NOTE: The content on the Baylor Blitz is solely meant for the subscribers of SicEmSports. Let's all please make sure that whatever is written here stays here. We appreciate you all helping us with this. Now, let's all take a look at Baylor recruiting and what else is going on involving the Bears.
Baylor-Iowa State visitors
These lists are never exact but these are the players who have told SicEmSports they intend to attend Saturday night's homecoming game.
>KD Cannon, WR, Mount Pleasant (2014 Baylor commit)
>Chris Platt, WR, Willis (2014 Baylor Commit)
>Ryan Newsome, Ath, Aledo (2015 Baylor recruit)
>Terence Williams, RB, Ennis (2014 Baylor commit)
>Jamie Jacobs, DE/LB, Waco Midway (2014 Baylor commit)
>Verkedric Vaughs, DB, Mesquite Poteet (2014 Baylor commit)
>Charles West, RB, Coppell (Baylor 2015 Baylor recruit)
>Javon Pruitt, OL, Dallas Bishop Dunne (Arkansas 2014 commit; Baylor offer)
Note: We're going to see where this goes. Pruitt has told us that Baylor is pushing after him pretty hard. But we've also talked to several sources who have said that his verbal to Arkansas is solid.
-SicEmSports
Basketball weekend
Even through Rivals' 2014 No. 7 Rashad Vaughn's visit has been pushed back to another time, Baylor's coaching staff continues to make inroads with the 2015 class. Plano West is sending two big-time prospects to Waco including 5-star center Tyler Davis and 4-star forward D.J. Hogg.
Davis is rated No. 20 by Rivals, while Hogg is rated No. 49. This will be Davis' second visit as he visited previously in early September. Hogg will be making his first visit to the school but has not been offered by the Bears. This could be the visit that changes things.
Baylor may still be looking for a point guard for the 2014 class if the Tyus Jones pursuit doesn't work out. Houston John Cooper point guard Avery Johnson is also expected to attend this weekend.
While the son of the former NBA coach Avery Johnson hasn't been offered by the Bears, Baylor watched him quite a bit during the summer tournament season.
Remember, Jones, the No. 5 rated player, along with No. 1 Jahlil Okafor are likely going to announce in November. Both of them are visiting Kansas this weekend.
-Kevin Lonnquist
Henderson eliminates Baylor
Baylor was supposed to get an unofficial visit from Longview DT Zaycoven Henderson for the West Virginia game. He ended up not making the trip, and late Thursday night, Henderson said Baylor's no longer in the running.
"I have a different top five," Henderson said, referring to our previous conversation, as well as his September 16th Tweet that had Baylor in the mix. "Things are clearing up, I'll commit in November some time. I pretty much have my top 5. Ole Miss, Texas, Texas Tech, and Oklahoma. The fifth one would more than likely be TCU."
Henderson is visiting Ole Miss this weekend, then will head to Oklahoma. Baylor's coaches probably will stay after him, but more than likely, this ship has sailed.
-Jake Shaw
Sutherland getting to know Baylor
It's been about a week since 2015 Flower Mound Marcus offensive tackle Keaton Sutherland picked up his offer from Baylor.
That makes six schools who have offered the 6-5, 265-pound prospect. Oklahoma, Texas Tech, TCU, Arkansas and Rutgers are the others.
"I talked with coach [Randy] Clements last week,'' Sutherland said. "I've also talked with Coach [Jim] Gush so I'm starting to get to know them. I really had not spoken with Baylor that much but I knew they had my film from my sophomore year. I'm starting to get to know them a little bit more.''
Unfortunately, Sutherland's season is over. Two weeks ago, he had left shoulder surgery to repair a torn labrum. The injury actually occurred during spring football in May. Sutherland said he was trying to block a linebacker. He drove his arms straight before the left one got popped back.
Rehab should be starting at the end of this month. Sutherland is expected to be ready for spring football. Sutherland said he was told that if he had the surgery in the summer, he would miss the season. So he tried to fight through the pain and play through it. Finally, when Marcus played at Plano two weeks ago, he finally had enough and went for surgery.
In spite of this health setback, Clements told Sutherland he likes the overall package.
"He likes how I can use my feet for pass protection,'' Sutherland said. "He was impressed how I delivered the first blow. But I know I have a long way to go.''
-Kevin Lonnquist
Baylor commit recruiting his teammate
It took several tries, but Huntsville finally got in the win column in its fourth game of the season. A big reason for the 42-23 win over Bryan Rudder was the rushing by 2015 ATH Morie Evans. But despite his Lache Seastrunk-like numbers (173 yards on 16 carries), Evans envisions himself playing defense.
"Hopefully free safety," he said. "I like hitting people."
Baylor hosted Evans at a camp this past summer, and the Bears left an impression on him.
"They showed me a lot of good stuff about technique," he said. "They showed me around some of the new facilities. I like them."
So far, Arizona State is the only one to offer. Evans says he's hearing from them, Oregon and Baylor the most. Even when he's not hearing from Baylor's staff, his teammate -- 2015 OL Ronnie Major, a Baylor commitment -- is doing some recruiting of his own.
"He told me that they ask about me all the time to see how I'm doing," Evans said.
-Jake Shaw
You can never start too early
It didn't hurt that Memphis offensive lineman Will Lawrence started tracking Baylor more closely during Robert Griffin III's Heisman Trophy season.
But you could say it really started earlier that. Lawrence's parents are both Baylor grads, but his father Tom is letting his 6-3, 250 pound 2018 -- you read that right 2018 because he's an eighth grader -- Harding Academy prospect go through the process.
As it turns out, the Lawrence's are coming to Waco this weekend for Homecoming.
"Will has become very interested in Baylor because he has noticed how many linemen they have put in the NFL and the general trajectory of the program,'' Tom Lawrence said. "He reached out to Baylor and provided film and information in order to set up the game visit.''
At Harding Academy, Lawrence has been starting on the offensive line. He has made several national future watch lists.
The elder Lawrence said he plans on bringing his son to one of Baylor's camps next summer.
If the Lawrence name sounds familiar, Will is a cousin of former Texas place-kicker Hunter Lawrence who kicked the game-winning field goal against Nebraska in 2009 Big 12 championship game.
-Kevin Lonnquist
Sizelove fallout
Not long after Argyle linebacker Sam Sizelove visited Waco for Baylor's game against West Virginia, Sizelove went north to Manhattan, KS last weekend to watch the Wildcats play Baylor.
Maybe that's ironic because Sizelove has been committed to Bill Snyder's program since the summer. But in talking to a source, the source said Sizelove is pretty solid with KSU but still is willing to look at every school just to be sure he isn't missing anything.
We know Baylor assistant coach Jim Gush has been in contact with Sizelove and the folks at Argyle within the last week, so there's no question Baylor trying to make the case to give Sizelove something to consider.
We'll see how this all unfolds. That why signing day is 3½ months away.
-Kevin Lonnquist
Port Arthur Memorial notables
>2016 running back Kameron Martin said he talked with Baylor assistants Jeff Lebby and Carlton Buckels this week. There had been some hope that Martin would come up this weekend. However, Martin is driving up to College Station to watch Auburn play Texas A&M at Kyle Field. Still, Martin said the conversations with Baylor continue to be productive.
>Martin's teammate and cousin C.J. (Cornelius) Levine, Martin's cousin, said he reached out to Buckels Thursday and said the conversation was positive. Levine said Buckels told him he plans on coming to watch him play in the near future. While it's rather early, Levine said he considers Baylor one of the top five schools he would consider.
-Kevin Lonnquist
Big 12 Weekend
A look at Saturday's games. All times are central. TV listings are provided. Texas and Kansas State have a bye.
TCU (3-3, 1-2) at No. 19/17 Oklahoma State (4-1, 1-1), 11:00 a.m. Saturday
Boone Pickens Stadium, Stillwater, OK (FOX)
The skinny: Somehow, the Horned Frogs overcame five turnovers in a 27-17 victory against TCU last week. That likely won't provide the same fortune when Horned Frogs travel north for OSU's homecoming. TCU actually was scheduled to practice Friday at OU since the Sooners were traveling to Kansas. The Cowboys are coming off a bye. The good news is they feature one of the conference's top 10 rushers. The bad news is that it's quarterback J.W. Walsh.
No. 15/15 Texas Tech (6-0, 3-0) at West Virginia (3-3, 1-2), 11:00 a.m. Saturday
Milar-Puskar Stadium, Morgantown, W VA (FOX SPORTS 1)
The skinny: While the Red Raiders have started quickly, it can be said we still don't know much about them since they've played SMU, SFA, TCU, Texas State, Kansas and Iowa State. But somehow, the freshman quarterback rotation of Davis Webb and Baker Mayfield have this team unblemished. The Mountaineers are still unsure who starts at quarterback for this team. That's par for the course. West Virginia was off last week.
No. 17/18 Oklahoma (5-1, 2-1) at Kansas (2-3, 0-2), 2:30 p.m. Saturday
Memorial Stadium, Lawrence, KS (ESPN)
The skinny: The Sooners have to quickly put the disappointment of the Texas loss behind them but are losing defensive players by the week. Questions now face quarterback Blake Bell who really struggled against the Longhorns. Place-kicker Mike Hunnicutt has had a very good season converted 14 of 15 field goal attempts. Meanwhile, the Jayhawks have really had their issues on offense as they are last in total offense at 320.6 yards per game.
Iowa State (1-4, 0-2) at No. 12/12 Baylor (5-0, 2-0), 6:00 p.m. Saturday
Floyd Casey Stadium, Waco (ESPNU)
The skinny: There's a little hope with the Cyclone offense. ISU has scored 30 or more points in three consecutive games for the first time since 2005. Quarterback Sam B. Richardson has stabilized things but is nursing a bad ankle. For the Bears, they'd like a little payback from the 35-21 loss in Ames in 2012. The Baylor offense has accounted for 400-plus yards in 32 consecutive games.
-SicEmSports
Big 12 Power Rankings
Each week, SicEmSports ranks the Big 12 teams based on expectations and performance. Ratings always vary. Agree or disagree, there's nothing like finding out who is ranked where. These rankings are before the Texas-Iowa State game.
1. Baylor - Bears show their mettle in Manhattan, KS
2. Oklahoma State - Cowboys second in Big 12 with 9 ints
3. Texas Tech - Who the heck are these guys?
4. Oklahoma - Quarterback questions return
5. Texas - That snowball's chance against OU now puts Longhorns in control of their destiny
6. West Virginia - Mountaineers have converted only 3 of 9 4th down attempts
7. TCU - Second in the league in total defense (328.0); 9th in total offense (331.2)
8. Kansas State - Eventually, this offense should be turned over to QB Daniel Sams
9. Iowa State - All four of the Cyclones losses have come by one score
10. Kansas - BYU transfer QB Jake Heaps is only league QB to have more INTs (8) than TDs (6)
-Kevin Lonnquist
Emptying the Notebook
>The chances of sophomore DT Suleiman Masumbuko (strained elbow ligament) playing Saturday against Iowa State don't appear to be too likely from what we've learned.
>Still no word on transfer guard Royce O'Neale's hardship waiver. As we said, this could go all the way until the end of October.
>Two months after he left the program, Baylor coaches still have been unable to contact sophomore defensive tackle Javonte Magee. Magee left the program before the Aug. 10 scrimmage.
>Longview 2015 RB JaMycal Hasty is going to College Station to watch Auburn-Texas A&M.
>Rockwall 2015 RB Chris Warren is traveling to Stillwater, OK to watch TCU-Oklahoma State.
>Dallas Bishop Dunne DB Nick Watkins and teammate DB Payton Hendrix are taking their scheduled official visits to Notre Dame this weekend when the Irish play USC. Watkins said the Notre Dame visit remains the only scheduled official visit to this point.
-Kevin Lonnquist
