By KEVIN LONNQUIST
Publisher
The Topper
Just a couple of administrative items coming out of the Big 12 meetings that are wrapping up Friday:
>When the Big 12 announced the early TV games and included Baylor-SFA on Aug. 31 on ESPN+, it was leading with its chin. We told you a couple of weeks ago that Baylor, the Big 12 and ESPN are working with FOX to get that game released to ESPN. The presumption is that it will. It’s just not done yet. Really not much has changed from the last update.
>The conference should be announcing Friday the annual TV revenue that each of the Big 12 teams will be collecting. From what we understand you should see a figure between $38-39 million per school. That’s going to be roughly a $1.5-2.5 million increase from 2018 when the schools each received $36.5 million.
The differentiator is the revenue generated from the 3rd-tier rights. That’s not included in this figure. Baylor has not released that but it's typically in the low-to-mid seven figures. When other P5 conferences release their revenue numbers, those figures usually include 3rd tier.
>Baylor is still working its way through the process of collecting the withheld 25 percent revenue from the conference. It’s a process that could take up to as many as four years. We’ve told you in the past the Baylor is hoping it can be returned earlier than that.
When lists change
Cy Ranch 2020 tight end Drake Dabney released his Top 8 finalist list on May 17. The list included Iowa State, Vanderbilt, SMU, Arizona, South Carolina, Arizona State, Cal and Utah.
He did warn his Twitter followers that he was still open. There was a reason for that. Baylor had been in his ear for several weeks and when the Bears offered last week at the camp – Dabney only visited – that changed the dynamics of his recruitment.
The list grew from a Top 8 to a Top 9.
“I think it’s a great school, and I really believe the coaches have it headed in the right direction,’’ Dabney said. “I had a good visit with the coaches last week. I learned a lot. I also had been talking with [Offensive Line coach Shawn Bell] when he came by my school earlier this month.’’
Dabney erupted this spring when many of his P5 offers came in. The 6-6 frame is something that Baylor coaches will cling to. They can build off the rest.
Baylor’s timing for the offer is both good for him and the Bears. The Bears had lost out to Arkansas for McKinney North’s Brandon Frazier and didn’t make Southlake Carroll’s Blake Smith’s finalist list.
“They are on top of my list right now,’’ Dabney said. “I’m just staying in touch with the coaches keeping up with what they doing. I’m not sure if I’m going to be coming back later this summer.’’
A second appearance in the blazing Texas heat is not critical. Dabney said he is not in any hurry to make a decision about his future. That could mean that Baylor could get an official visit out of him during the 2019 college football season.
“Originally, it was before the season,’’ Dabney said. “But I’m not exactly sure when I will decide.’’
Big 12 or bust
Del City (OK) athlete Rejhan Tatum is the perfect recruit who can be viewed on either side of the line scrimmage.
And his body type fits in the right spot. The 2021 rising performer has Baylor, Oklahoma State and Arizona offers.
“I think it’s a great opportunity to play at Baylor,’’ Tatum said. “I’ve talked to [Associate Head Coach Joey McGuire]. He came by my school and offered me.’’
Tatum is tall enough and thick enough to be a middle linebacker or play running back. That’s probably what will be a big part of what Baylor thinks of him and where it thinks he could serve the Bears the best. For now, that appears to be linebacker.
Tatum said he plans on traveling to Baylor sometime in the summer so he can get a better feel for the coaches and the university. If he does go, it would be his first visit. There are also trips planned for Oklahoma State and Arizona.
“I’m versatile. I can do both,’’ Tatum said. “I’m pretty comfortable playing mike linebacker.’’
Recruiting tidbits
>Tulsa (OK) Edison running back Savion Morrison said he plans to visit Baylor in June. A date hasn’t been finalized. But that’s good for the Bears because they made his Top 10 that he released earlier in the week.
Joey McGuire has made several stops to see Morrison. Morrison already visited Baylor in the spring during the spring football season. “Yes, me and fam are going to return,’’ Morrison said. “The thing I like about the Baylor coaches is that they show a lot of support.’’
>One future QB that Baylor’s staff wants to take a look at is Cleburne 2021’s Gunner Hammond. Hammond split time in 2018 with then-senior Carson Gann. Hammond is the projected starter for the upcoming season. Baylor coaches came through Cleburne a couple of times during the recent evaluation period (that technically ends Friday). However, they saw enough Hammond on tape to want to see more. Hammond could be attending this Sunday’s camp. He’s not very big at 6-0, 160. However, he does have a pretty good arm. We’re also told he’s due for another growth spurt.
If you didn’t know, Cleburne is now coached by Casey Walraven, who used to coach former Baylor quarterback Zach Smith at Grandview.
>Baylor OC/QB coach Glenn Thomas did watch Saginaw Boswell 2020 QB Brayden Thomas pretty extensively at last Sunday’s camp. Thomas spent some one-on-one time with Thomas and talked with him quite a bit about his shoulder injury, which was surgically repaired in 2018. We’re told Thomas did impress. Nothing close to where it warrant a Baylor offer. However, Baylor apparently knows enough to keep tracking.
Baseball at NCAA tournament
Baylor coach Steve Rodriguez has the Bears in the NCAA tournament for the third consecutive year. The Bears are traveling out to California for the second straight year as they were at Stanford in 2018.
The No. 2 seed (34-17) face No. 3 seed Loyola Marymount (32-23) at 3:00 p.m. While the faces have changed, Rodriguez knows LMU’s program when he was coaching at Pepperdine.
This will the fourth all-time meeting between BU and LMU. Won two of three in Waco back in 2004.
No. 1 UCLA (47-8) plays No. 4 Omaha (31-22-1) is scheduled for a 9:00 p.m. start. All games can be seen on ESPN3.
Of course, the Bears aren’t taking any momentum into this tournament as they have dropped five of their last seven.
STORY LINES
• The Bears have been selected as the No. 2 seed in the Los Angeles Regional and will match up with No. 3-seeded LMU in the first game of the NCAA Regional on Friday, May 31 at 3 p.m. CT/1 p.m. PT at UCLA's Jackie Robinson Stadium. The other two teams in the regional include No. 1 seed UCLA, the No. 1 seed overall in the tournament and No. 4-seeded Omaha.
• Baylor is making its third-straight NCAA Regional appearance for the first time since a stretch of four-consecutive appearances between 2009-12. This is the 21st regional selection in program history.
• The Bears won 8-of-10 three game series on the year, including 5-of-6 in the Big 12 and a series over Oklahoma.
• Baylor has finished its home schedule with a .500 record or better (24-6 in 2019) in all 20 seasons at Baylor Ballpark (since 1999) and is 456-204 all-time at the park.
• Baylor led the league for a third-straight year with 12 All-Big 12 honors.
• Baylor has 12 or more wins (14) in Big 12 play for the third-straight season. BU has won 12 or more in three-straight seasons for the first time since 2010-12.
• Baylor has won 30 or more (34) games in a season for the third-straight year (32 in 2018), giving the program back-to-back-to-back 30-win seasons for the first time since 2010-12.
More on the Lions: The WCC tournament champions went 15-12 in their league but got hot at the right time. They are a one-man offense per se as junior IF/OF Trevin Esquerra has hit 16 of LMU’s 22 home runs. It’s not a great offense averaging 4.4 runs per game and batting just .261.
The Bears are likely going to see senior RHP Codia Paiva (7-5, 1.71 ERA). It’s a pitching staff that has a better than 2-to-1 strikeouts to walks ratio. However, it didn’t average a strikeout per inning. LMU is an OK fielding team with a .976 fielding percentage. It committed 50 errors in 55 games and allowed 27 unearned runs.
Against UCLA: In this meeting of Bears, these programs have met 10 times between 2009 and 2018. UCLA leads, 6-4. They last met in Los Angeles in Feb. 2018 when the Bruins won two of three.
Against Omaha: This would be a first-ever meeting
Probable starter for Game 1
It’s really up in the air who Rodriguez will elect to use. He had three choices:
LHP Paul Dickens (Jr.) – 5-2, 4.07 ERA
RHP Jimmy Winston (R-So.) – 5-2, 4.28
RHP Jacob Ashkinos (R-So.) – 2-4, 4.95
Emptying the Notebook
>A reminder the rest of the Baylor 2019 class should be arriving this weekend and Monday in time for the start of the first summer term that starts on Tuesday. Again, Georgia DT Isaiah Howard will not be arriving. He will be attending a prep school and will gray shirt.
>MLB’s latest Mock Draft has Baylor junior catcher Shea Langeliers going No. 13 to Minnesota. In previous mock drafts, Langeliers has been projected to go No. 9 to No. 14. The draft begins on Monday.
Publisher
The Topper
Just a couple of administrative items coming out of the Big 12 meetings that are wrapping up Friday:
>When the Big 12 announced the early TV games and included Baylor-SFA on Aug. 31 on ESPN+, it was leading with its chin. We told you a couple of weeks ago that Baylor, the Big 12 and ESPN are working with FOX to get that game released to ESPN. The presumption is that it will. It’s just not done yet. Really not much has changed from the last update.
>The conference should be announcing Friday the annual TV revenue that each of the Big 12 teams will be collecting. From what we understand you should see a figure between $38-39 million per school. That’s going to be roughly a $1.5-2.5 million increase from 2018 when the schools each received $36.5 million.
The differentiator is the revenue generated from the 3rd-tier rights. That’s not included in this figure. Baylor has not released that but it's typically in the low-to-mid seven figures. When other P5 conferences release their revenue numbers, those figures usually include 3rd tier.
>Baylor is still working its way through the process of collecting the withheld 25 percent revenue from the conference. It’s a process that could take up to as many as four years. We’ve told you in the past the Baylor is hoping it can be returned earlier than that.
When lists change
Cy Ranch 2020 tight end Drake Dabney released his Top 8 finalist list on May 17. The list included Iowa State, Vanderbilt, SMU, Arizona, South Carolina, Arizona State, Cal and Utah.
He did warn his Twitter followers that he was still open. There was a reason for that. Baylor had been in his ear for several weeks and when the Bears offered last week at the camp – Dabney only visited – that changed the dynamics of his recruitment.
The list grew from a Top 8 to a Top 9.
“I think it’s a great school, and I really believe the coaches have it headed in the right direction,’’ Dabney said. “I had a good visit with the coaches last week. I learned a lot. I also had been talking with [Offensive Line coach Shawn Bell] when he came by my school earlier this month.’’
Dabney erupted this spring when many of his P5 offers came in. The 6-6 frame is something that Baylor coaches will cling to. They can build off the rest.
Baylor’s timing for the offer is both good for him and the Bears. The Bears had lost out to Arkansas for McKinney North’s Brandon Frazier and didn’t make Southlake Carroll’s Blake Smith’s finalist list.
“They are on top of my list right now,’’ Dabney said. “I’m just staying in touch with the coaches keeping up with what they doing. I’m not sure if I’m going to be coming back later this summer.’’
A second appearance in the blazing Texas heat is not critical. Dabney said he is not in any hurry to make a decision about his future. That could mean that Baylor could get an official visit out of him during the 2019 college football season.
“Originally, it was before the season,’’ Dabney said. “But I’m not exactly sure when I will decide.’’
Big 12 or bust
Del City (OK) athlete Rejhan Tatum is the perfect recruit who can be viewed on either side of the line scrimmage.
And his body type fits in the right spot. The 2021 rising performer has Baylor, Oklahoma State and Arizona offers.
“I think it’s a great opportunity to play at Baylor,’’ Tatum said. “I’ve talked to [Associate Head Coach Joey McGuire]. He came by my school and offered me.’’
Tatum is tall enough and thick enough to be a middle linebacker or play running back. That’s probably what will be a big part of what Baylor thinks of him and where it thinks he could serve the Bears the best. For now, that appears to be linebacker.
Tatum said he plans on traveling to Baylor sometime in the summer so he can get a better feel for the coaches and the university. If he does go, it would be his first visit. There are also trips planned for Oklahoma State and Arizona.
“I’m versatile. I can do both,’’ Tatum said. “I’m pretty comfortable playing mike linebacker.’’
Recruiting tidbits
>Tulsa (OK) Edison running back Savion Morrison said he plans to visit Baylor in June. A date hasn’t been finalized. But that’s good for the Bears because they made his Top 10 that he released earlier in the week.
Joey McGuire has made several stops to see Morrison. Morrison already visited Baylor in the spring during the spring football season. “Yes, me and fam are going to return,’’ Morrison said. “The thing I like about the Baylor coaches is that they show a lot of support.’’
>One future QB that Baylor’s staff wants to take a look at is Cleburne 2021’s Gunner Hammond. Hammond split time in 2018 with then-senior Carson Gann. Hammond is the projected starter for the upcoming season. Baylor coaches came through Cleburne a couple of times during the recent evaluation period (that technically ends Friday). However, they saw enough Hammond on tape to want to see more. Hammond could be attending this Sunday’s camp. He’s not very big at 6-0, 160. However, he does have a pretty good arm. We’re also told he’s due for another growth spurt.
If you didn’t know, Cleburne is now coached by Casey Walraven, who used to coach former Baylor quarterback Zach Smith at Grandview.
>Baylor OC/QB coach Glenn Thomas did watch Saginaw Boswell 2020 QB Brayden Thomas pretty extensively at last Sunday’s camp. Thomas spent some one-on-one time with Thomas and talked with him quite a bit about his shoulder injury, which was surgically repaired in 2018. We’re told Thomas did impress. Nothing close to where it warrant a Baylor offer. However, Baylor apparently knows enough to keep tracking.
Baseball at NCAA tournament
Baylor coach Steve Rodriguez has the Bears in the NCAA tournament for the third consecutive year. The Bears are traveling out to California for the second straight year as they were at Stanford in 2018.
The No. 2 seed (34-17) face No. 3 seed Loyola Marymount (32-23) at 3:00 p.m. While the faces have changed, Rodriguez knows LMU’s program when he was coaching at Pepperdine.
This will the fourth all-time meeting between BU and LMU. Won two of three in Waco back in 2004.
No. 1 UCLA (47-8) plays No. 4 Omaha (31-22-1) is scheduled for a 9:00 p.m. start. All games can be seen on ESPN3.
Of course, the Bears aren’t taking any momentum into this tournament as they have dropped five of their last seven.
STORY LINES
• The Bears have been selected as the No. 2 seed in the Los Angeles Regional and will match up with No. 3-seeded LMU in the first game of the NCAA Regional on Friday, May 31 at 3 p.m. CT/1 p.m. PT at UCLA's Jackie Robinson Stadium. The other two teams in the regional include No. 1 seed UCLA, the No. 1 seed overall in the tournament and No. 4-seeded Omaha.
• Baylor is making its third-straight NCAA Regional appearance for the first time since a stretch of four-consecutive appearances between 2009-12. This is the 21st regional selection in program history.
• The Bears won 8-of-10 three game series on the year, including 5-of-6 in the Big 12 and a series over Oklahoma.
• Baylor has finished its home schedule with a .500 record or better (24-6 in 2019) in all 20 seasons at Baylor Ballpark (since 1999) and is 456-204 all-time at the park.
• Baylor led the league for a third-straight year with 12 All-Big 12 honors.
• Baylor has 12 or more wins (14) in Big 12 play for the third-straight season. BU has won 12 or more in three-straight seasons for the first time since 2010-12.
• Baylor has won 30 or more (34) games in a season for the third-straight year (32 in 2018), giving the program back-to-back-to-back 30-win seasons for the first time since 2010-12.
More on the Lions: The WCC tournament champions went 15-12 in their league but got hot at the right time. They are a one-man offense per se as junior IF/OF Trevin Esquerra has hit 16 of LMU’s 22 home runs. It’s not a great offense averaging 4.4 runs per game and batting just .261.
The Bears are likely going to see senior RHP Codia Paiva (7-5, 1.71 ERA). It’s a pitching staff that has a better than 2-to-1 strikeouts to walks ratio. However, it didn’t average a strikeout per inning. LMU is an OK fielding team with a .976 fielding percentage. It committed 50 errors in 55 games and allowed 27 unearned runs.
Against UCLA: In this meeting of Bears, these programs have met 10 times between 2009 and 2018. UCLA leads, 6-4. They last met in Los Angeles in Feb. 2018 when the Bruins won two of three.
Against Omaha: This would be a first-ever meeting
Probable starter for Game 1
It’s really up in the air who Rodriguez will elect to use. He had three choices:
LHP Paul Dickens (Jr.) – 5-2, 4.07 ERA
RHP Jimmy Winston (R-So.) – 5-2, 4.28
RHP Jacob Ashkinos (R-So.) – 2-4, 4.95
Emptying the Notebook
>A reminder the rest of the Baylor 2019 class should be arriving this weekend and Monday in time for the start of the first summer term that starts on Tuesday. Again, Georgia DT Isaiah Howard will not be arriving. He will be attending a prep school and will gray shirt.
>MLB’s latest Mock Draft has Baylor junior catcher Shea Langeliers going No. 13 to Minnesota. In previous mock drafts, Langeliers has been projected to go No. 9 to No. 14. The draft begins on Monday.
