second Junior Day is Saturday
As we have reported, Baylor's second junior day is set for March 22. Unlike other junior days, this one is considered a little more an invitation-type of setting. But this will still be a day filled with 2015 and 2016 star power.
Here is the list of prospects SicEmSports knows plan to attend.
>Ryan Newsome, Ath, Aledo
>Richard Moore, LB, Cedar Hill
>Billy McCrary III, Ath, Leander
>Jalen Guyton, WR, Allen
>Greg Little, OL, Allen (2016)
>James Lockhart, DE, Ennis
>Jordan Tolbert, DB, Fort Bend Ridge Point
>Jaylon Jones, DB, Allen (2016)
>JaMycal Hasty, RB, Longview
>DaMarkus Lodge, WR, Cedar Hill (that's really still iffy but we'll put him down for now)
>Chad President, Ath, Temple
>Blake Lynch, Ath, Troup
>Jared Mayden, DB, Sachse (2016)
>John Humphrey Jr, Ath, League City Clear Falls
>Connor Dyer, OT, Mesquite Horn
-Kevin Lonnquist
Three questions about Nebraska
Predicted to finish last by some writers and publications, Nebraska stunned the Big 10, finishing fourth in the league thanks to a hot streak to end the season. That earned the Huskers (19-12/11-7 Big 10; RPI 48) an 11 seed in the NCAA tournament and a date with 6th-seeded Baylor on Friday at 11:40 a.m. in San Antonio. To get more background on the Huskers, we posed three questions to Robin Washut, the primary basketball beat writer for Husker Online.
SicEmSports: How much experience does Nebraska have against teams primarily zone defenses, and how have the Huskers fared?
Washut: It's funny, because even teams that aren't generally zone oriented have gone out of their way to play as much zone as possible against Nebraska this year. That's really been the recipe to beating the Huskers this season: pack the paint and force NU to beat you with perimeter shots. If those jumpers don't fall early, Nebraska has a tendency to get frustrated and get away from its offensive game plan. Tim Miles feels good about his plans to attack Baylor's 1-3-1, but it's going to come down to how well the players stay patient and continue to attack the lane with the ball. Getting Baylor's bigs into early foul trouble would be huge.
SicEmSports: Nebraska wasn't quite the same team on the road as at home ? how much of an issue could that be on Friday?
Washut: Nebraska was 15-1 at home this season and just 4-10 away from Pinnacle Bank Arena, and the Huskers have been a fairly emotional team on both ends of the spectrum. When the home crowd rallied behind them, which it did as well as any fan base in the Big Ten this season, the players stepped their game up to a whole new level. When adversity hit them on the road, though, they let their emotions get the best of them and got frazzled and frustrated. To their credit, they've won three of their past five games away from home, but the most recent road outing was a loss to Ohio State in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament where they blew an 18-point lead with 10 minutes remaining. This game all depends on how well the Huskers maintain their focus and composure when things start to go against them.
SicEmSports: What would you say were the main reasons Nebraska made a huge leap this year into the NCAA tournament?
Washut: If you ask Miles or any player what happened to turn the season around, they'll all tell you it was when they all decided to fully buy in to playing together as a team and put team goals ahead of individual success. When Nebraska was 0-4 to start league play, it was a team that had no role definition and a group of players that simply hadn't figured out how to play together. That all changed after a team meeting following their blowout loss at Michigan back in early February. Point guard Deverell Biggs, who was the team's third-leading scorer at that point, was dismissed from the team before the Huskers' road game at Northwestern, and that helped allow more defensive role players like Benny Parker and David Rivers to see the court and give scorers like Terran Petteway, Shavon Shields and Walter Pitchford more command on offense. Nebraska has been a completely different team ever since that point.
-SicEmSports
Why I like the Bears today
If you've read my work enough, you'd know that while I did go to Baylor, I'm not exactly the homer type who predicts Baylor to win every game. While the overall athletic program is on a high level right now, I've seen Baylor blow too many chances at winning marquee games, and sometimes that makes me a little gun-shy on picking the Bears. But after number-crunching, I really like Baylor in today's round of 64 game against Nebraska.
Here's why:
A dead downtown: One of the most common ways to crack a zone is hitting from downtown, something Nebraska doesn't do all that well. The Huskers get 17.8 points per game from three-pointers, which might sound like a decent amount, but that arks them 192nd out of 351 teams. Baylor, conversely, ranks 65th with 22.2 points per game from 3.
Weakness against weakness: Along that line, Nebraska is not a terribly efficient offensive basketball team. While Baylor ranks 22nd nationally in this statistic, Nebraska ranks 225th in the county. The Huskers are one of just more than 100 NCAA teams that don't average at least one point per possession. That's a key statistic since Baylor's defense ranks low in efficiency, even if the Bears have played much better of late. Nebraska is even worse away from Lincoln, ranking in the bottom 50 in the nation in offensive efficiency when on the road.
No second chances: But perhaps out of any statistical advantage for the Bears, none stands out more than Nebraska's inability to grab offensive rebounds. Nebraska averages only 7.4 offensive boards per game, ranking them 309th out of the 351 teams. And considering that Nebraska's top three scorers all shoot 43 percent or worse from the field, Nebraska is missing a lot of shots -- and rarely getting second chances.
Of course, what I haven't mentioned is that Nebraska is a very good defensive team. The Huskers challenge shooters well and are great at keeping the offense in front of them. But I'd rather take my chances in a close game than see Baylor need to win a shootout. That might be the case if Baylor advances to play Creighton (a team totally unlike Nebraska), but it won't be today. Give me Baylor 69, Nebraska 61.
-Jake Shaw
Thank you, Mr. President
Temple's Chad President plans to travel to Waco to watch Baylor's practice and take part in the Bears' second junior day. He was at Tuesday's practice and watched the Baylor quarterbacks work out. President also spent a lot of time with offensive coordinator Phillip Montgomery.
But there's a sense of calmness because President is now seen as the quarterback for the 2015 class. The pathway opened two weeks ago when Stephenville's Jarret Stidham committed to Texas Tech. For President, every visit continues to solidify his relationship with the Baylor coaches.
"It just feels like home,'' President said. "Being on you future campus in present time is something you can't buy. Just a blessed feeling. It's hard not to stay away.''
And he will be arriving early. He is a December graduate so he can get on the campus next January.
President continued his road back from the ACL he tore back in September. Last month, he was cleared to run track events. On Wednesday, he was cleared to start going full speed with cutting movements.
When Temple starts spring football workouts in May, the Wildcats' coaching staff plans to have President go through everything. But their workouts are designed so their quarterbacks will not have any contact. That's a standard practice.
President said his focus will be working on the intermediate routes. He wants to be more proficient with his touch, velocity and throwing through windows.
With all of the talk about Stidham's status, President said he watched it but said it didn't matter if Stidham had committed to Baylor or not.
"If he would have committed to Baylor, it wouldn't have changed my decision,'' President said. "Baylor would have had two great QBs coming for 2015. That's how I would have looked at it. I feel like I'm the No. 1 QB in the 2015 class. Many people haven't seen me play QB so they get the misconception that I can't play the position. Now, a lot of people are expecting a lot from me so I can deal with it.''
-Kevin Lonnquist
Going back to Lackawanna
When his Lackawanna teammate and good friend left for Baylor, massive OT Paris Palmer -- by massive, I mean 6-9, 305 -- made sure to tell Jarell Broxton to put in a good word for him with the Baylor coaches. Turns out the coaches already knew about him. And the coaches finally pulled the trigger on an offer on Tuesday.
"A couple months back I told Jarell I was interested in Baylor," Palmer said. "I told him to tell the coaches about me. "He said they had already asked him about me. I can't say I expected the offer -- it did kind of come out of left field -- but they had been talking to my head coach and O-line coach."
"It felt good," Palmer continued, talking about the offer. "Especially knowing there's a familiar face there. It feels great."
A handful of other major programs have offered, including Ohio State and Miami, as have some mid-major programs. He's happy to get them in, but he said recruiting is on the back-burner right now. He wants to do everything he can to ensure he graduates in December as planned.
"I'm just remaining focused on my grades and making sure everything is fine academically," he said. "Lackawanna is my main focus. I don't want to get ahead of myself and get caught up in recruiting. Grades and my GPA -- I need to get them straight."
He said he might take one official visit this spring -- he's not sure where yet -- and will take the rest this summer. But he also said he might not commit until the end of his sophomore season at Lackawanna.
As for his size, he's hard to miss. But being so big also means he needs to be athletic to defend speed rushers. He says that's no problem.
"When you see me, I have a very athletic build," he said. "I'm not a prototypical fat offensive lineman. I have a lean body. I have real quick feet and athletic feet. That helps me a lot in pass blocking."
-Jake Shaw
Baseball plays host to No. 20 Oklahoma State
Baylor baseball ends a season-long, seven-game home stand this weekend as No. 20 Oklahoma State comes to Baylor Ballpark. All three games will be televised and are set for 6:30 p.m. CT Friday on FOX College Sports, 2 p.m. Saturday on FOX College Sports and 1 p.m. Sunday on FOX Sports Plus.
Baylor (11-9, 2-1 Big 12) will be playing its second Big 12 series while the Cowboys (15-6) will be playing their first league series of the season. The Bears are coming off a 2-1 series win last weekend vs. No. 23 Texas Tech and a 9-3 win on Tuesday against Houston Baptist.
On Friday, LHP Brad Kuntz (3-0, 1.73 ERA) is the scheduled starter followed by right-handers Austin Stone (2-1, 1.29) on Saturday and Dillon Newman (2-1, 3.08).
The Bears won two of three in the Big 12 opening series last weekend against Texas Tech.
-Kevin Lonnquist
Emptying the Notebook
Receiving the commitment of guard Kobie Eubanks on Tuesday did not mean Baylor's 2014 recruiting has finished. Regardless of Isaiah Austin's status, the Bears still need another big man to go with this class. One player the Bears are pursuing is Lee College 6-8 forward Deng Deng.
-SicEmSports
