The Random Juke Box gets your blood pumping better than your strongest cup of coffee. So if you’re in your office and irritated how the Monday meetings went, take your headphones out and jam to The Alarm for about 3-4 minutes. Then you’re good to go.
****
So the drought ends on Thursday. I’m not making a prediction on the lack of rainfall (but we could use a little of that too). Of course, we’re marking the start of the 2015 football season with the opening of fall camp. Is this the year Baylor scales to the top of the mountain? We’re going find out over the next four-plus months.
With any football team, all eyes are going to be on the quarterback. It’s the lightning rod position to any team. Thus, that’s where we are with Seth Russell. He’s had four months to review film, work on the side with the receivers, absorb the expectations and assert himself in the locker room so he will have a sense that everybody has his back. I would contend that the latter is probably the first thing he needed to accomplish. You have to demonstrate to teammates that you’re the man, you can pick up where Bryce Petty left off and that you can take this team all the way to the Final Four and perhaps a national championship.
Any coach will tell you that you can’t win a national championship in fall camp. But you can definitely lose it if your players are not united behind each other especially the quarterback. I have no doubt that Russell is ready to answer these swirling questions. Few would disagree that he’s a more athletic quarterback than Petty was. Petty became the Boy Scout who did everything right, strove to do everything right, became his worst critic when he didn’t do everything right and was accountable for everything that happened.
Russell may be able to create something when everything is crumbling around him. That could turn into a run. That could turn into a safety valve that winds up going for 27 yards. That could be a deep ball to KD Cannon because the chaos at the line of scrimmage caused a cornerback to move toward the action.
There will be nerves, apprehension and deep into the corners of his mind some doubts (he’ll never admit it publicly and he shouldn’t). It’s natural. It happens to all of us. As confident as we all are in our ability to do anything, we’ll check ourselves and find out. But the beauty of this is how we rise to meet the challenge. That’s where Art and Kendal Briles come into play. Their presence with Russell will be essential throughout these four weeks so he will take the field with a sense of inner strength that hasn’t been seen.
I’ve said this before about Russell in terms of him finding consistency. From the windows of play we have seen over the past two seasons, you know that he can make the play that causes you to say, “How did he do that?” to making the play that causes you to say, “Why did he do that?” If we’re still saying something a variation of that two month from now, then I wouldn’t like Baylor’s chances of repeating for a third consecutive Big 12 championship much less the national semifinals. If we’re not, then Baylor is in a very good position to be in the picture for both. At the scrimmage I watched in March, I was fine with his deep ball and when he had to check down. Where I have the concerns is with the intermediate ball. Those are the balls that sustain drives. Those need to be completed at least 65 percent of the time. In terms of reads, I thought he forced a couple of things that were ill-advised. But the velocity on those throws wasn’t where it needed to be (maybe he was holding back). In my opinion, this is the ball that’s going to make or break his and Baylor’s season.
Two weeks ago, you heard Art Briles spoke at Big 12 media days talking about Seth Russell. Briles said then: “With Seth, it’s still kind of a process to where we’re trying to fill out exactly how to coach him, what motivates him, what his strengths are and make sure that we give him opportunities to be successful….The thing we’ve got to do is make sure that he doesn’t feel like he’s got too much pressure on himself to perform at an extremely high level…You don’t have to be great. You’ve just got to be predictable, and that’s what we’ll expect out of him, especially early till we get a feel, and then we’ll turn him loose.’’
So there you go. Even these coaches need these next four weeks to tell them more. It could absolutely tell them how they can manage the season. I know you’ve heard me say this or read where I posted that the last two years were the most talented teams that Baylor has ever fielded. Now, I think the 2015 edition is the most talented team – funny how that works with recruiting – and gives Baylor its chance. Having said all this, you will not see a Baylor quarterback be a caretaker. He has to make plays. That’s going to have to happen starting in November because the first two months may not tell us much about this team. Oh, you’ll see some things that will give you reason for confidence and reason for worry. But the fun begins with Kansas State on Nov. 5 in Manhattan, KS.
By the way, I’ll have a preview that runs on Wednesday setting up fall camp. It will look similar to what I did for spring football.
*****
With LaSalle senior transfer guard Khalid Lewis visiting Baylor this week, it’s probably Scott Drew’s last shot to add another quality ball handler for the 2015-16 season. With Kenny Chery gone, there’s just not enough veteran leadership in the backcourt.
Drew and his staff probably would like to ease King McClure into the rotation along with Jake Lindsey. If it were me, I think they would want to redshirt Wendell Mitchell because he is transitioning from such a small high school.
McClure is a great talent. The issues he suffered with the knee injury two years ago are behind him. He has the package to be a great floor leader. But if you’re Baylor, you want to see that develop in 2016-17 not now.
If you look at that roster, it’s very glaring that the point guard options are limited. Lester Medford was just too inconsistent last year. He's really better for a team coming off the bench and spelling the point guard not being the No. 1 point guard. That’s why there is that last push for Lewis. He wasn’t a great scorer with the Explorers, but he could develop into one should he come to Baylor.
Baylor probably would have had the inside track for him had TCU not found out about him and have him come visit this past weekend. Lewis should be in Waco Monday and Tuesday.
****
It looks like we’re going to have another big recruiting event this coming weekend between Friday and Saturday. The likes of 2016 DL prospects Chris Daniels and Isaiah Chambers are going to be on hand along with the possibility of 2017 standouts Anthony Hines and K’Lavon Chaisson. There’s going to be a few more. But as many of you know, my policy is to try and wait on those confirmed visitors until the day before they’re coming. Sure, if a recruit tells us he’s coming on a date, we’ll let you know.
However, we’ve seen it time and time again where players who said they were coming two weeks ago, never showed up for whatever reason. See Tyrie Cleveland.
****
I said that I think Baylor can get to 15 commitments before the 2015 seasons starts. That’s going to be tougher because fall camp is starting and then the high school fall camps begin next Monday Aug. 10 (for those programs that did have spring ball). High school fall camp, though, did start Monday for several 2016 and 2017 commits. For the 2016s that Daingerfield athlete Denzel Mims, Grandview quarterback Zach Smith and Silsbee offensive lineman Patrick Hudson. For the 2017s, that would include Stafford WR Hezekiah Jones, safety Jalen Pitre, Waco La Vega TE Kedrick James and Kennedale LB Baron Browning. I think it also starts for Houston St. Thomas WR Jhamon Ausbon as well.
But for the zillionth time, Baylor’s recruiting dynamic has changed. The Bears are now in the running for many top players. This is going to go all the way National Signing Day 2016 (Feb. 3). In the past, we got spoiled by the class being virtually wrapped up by December. Not anymore. Times are different. Actually, I was kind of bored in previous Januarys. So this will be refreshing. Heck, we may see a national guy go on TV on Feb. 3 with all of the hats and put on a Baylor hat. Impatience is not the quality you need here, especially when it comes to Baylor pursuing defensive linemen. You’re just going to have to fight through it. I know that’s easier than it sounds.
****
Ok, some other thoughts:
>Baylor’s fall semester begins on Aug. 24 – in case you were wondering.
>Think Baylor alum David Murphy is fired about being with the Los Angeles Angels? Remember, Cleveland dealt him to the Angels last Wednesday. Well, the Angels are in the middle of a 6-game losing streak and are four games behind Houston in the AL West.
>Speaking of the AL West, the Silver Boot series resumes in Arlington between the Rangers and Astros. That’s Monday-Wednesday. I’d still like for this Astros team to make a little more contact but the addition of Carlos Gomez will help that to a degree. Scott Kazmir will pitch in this series.
>As for the Rangers, I thought Cole Hamels pitched really well Saturday against a San Francisco team that’s a really good contact hitting team. His chang-up is even a better pitch than I thought it was. He caught too much of the plate in the 3rd inning. Too bad Tanner Scheppers coughed it up. Then Scheppers goes on the DL with knee injury on Sunday. Hmmm. Manager Jeff Bannister said Scheppers said there was an issue earlier in the week but that he was going to fight through it. Knowing that, why would you put him in with the game on the line?
>By the way, 41 trades were made before the July 31 deadline. Amazing. The only team that didn’t make a deal was Arizona.
>Cowboys WR Dez Bryant, new contract and all, gets into a fight in the second day of pads. There is no known cure for knuckleheaditis.
>Finally, I’m pleased to tell you that we are returning our August fall camp staple of 20 questions. It will include Stephen Cook and myself. In the previous series, there were three of us including Jake Shaw. Well, we’re bringing Jake back…sort of. That third spot is going to be a member of the local media issuing his take. That will include Jake, ESPN Central Texas’ David Smoak, Paul Catalina and Craig Smoak, the Waco Tribune’s John Werner and Brice Cherry and Baylor Insider Jerry Hill. We hope you enjoy it. We’re looking at starting it Aug. 11.
Let’s make it a great week.
****
So the drought ends on Thursday. I’m not making a prediction on the lack of rainfall (but we could use a little of that too). Of course, we’re marking the start of the 2015 football season with the opening of fall camp. Is this the year Baylor scales to the top of the mountain? We’re going find out over the next four-plus months.
With any football team, all eyes are going to be on the quarterback. It’s the lightning rod position to any team. Thus, that’s where we are with Seth Russell. He’s had four months to review film, work on the side with the receivers, absorb the expectations and assert himself in the locker room so he will have a sense that everybody has his back. I would contend that the latter is probably the first thing he needed to accomplish. You have to demonstrate to teammates that you’re the man, you can pick up where Bryce Petty left off and that you can take this team all the way to the Final Four and perhaps a national championship.
Any coach will tell you that you can’t win a national championship in fall camp. But you can definitely lose it if your players are not united behind each other especially the quarterback. I have no doubt that Russell is ready to answer these swirling questions. Few would disagree that he’s a more athletic quarterback than Petty was. Petty became the Boy Scout who did everything right, strove to do everything right, became his worst critic when he didn’t do everything right and was accountable for everything that happened.
Russell may be able to create something when everything is crumbling around him. That could turn into a run. That could turn into a safety valve that winds up going for 27 yards. That could be a deep ball to KD Cannon because the chaos at the line of scrimmage caused a cornerback to move toward the action.
There will be nerves, apprehension and deep into the corners of his mind some doubts (he’ll never admit it publicly and he shouldn’t). It’s natural. It happens to all of us. As confident as we all are in our ability to do anything, we’ll check ourselves and find out. But the beauty of this is how we rise to meet the challenge. That’s where Art and Kendal Briles come into play. Their presence with Russell will be essential throughout these four weeks so he will take the field with a sense of inner strength that hasn’t been seen.
I’ve said this before about Russell in terms of him finding consistency. From the windows of play we have seen over the past two seasons, you know that he can make the play that causes you to say, “How did he do that?” to making the play that causes you to say, “Why did he do that?” If we’re still saying something a variation of that two month from now, then I wouldn’t like Baylor’s chances of repeating for a third consecutive Big 12 championship much less the national semifinals. If we’re not, then Baylor is in a very good position to be in the picture for both. At the scrimmage I watched in March, I was fine with his deep ball and when he had to check down. Where I have the concerns is with the intermediate ball. Those are the balls that sustain drives. Those need to be completed at least 65 percent of the time. In terms of reads, I thought he forced a couple of things that were ill-advised. But the velocity on those throws wasn’t where it needed to be (maybe he was holding back). In my opinion, this is the ball that’s going to make or break his and Baylor’s season.
Two weeks ago, you heard Art Briles spoke at Big 12 media days talking about Seth Russell. Briles said then: “With Seth, it’s still kind of a process to where we’re trying to fill out exactly how to coach him, what motivates him, what his strengths are and make sure that we give him opportunities to be successful….The thing we’ve got to do is make sure that he doesn’t feel like he’s got too much pressure on himself to perform at an extremely high level…You don’t have to be great. You’ve just got to be predictable, and that’s what we’ll expect out of him, especially early till we get a feel, and then we’ll turn him loose.’’
So there you go. Even these coaches need these next four weeks to tell them more. It could absolutely tell them how they can manage the season. I know you’ve heard me say this or read where I posted that the last two years were the most talented teams that Baylor has ever fielded. Now, I think the 2015 edition is the most talented team – funny how that works with recruiting – and gives Baylor its chance. Having said all this, you will not see a Baylor quarterback be a caretaker. He has to make plays. That’s going to have to happen starting in November because the first two months may not tell us much about this team. Oh, you’ll see some things that will give you reason for confidence and reason for worry. But the fun begins with Kansas State on Nov. 5 in Manhattan, KS.
By the way, I’ll have a preview that runs on Wednesday setting up fall camp. It will look similar to what I did for spring football.
*****
With LaSalle senior transfer guard Khalid Lewis visiting Baylor this week, it’s probably Scott Drew’s last shot to add another quality ball handler for the 2015-16 season. With Kenny Chery gone, there’s just not enough veteran leadership in the backcourt.
Drew and his staff probably would like to ease King McClure into the rotation along with Jake Lindsey. If it were me, I think they would want to redshirt Wendell Mitchell because he is transitioning from such a small high school.
McClure is a great talent. The issues he suffered with the knee injury two years ago are behind him. He has the package to be a great floor leader. But if you’re Baylor, you want to see that develop in 2016-17 not now.
If you look at that roster, it’s very glaring that the point guard options are limited. Lester Medford was just too inconsistent last year. He's really better for a team coming off the bench and spelling the point guard not being the No. 1 point guard. That’s why there is that last push for Lewis. He wasn’t a great scorer with the Explorers, but he could develop into one should he come to Baylor.
Baylor probably would have had the inside track for him had TCU not found out about him and have him come visit this past weekend. Lewis should be in Waco Monday and Tuesday.
****
It looks like we’re going to have another big recruiting event this coming weekend between Friday and Saturday. The likes of 2016 DL prospects Chris Daniels and Isaiah Chambers are going to be on hand along with the possibility of 2017 standouts Anthony Hines and K’Lavon Chaisson. There’s going to be a few more. But as many of you know, my policy is to try and wait on those confirmed visitors until the day before they’re coming. Sure, if a recruit tells us he’s coming on a date, we’ll let you know.
However, we’ve seen it time and time again where players who said they were coming two weeks ago, never showed up for whatever reason. See Tyrie Cleveland.
****
I said that I think Baylor can get to 15 commitments before the 2015 seasons starts. That’s going to be tougher because fall camp is starting and then the high school fall camps begin next Monday Aug. 10 (for those programs that did have spring ball). High school fall camp, though, did start Monday for several 2016 and 2017 commits. For the 2016s that Daingerfield athlete Denzel Mims, Grandview quarterback Zach Smith and Silsbee offensive lineman Patrick Hudson. For the 2017s, that would include Stafford WR Hezekiah Jones, safety Jalen Pitre, Waco La Vega TE Kedrick James and Kennedale LB Baron Browning. I think it also starts for Houston St. Thomas WR Jhamon Ausbon as well.
But for the zillionth time, Baylor’s recruiting dynamic has changed. The Bears are now in the running for many top players. This is going to go all the way National Signing Day 2016 (Feb. 3). In the past, we got spoiled by the class being virtually wrapped up by December. Not anymore. Times are different. Actually, I was kind of bored in previous Januarys. So this will be refreshing. Heck, we may see a national guy go on TV on Feb. 3 with all of the hats and put on a Baylor hat. Impatience is not the quality you need here, especially when it comes to Baylor pursuing defensive linemen. You’re just going to have to fight through it. I know that’s easier than it sounds.
****
Ok, some other thoughts:
>Baylor’s fall semester begins on Aug. 24 – in case you were wondering.
>Think Baylor alum David Murphy is fired about being with the Los Angeles Angels? Remember, Cleveland dealt him to the Angels last Wednesday. Well, the Angels are in the middle of a 6-game losing streak and are four games behind Houston in the AL West.
>Speaking of the AL West, the Silver Boot series resumes in Arlington between the Rangers and Astros. That’s Monday-Wednesday. I’d still like for this Astros team to make a little more contact but the addition of Carlos Gomez will help that to a degree. Scott Kazmir will pitch in this series.
>As for the Rangers, I thought Cole Hamels pitched really well Saturday against a San Francisco team that’s a really good contact hitting team. His chang-up is even a better pitch than I thought it was. He caught too much of the plate in the 3rd inning. Too bad Tanner Scheppers coughed it up. Then Scheppers goes on the DL with knee injury on Sunday. Hmmm. Manager Jeff Bannister said Scheppers said there was an issue earlier in the week but that he was going to fight through it. Knowing that, why would you put him in with the game on the line?
>By the way, 41 trades were made before the July 31 deadline. Amazing. The only team that didn’t make a deal was Arizona.
>Cowboys WR Dez Bryant, new contract and all, gets into a fight in the second day of pads. There is no known cure for knuckleheaditis.
>Finally, I’m pleased to tell you that we are returning our August fall camp staple of 20 questions. It will include Stephen Cook and myself. In the previous series, there were three of us including Jake Shaw. Well, we’re bringing Jake back…sort of. That third spot is going to be a member of the local media issuing his take. That will include Jake, ESPN Central Texas’ David Smoak, Paul Catalina and Craig Smoak, the Waco Tribune’s John Werner and Brice Cherry and Baylor Insider Jerry Hill. We hope you enjoy it. We’re looking at starting it Aug. 11.
Let’s make it a great week.
