By Kevin Lonnquist
Publisher
To be honest, the RJB really struggled to come up with this week’s selection. Then the inspiration emerged in the form of a television commercial.
When a junior high school band flails away at this powerful and moving piece of music, the composer is likely doing somersaults in his grave.
In 1896, Richard Stauss composed his piece, “Also sprach Zarathustra”. The initial fanfare is titled, “Sunrise”. You’ll recall it was used in the opening in the 1968 science fiction motion picture, 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Stanley Kubrick revived many of the classics for that movie. However, this is one of those themes that is timeless, and you can name in one note much like John Williams’ Jaws theme.
We are 126 years removed from that composition. If he was alive today, Strauss likely would be appalled by the Infinity ad where the collection of 11-13-year-olds are trying to play “Sunrise” and really struggling. The point of the ad is that it shows how the car keeps outside noise from interfering.
The RJB gives you the choice of enjoying the classic or the junior high band driving it into the ground.
*****
Well, the distraction from the baseball season is over. Baylor’s spring football season concluded Saturday with the annual Green & Gold game.
Now, the coaching staff moves into exit meetings with the players before they get away for a few weeks before they return for summer workouts in preparation of fall camp.
All eyes and ears are going to focus on one position: quarterback.
Baylor head coach Dave Aranda maintained in Saturday’s presser that they will name a starter when they have these exit meetings with Gerry Bohanon and Blake Shapen to reveal which direction, they are choosing for the 2022 season.
Now, whether that is made public is another story. Aranda is one of those who keeps a lot of things private.
If he does keep it private, that could be the story of the summer with leaks or a breaking story of who was named. His intentions might be he will want to ensure the personalities involved in the decision are protected so they can process and the QB room in Baylor remains unified.
Should Aranda break from character and publicly announce who he and his staff has chosen, then it’s a big step for him to get in front of a story. He will have read the room that includes the fan base, media and other followers so they know where this is going.
Regardless of how this goes down, the good thing is that Aranda has remained consistent with his plan to name this starter going into the summer.
Why? He knows he has a really good team. A team that probably could be picked to repeat as Big 12 champions. A team that could be ranked in the Top 10 of the preseason AP and Coaches Poll. A team that if everything breaks right and it can navigate its way through road trips to Norman, OK and Austin could be in the playoff discussion.
A lot will be expected this fall. Perhaps more than ever in the history of Baylor football.
When you know you have a team that’s of this caliber, you don’t let the QB starter job linger, especially when you know who the candidates are and have known them for a couple of years.
Starting from that day, the Bears must get behind that QB and give him every opportunity to be ready and be prepared to lead. That’s the key. He must be the leader. He needs to be the one where it’s all on his shoulders.
The Shapen-Bohanon debate carries a lot of intrigue and a lot of consternation. From a physical gifts standpoint, Shapen has the edge. The ball doesn’t come out of his hand. It jumps. Not many quarterbacks have that. Go back to the touchdown pass on the opening play against Texas Tech. You also don’t set a Big 12 Championship Game and AT&T Stadium record completing your first 17 attempts because you’re lucky.
From a leadership standpoint, Bohanon has the edge simply because he has the longevity, he has the wins over Texas and Oklahoma, he did everything that was asked of him last year before got hurt and he played on a bad wheel in the Sugar Bowl against Ole Miss and did just enough to lead this team to its first New Year’s Day bowl win in more than 60 years.
But then you have the politics of this decision. There’s always an element of that involved.
If Aranda goes to Bohanon, there is the real possibility that Shapen could look around and decide to enter the NCAA transfer portal and find a place where he can start. Then the QB room is really thrown upside down.
If Aranda goes to Shapen, Bohanon isn’t as much of a flight risk. This is his last year. Sure, he’s played his career with the chip on his shoulder starting off with playing in a small town in Arkansas. He’s been doubted every year he’s been here. However, he’s also been the good soldier.
For those of us who watched the spring game, the advantage went to Shapen. He simply looked better. He was composed in the pocket, kept his eyes down the field on plays and wasn’t rattled.
Bohanon was fine. But there were moments when he didn’t stay in the pocket to look for a play and took off and ran. That’s a little frustrating because his arm is good enough after what I saw from the March 30 pro day when he was working with the receivers.
Shapen led three scoring drives including a 50-yard dime to Monaray Baldwin. Bohanon led one. He threw a pick6 – the Bryson Jackson 93-yard return – that wasn’t entirely his fault. Still, it goes on his record.
Now, the decision won’t be made out of this one performance. What it could have done was reinforce it. Baylor went through an offseason and then 15 practices. The data is there. The results are there.
Politics or no politics, it really comes down to Aranda, Jeff Grimes and Shawn Bell truthfully answering this question: Who gives Baylor the best chance to win?
With all due respect to Bohanon, it should be Shapen. Keep this thought in mind when it comes to continuity. If you believe your program can be a contender for the next several seasons and you have a quarterback who is going to be around for those next several seasons, then it’s an obvious choice.
However, Bohanon would be the safe pick by Aranda because of what he did as the starter in 2021. That said, I promise you had Shapen not injured his shoulder in the Big 12 title game against Oklahoma State, he would have started the Sugar Bowl.
While Bohanon’s leadership is lauded, look at how Shapen handled himself in the second half against Kansas State, Texas Tech and then guiding this team to a Big 12 Championship win, albeit wobbly in the second half. What he did in those games wasn’t from a game manager point of view. He was asked to make plays and he made them.
Competition made both better. To exhaust an old line, the backup is one snap away from taking over.
My opinion doesn’t matter. But in this decision about choosing the starting quarterback, giving you the best chance to win comes down to safe (Bohanon) vs. ceiling (Shapen).
Love is love. But business is business.
****
As for the No. 3 QB spot, I still think it’s going to be Kyron Drones. There’s a of work to be done there. I hope from what anyone saw will now know he’s not ready to be in the equation yet.
He showed some good things and there were moments where he was overwhelmed.
Walk-on CJ Rogers was interesting. Loved the 77-yard TD bomb to Cameron Bonner as veteran Al Walcott was burned.
What hurt Rogers was that his senior year at Argyle was that it was his only year to play varsity QB. He played receiver as a junior.
Naturally, there wasn’t enough tape on him. That’s why his best offers were from FCS schools, Missouri State, Stephen F. Austin and Duquesne among others. There wasn’t a landing spot for him at the P5 and G5 level because most of those spots were taken by the time the 2020 season began.
Back to politics where Drones came to Baylor more highly decorated than the under-the-radar Rogers. The coaching staff made the inve$$$tment in Drones. It didn’t with Rogers.
It must let this storyline play out a little further to determine if/when Drones can be an option or not. If Rogers is ever awarded a scholarship, then that’s your signal all bets are off.
*****
Nothing more to say about the Baylor baseball team. There have been some injuries and inconsistencies. But when you come out of Austin after being soundly swept and looking really bad in all of them – outscored 46-9 – and falling to 4-11 in conference play, this season has become playing out the string.
They have three series left: home to Texas Tech, at Kansas State and home to Oklahoma State. There will be no NCAA tournament unless this team goes 8-1 just to finish .500 in conference play. That’s good enough to make it.
With how bad this pitching staff is, think that’s going to happen?
*****
Now, a look at other Baylor sports…
>Baylor men's golf will open play at the Big 12 Championship on Monday morning at Whispering Pines, looking to secure a spot in the postseason. Baylor's best finish in its seven Big 12 Championship appearances at Whispering Pines is fifth place three times, including the last trip in 2016.
The 72-hole event will begin with 36 holes on Monday, followed by 18 holes in each of the last two rounds on Tuesday and Wednesday. BU will be paired with Kansas on day one and open the championship on No. 10 at 8:22 a.m. In the afternoon session, they will tee off on No. 1 beginning at 1:52 p.m.
>Baylor track and field closed the gates of the Clyde Hart Track and Field Stadium for the final time in 2022 with a bang, setting a top national mark and winning 11 collegiate championships in the process.
Chinecherem Prosper Nnamdi, who lost the national No. 1 spot to Virginia's Ethan Dabbs Friday night, came out looking for revenge and threw a 265-11 program and stadium record-setting mark, enough to take back that top spot by over two feet. According to USTFCCCA's all-time list, Prosper Nnamdi's 265-11 lands him as the No. 15 all-time thrower in Division I competition.
>Baylor acrobatics & tumbling was named No. 1 in the final NCATA rankings, also serving as the seeding of the 2022 National Championship field, the organization announced Monday.
The Championships are hosted by the University of Oregon at Matthew Knight Arena in Eugene. The eight-team, single-elimination tournament begins on Thursday, April 28.
>Baylor women's golf shot the round of the day, a 6-over 290, on Sunday to finish with a score of 27-over 879 and tie Oklahoma State for 2nd at the Big 12 Championship. A tie for second marks BU's fourth-straight top-three finish at the Big 12 Championship and the highest finish since a solo second in 2019. Baylor will learn its regional destination when the field is announced on Wednesday, April 27th. It will be the Bears' ninth-straight NCAA regional appearance.
>Baylor softball fell to Texas Tech, 2-0, in the series finale Sunday afternoon at Getterman Stadium, but takes the series over the Red Raiders 2-1. The Lady Bears are 25-19 and 4-8 in Big 12 play.
They play host to Stephen F. Austin Tuesday followed by a 3-game home series with Iowa Stae Friday-Sunday.
>On April 14, No. 6-seeded Baylor equestrian (7-8) fell to No. 3 Texas A&M (13-4) in the NCEA quarterfinals on Thursday by a final of 13-6 at the World Equestrian Center in Ocala, Fl.
> No. 21 Baylor women's tennis dropped a 4-1 contest to No. 27 Kansas Friday morning in the Big 12 quarterfinals at the Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center. The Bears now await their fate in the NCAA Tournament. The selection show is scheduled for Monday, May 2.
Let’s make it a great week!
Publisher
To be honest, the RJB really struggled to come up with this week’s selection. Then the inspiration emerged in the form of a television commercial.
When a junior high school band flails away at this powerful and moving piece of music, the composer is likely doing somersaults in his grave.
In 1896, Richard Stauss composed his piece, “Also sprach Zarathustra”. The initial fanfare is titled, “Sunrise”. You’ll recall it was used in the opening in the 1968 science fiction motion picture, 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Stanley Kubrick revived many of the classics for that movie. However, this is one of those themes that is timeless, and you can name in one note much like John Williams’ Jaws theme.
We are 126 years removed from that composition. If he was alive today, Strauss likely would be appalled by the Infinity ad where the collection of 11-13-year-olds are trying to play “Sunrise” and really struggling. The point of the ad is that it shows how the car keeps outside noise from interfering.
The RJB gives you the choice of enjoying the classic or the junior high band driving it into the ground.
*****
Well, the distraction from the baseball season is over. Baylor’s spring football season concluded Saturday with the annual Green & Gold game.
Now, the coaching staff moves into exit meetings with the players before they get away for a few weeks before they return for summer workouts in preparation of fall camp.
All eyes and ears are going to focus on one position: quarterback.
Baylor head coach Dave Aranda maintained in Saturday’s presser that they will name a starter when they have these exit meetings with Gerry Bohanon and Blake Shapen to reveal which direction, they are choosing for the 2022 season.
Now, whether that is made public is another story. Aranda is one of those who keeps a lot of things private.
If he does keep it private, that could be the story of the summer with leaks or a breaking story of who was named. His intentions might be he will want to ensure the personalities involved in the decision are protected so they can process and the QB room in Baylor remains unified.
Should Aranda break from character and publicly announce who he and his staff has chosen, then it’s a big step for him to get in front of a story. He will have read the room that includes the fan base, media and other followers so they know where this is going.
Regardless of how this goes down, the good thing is that Aranda has remained consistent with his plan to name this starter going into the summer.
Why? He knows he has a really good team. A team that probably could be picked to repeat as Big 12 champions. A team that could be ranked in the Top 10 of the preseason AP and Coaches Poll. A team that if everything breaks right and it can navigate its way through road trips to Norman, OK and Austin could be in the playoff discussion.
A lot will be expected this fall. Perhaps more than ever in the history of Baylor football.
When you know you have a team that’s of this caliber, you don’t let the QB starter job linger, especially when you know who the candidates are and have known them for a couple of years.
Starting from that day, the Bears must get behind that QB and give him every opportunity to be ready and be prepared to lead. That’s the key. He must be the leader. He needs to be the one where it’s all on his shoulders.
The Shapen-Bohanon debate carries a lot of intrigue and a lot of consternation. From a physical gifts standpoint, Shapen has the edge. The ball doesn’t come out of his hand. It jumps. Not many quarterbacks have that. Go back to the touchdown pass on the opening play against Texas Tech. You also don’t set a Big 12 Championship Game and AT&T Stadium record completing your first 17 attempts because you’re lucky.
From a leadership standpoint, Bohanon has the edge simply because he has the longevity, he has the wins over Texas and Oklahoma, he did everything that was asked of him last year before got hurt and he played on a bad wheel in the Sugar Bowl against Ole Miss and did just enough to lead this team to its first New Year’s Day bowl win in more than 60 years.
But then you have the politics of this decision. There’s always an element of that involved.
If Aranda goes to Bohanon, there is the real possibility that Shapen could look around and decide to enter the NCAA transfer portal and find a place where he can start. Then the QB room is really thrown upside down.
If Aranda goes to Shapen, Bohanon isn’t as much of a flight risk. This is his last year. Sure, he’s played his career with the chip on his shoulder starting off with playing in a small town in Arkansas. He’s been doubted every year he’s been here. However, he’s also been the good soldier.
For those of us who watched the spring game, the advantage went to Shapen. He simply looked better. He was composed in the pocket, kept his eyes down the field on plays and wasn’t rattled.
Bohanon was fine. But there were moments when he didn’t stay in the pocket to look for a play and took off and ran. That’s a little frustrating because his arm is good enough after what I saw from the March 30 pro day when he was working with the receivers.
Shapen led three scoring drives including a 50-yard dime to Monaray Baldwin. Bohanon led one. He threw a pick6 – the Bryson Jackson 93-yard return – that wasn’t entirely his fault. Still, it goes on his record.
Now, the decision won’t be made out of this one performance. What it could have done was reinforce it. Baylor went through an offseason and then 15 practices. The data is there. The results are there.
Politics or no politics, it really comes down to Aranda, Jeff Grimes and Shawn Bell truthfully answering this question: Who gives Baylor the best chance to win?
With all due respect to Bohanon, it should be Shapen. Keep this thought in mind when it comes to continuity. If you believe your program can be a contender for the next several seasons and you have a quarterback who is going to be around for those next several seasons, then it’s an obvious choice.
However, Bohanon would be the safe pick by Aranda because of what he did as the starter in 2021. That said, I promise you had Shapen not injured his shoulder in the Big 12 title game against Oklahoma State, he would have started the Sugar Bowl.
While Bohanon’s leadership is lauded, look at how Shapen handled himself in the second half against Kansas State, Texas Tech and then guiding this team to a Big 12 Championship win, albeit wobbly in the second half. What he did in those games wasn’t from a game manager point of view. He was asked to make plays and he made them.
Competition made both better. To exhaust an old line, the backup is one snap away from taking over.
My opinion doesn’t matter. But in this decision about choosing the starting quarterback, giving you the best chance to win comes down to safe (Bohanon) vs. ceiling (Shapen).
Love is love. But business is business.
****
As for the No. 3 QB spot, I still think it’s going to be Kyron Drones. There’s a of work to be done there. I hope from what anyone saw will now know he’s not ready to be in the equation yet.
He showed some good things and there were moments where he was overwhelmed.
Walk-on CJ Rogers was interesting. Loved the 77-yard TD bomb to Cameron Bonner as veteran Al Walcott was burned.
What hurt Rogers was that his senior year at Argyle was that it was his only year to play varsity QB. He played receiver as a junior.
Naturally, there wasn’t enough tape on him. That’s why his best offers were from FCS schools, Missouri State, Stephen F. Austin and Duquesne among others. There wasn’t a landing spot for him at the P5 and G5 level because most of those spots were taken by the time the 2020 season began.
Back to politics where Drones came to Baylor more highly decorated than the under-the-radar Rogers. The coaching staff made the inve$$$tment in Drones. It didn’t with Rogers.
It must let this storyline play out a little further to determine if/when Drones can be an option or not. If Rogers is ever awarded a scholarship, then that’s your signal all bets are off.
*****
Nothing more to say about the Baylor baseball team. There have been some injuries and inconsistencies. But when you come out of Austin after being soundly swept and looking really bad in all of them – outscored 46-9 – and falling to 4-11 in conference play, this season has become playing out the string.
They have three series left: home to Texas Tech, at Kansas State and home to Oklahoma State. There will be no NCAA tournament unless this team goes 8-1 just to finish .500 in conference play. That’s good enough to make it.
With how bad this pitching staff is, think that’s going to happen?
*****
Now, a look at other Baylor sports…
>Baylor men's golf will open play at the Big 12 Championship on Monday morning at Whispering Pines, looking to secure a spot in the postseason. Baylor's best finish in its seven Big 12 Championship appearances at Whispering Pines is fifth place three times, including the last trip in 2016.
The 72-hole event will begin with 36 holes on Monday, followed by 18 holes in each of the last two rounds on Tuesday and Wednesday. BU will be paired with Kansas on day one and open the championship on No. 10 at 8:22 a.m. In the afternoon session, they will tee off on No. 1 beginning at 1:52 p.m.
>Baylor track and field closed the gates of the Clyde Hart Track and Field Stadium for the final time in 2022 with a bang, setting a top national mark and winning 11 collegiate championships in the process.
Chinecherem Prosper Nnamdi, who lost the national No. 1 spot to Virginia's Ethan Dabbs Friday night, came out looking for revenge and threw a 265-11 program and stadium record-setting mark, enough to take back that top spot by over two feet. According to USTFCCCA's all-time list, Prosper Nnamdi's 265-11 lands him as the No. 15 all-time thrower in Division I competition.
>Baylor acrobatics & tumbling was named No. 1 in the final NCATA rankings, also serving as the seeding of the 2022 National Championship field, the organization announced Monday.
The Championships are hosted by the University of Oregon at Matthew Knight Arena in Eugene. The eight-team, single-elimination tournament begins on Thursday, April 28.
>Baylor women's golf shot the round of the day, a 6-over 290, on Sunday to finish with a score of 27-over 879 and tie Oklahoma State for 2nd at the Big 12 Championship. A tie for second marks BU's fourth-straight top-three finish at the Big 12 Championship and the highest finish since a solo second in 2019. Baylor will learn its regional destination when the field is announced on Wednesday, April 27th. It will be the Bears' ninth-straight NCAA regional appearance.
>Baylor softball fell to Texas Tech, 2-0, in the series finale Sunday afternoon at Getterman Stadium, but takes the series over the Red Raiders 2-1. The Lady Bears are 25-19 and 4-8 in Big 12 play.
They play host to Stephen F. Austin Tuesday followed by a 3-game home series with Iowa Stae Friday-Sunday.
>On April 14, No. 6-seeded Baylor equestrian (7-8) fell to No. 3 Texas A&M (13-4) in the NCEA quarterfinals on Thursday by a final of 13-6 at the World Equestrian Center in Ocala, Fl.
> No. 21 Baylor women's tennis dropped a 4-1 contest to No. 27 Kansas Friday morning in the Big 12 quarterfinals at the Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center. The Bears now await their fate in the NCAA Tournament. The selection show is scheduled for Monday, May 2.
Let’s make it a great week!
