By Kevin Lonnquist
Publisher
Baylor’s second and final practice before the April 24 Green & Gold game took place on Saturday afternoon at McLane Stadium. There were a couple of hundred fans in attendance.
Here are some of the impressions your publisher had from these events.
>The practice was a mix between scrimmage situations and 7-on-7 events. The former was for those on the roster who will be expected to contribute. The 7-on-7 was mostly for those just need the reps.
>I would say that everything was conducted not at full speed but enough of a pace to get a general idea where things needed to go and how they needed to be corrected. Some guys were full out but that’s when instincts take over.
>There wasn’t anything full 1s vs. 2s and the presumed starting defense playing against a presumed starting offense. It was close. But there were some walk ons playing with ones and still some mixing and matching. It’s spring. Coaches do that.
>In the QB race between Jacob Zeno, Blake Shapen and Gerry Bohanon, all three got enough reps to continue this race. Obviously, they’ve been going at this for nearly a month. I didn’t find one to be clearly ahead of the others. Each did some things really well and then fizzled in others. As head coach Dave Aranda pointed out, Zeno looks good in the drop back game, Shapen making something out of nothing and Bohannon just understanding the overall scheme.
Zeno was good moving around in the pocket and still keeping his eyes downfield. Some throws in that situation were on target. Others were not. Shapen had the best ball of the day when he found Tyquan Thornton in the northeast corner of the end zone on about a 25-yard touchdown pass. Ball was well placed. But then he also threw an interception in the end zone to Lorando Johnson.
It would be news if Aranda announces after Saturday’s game that one is the starter. This competition should go into the fall and maybe the week leading up to Texas State.
Per Aranda: " I think it’s good. I think that position in particular has really pushed each other. I think guys are celebrating with each other. I know Ebner talked about that a couple of weeks ago. That continues to happen. I think guys study with each other. I’m impressed with seeing it. I think just today Zeno moved the ball, I think the dropback passing game comes really easy to him. I think Gerry throughout the week has had some big-play shots. I think that part of the game comes easy to him. I think Blake is able, when stuff’s not there, I think you saw it today, create stuff. That comes easy to him. I think you’re working from that skill set kind of completing the picture, I think all of those guys are all in. And then Shawn does a great job. Shawn’s a great builder of community. If a Kyron Drones maybe didn’t get the amount of reps that maybe he wanted to because there’s three other guys that are battling it out, Shawn’s able to lift him up and give him the looks that he needs. So I feel really good about where that is."
>I don’t know if it was experimental or if Aranda means it by moving linebacker Abram Smith to running back for some downhill running plays. Actually, Smith looked pretty good on several of them. Aranda said he needs more of that with this running game. You’ll recall Smith was a running back at Abilene and came to Baylor as a RB. Matt Rhule moved him to linebacker.
But I do get that OC Jeff Grimes understands that he needs some physical element to the running game. Baylor didn’t have that last year.
Per Aranda: "We’re looking for downhill runners. We’re looking for that aggressive straight-line path from the running backs, and I think Abram has that experience in his past as a running back. We’re looking to find a guy that can be a physical downhill, fall forward runner, and I think Abram is challenging the guys that we’ve got right now.”
>Taye McWilliams and Trestan Ebner looked pretty solid on stretch running plays. McWilliams just understands when to bounce to the outside if nothing develops in the B gaps. Ebner ran with some purpose as he wanted to put the 2020 disaster well behind him. I get that. He was terrible.
>Nothing notable from the receivers except that Thornton looked better than at any time he did for all of 2020. He made a nice catch on the Shapen TD throw.
>The offensive line mixed a lot of people together so looking at a true starting five may have to wait until next week. For the combinations that were out there, there were moments when they got dominated and then moments where they held their own.
>What I can tell you is that I think this defense is going to be pretty good. The IQ is there. That front could be the difference maker as to why this team puts itself in bowl contention. The defense is probably going to have to carry this team for perhaps the first two months of the season so the offense can find a rhythm. Baylor really can’t find that this spring with a QB competition in the middle of it.
>LSU NT transfer Siaki Ika is good. Solid. He’s 6-4 and 350 but when you look at Stephen’s picture on his thread, he’s not chunky. Ika is thick. He’s really quick and moves laterally very well. There were a couple of running plays he blew up in the backfield. He was right there at the point of the handoff.
>I’d watch Lorando Johnson’s emergence within this defense. I don’t think he’ll crack the starting lineup. But I think he’s going to find a way to get into the rotation. The INT against Shapen was pretty impressive. Ball thrown into the middle of the end zone for Josh Fleeks. Johnson was trailing Fleeks and jumped in front and snared it.
>There’s probably some relief from Aranda and his staff that it can finally put some kind of offseason plan together. If you want to judge Aranda and see if he can really run a P5 football program, this is the season to do it.
More to come next week during and after the spring game.
Publisher
Baylor’s second and final practice before the April 24 Green & Gold game took place on Saturday afternoon at McLane Stadium. There were a couple of hundred fans in attendance.
Here are some of the impressions your publisher had from these events.
>The practice was a mix between scrimmage situations and 7-on-7 events. The former was for those on the roster who will be expected to contribute. The 7-on-7 was mostly for those just need the reps.
>I would say that everything was conducted not at full speed but enough of a pace to get a general idea where things needed to go and how they needed to be corrected. Some guys were full out but that’s when instincts take over.
>There wasn’t anything full 1s vs. 2s and the presumed starting defense playing against a presumed starting offense. It was close. But there were some walk ons playing with ones and still some mixing and matching. It’s spring. Coaches do that.
>In the QB race between Jacob Zeno, Blake Shapen and Gerry Bohanon, all three got enough reps to continue this race. Obviously, they’ve been going at this for nearly a month. I didn’t find one to be clearly ahead of the others. Each did some things really well and then fizzled in others. As head coach Dave Aranda pointed out, Zeno looks good in the drop back game, Shapen making something out of nothing and Bohannon just understanding the overall scheme.
Zeno was good moving around in the pocket and still keeping his eyes downfield. Some throws in that situation were on target. Others were not. Shapen had the best ball of the day when he found Tyquan Thornton in the northeast corner of the end zone on about a 25-yard touchdown pass. Ball was well placed. But then he also threw an interception in the end zone to Lorando Johnson.
It would be news if Aranda announces after Saturday’s game that one is the starter. This competition should go into the fall and maybe the week leading up to Texas State.
Per Aranda: " I think it’s good. I think that position in particular has really pushed each other. I think guys are celebrating with each other. I know Ebner talked about that a couple of weeks ago. That continues to happen. I think guys study with each other. I’m impressed with seeing it. I think just today Zeno moved the ball, I think the dropback passing game comes really easy to him. I think Gerry throughout the week has had some big-play shots. I think that part of the game comes easy to him. I think Blake is able, when stuff’s not there, I think you saw it today, create stuff. That comes easy to him. I think you’re working from that skill set kind of completing the picture, I think all of those guys are all in. And then Shawn does a great job. Shawn’s a great builder of community. If a Kyron Drones maybe didn’t get the amount of reps that maybe he wanted to because there’s three other guys that are battling it out, Shawn’s able to lift him up and give him the looks that he needs. So I feel really good about where that is."
>I don’t know if it was experimental or if Aranda means it by moving linebacker Abram Smith to running back for some downhill running plays. Actually, Smith looked pretty good on several of them. Aranda said he needs more of that with this running game. You’ll recall Smith was a running back at Abilene and came to Baylor as a RB. Matt Rhule moved him to linebacker.
But I do get that OC Jeff Grimes understands that he needs some physical element to the running game. Baylor didn’t have that last year.
Per Aranda: "We’re looking for downhill runners. We’re looking for that aggressive straight-line path from the running backs, and I think Abram has that experience in his past as a running back. We’re looking to find a guy that can be a physical downhill, fall forward runner, and I think Abram is challenging the guys that we’ve got right now.”
>Taye McWilliams and Trestan Ebner looked pretty solid on stretch running plays. McWilliams just understands when to bounce to the outside if nothing develops in the B gaps. Ebner ran with some purpose as he wanted to put the 2020 disaster well behind him. I get that. He was terrible.
>Nothing notable from the receivers except that Thornton looked better than at any time he did for all of 2020. He made a nice catch on the Shapen TD throw.
>The offensive line mixed a lot of people together so looking at a true starting five may have to wait until next week. For the combinations that were out there, there were moments when they got dominated and then moments where they held their own.
>What I can tell you is that I think this defense is going to be pretty good. The IQ is there. That front could be the difference maker as to why this team puts itself in bowl contention. The defense is probably going to have to carry this team for perhaps the first two months of the season so the offense can find a rhythm. Baylor really can’t find that this spring with a QB competition in the middle of it.
>LSU NT transfer Siaki Ika is good. Solid. He’s 6-4 and 350 but when you look at Stephen’s picture on his thread, he’s not chunky. Ika is thick. He’s really quick and moves laterally very well. There were a couple of running plays he blew up in the backfield. He was right there at the point of the handoff.
>I’d watch Lorando Johnson’s emergence within this defense. I don’t think he’ll crack the starting lineup. But I think he’s going to find a way to get into the rotation. The INT against Shapen was pretty impressive. Ball thrown into the middle of the end zone for Josh Fleeks. Johnson was trailing Fleeks and jumped in front and snared it.
>There’s probably some relief from Aranda and his staff that it can finally put some kind of offseason plan together. If you want to judge Aranda and see if he can really run a P5 football program, this is the season to do it.
More to come next week during and after the spring game.
