By KEVIN LONNQUIST
Publisher
So Clairatt and Toby Whitby were seen Saturday morning in a widely known jazzercise club in greater Houston (leg warmers, guys? Really?) getting their workout in. Nothing wrong with physical fitness, of course. Hey, whatever works, right? But a recorded conversation of them talking about the early 1980s transitioned to them and their fav Melissa Manchester. Well, that makes sense. She probably has one of the best aerobic songs ever. And here it is.
But to provide some balance, here’s The Knack. After all, this is a bye week.
*****
I want you to go with me on a journey. Let’s return to the conclusion of the 2011 season. Robert Griffin III was on his way to winning the Heisman Trophy following the dramatic win over Oklahoma and leading Baylor to a double digit winning season. It culminated in the X-Box 67-56 win over Washington in the Alamo Bowl.
Then the speculation over whether RGIII was going to declare for the NFL draft picked up. It had already begun after he picked up college football’s most famous piece of hardware. Art Briles and his staff knew they needed to be proactive when it came to making sure the QB position on the depth chart was stable. How far back the preplanning began is only known to Briles and his staff. It’s safe to say that this staff probably had a sense it had to be proactive well before 2011 season even started.
If RGIII leaves, you have to go get somebody. If he stays, then you can wait for another year and find candidates. But that decision wasn’t coming until January. So the coaching staff had to wait this process out until Griffin announced he was going pro.
Within the euphoria, the 2011 roster had the backups of Nick Florence and Bryce Petty. Well, Baylor needed a third quarterback. But this was January when most of the top high school quarterbacks were already off the board.
Briles and his staff were left with two choices: They could go to the JUCO ranks or they could find a quarterback committed somewhere else and convince him to flip to them. Well, they started with JUCO Bo Wallace. Wallace had begun his career at Arkansas State before transferring to East Mississippi Community College. That didn’t go very far. There was an offer but Wallace eventually made his way to Ole Miss.
Then everything turned to Garland High School quarterback Seth Russell who had been committed to Kansas. There wasn’t really a lot known about Russell other than he had a big frame and a big arm. Of course, the coaching staff did as much homework as possible to make sure that it could lure him away from Charlie Weis. Russell started talking to the coaches, took an official visit in mid-January flipped to Baylor and signed.
Issue addressed. So he’s the guy who was going to follow Petty who was going to follow Florence.
When Petty became the starter in 2013, the redshirt came off Russell. He was the backup. That’s pretty much how Baylor has done it with the heir apparent signal caller. The No. 2 usually has zero college experience. And that’s fine. Players have to grow up sometime. I can remember we all said in 2013 that Baylor was a Petty injury away from having that season cave in on it. It didn’t happen. We also said that in 2014 and then collectively held our breath in the opener against SMU. Petty took a shot in the back, was diagnosed with minor micro fractures and would miss time. Russell made his first college start against FCS Northwestern State and delighted the masses with 438 passing yards and five touchdowns in the first half of a 70-6 blowout. Nobody thought any different.
Then fast forward to Texas Tech in late November. Petty goes out with a mild concussion in the middle of the third quarter. Russell has to manage this game to the finish line. But it was anything easy. Russell was really average at 8-for-17 for 82 yardsand a TD. Baylor denies the game-tying 2-point attempt and escapes, 48-46. Quietly, some in the Baylor nation viewed that Russell performance – when there was a lot more on the line – and thought hmmmm.
But the QB situation for the 2015 season didn’t leave a lot of choices on the depth chart. With Petty leaving after the Cotton Bowl, it was Russell, Chris Johnson and some walk ons. To be sure, there really weren't a lot of options. That’s why the Bears ramped it up in late November to go get Jarrett Stidham away from Texas Tech. This staff knew it was dangerously thin. It probably knew enough from watching Russell in workouts, scrimmages and in games and came to the conclusion that this era could go either way. Russell could either make Baylor a national championship contender or this thing could look 8-4 for the next two years. The push to sway Stidham worked. He arrived in January.
Now, Stidham wasn’t going to take the starting job away from Russell as 2015 started. But when Briles was always asked about Russell, he kept talking about Russell being a passenger in the car and making sure the car reached its destination. That’s not really how Baylor quarterbacks are viewed. Briles even admitted they really didn’t know what they had with Seth and probably weren’t going to until this season got into a rhythm.
Through two games, what we have seen from Russell doesn’t give me the confidence that this looks very good. Yes, there are big passing yards. Baylor is No. 1 in the nation in total offense. That’s what this offense is designed to do. But you have to look for the substance behind the flash. Russell completes 50 percent of his balls against SMU. He throws three interceptions and coughs up a fumble against a FCS team in Lamar. And 66-31 later, these first two games produce more uncertainty than clarity.
Well we can talk about how Russell was plagued by some drops or receivers taking the hit by saying they ran the wrong routes or whatever else. The bottom line is that when you’re the quarterback, you need to make plays. You need to make plays. You need to make plays.
That’s what you sign up for when you take this job. You either make them or you don’t. At the end of this, no one is going to remember the drops or the wrong routes. That news cycle for that stuff lasts 24 hours before it is history. People are going to look at the number QB numbers and go from there. And the reality is so does the Baylor coaching staff.
Against SMU and Lamar, Russell is 38-64 (59 percent) with 718 yards, nine TD passes and four interceptions. On the surface, it looks great. We know better. Russell is a streaky quarterback. There are times when he looks dominant. There are times when he looks like he has no idea. The fact that he finished the first half against SMU going 1-for-5 with a pick and finished his night against Lamar missing his last four just tells you that this is probably going to be this way for the whole season.
Sometimes track records help tell the story. Go back to his final two years at Garland. As a senior, Russell completed just shy of 55 percent of his passes for 1500 yards with 12 TDs and eight interceptions. When he split time as a junior, he completed 49 percent of his passes for 779 yards with seven touchdowns and six interceptions. Now, we can argue about the system run for Russell and what the expectations were. That’s fine. But the numbers are what they are.
For me, I just think this is who Russell is. Should he find the golden light switch, turn it on and plays to an exceptional level more power to him and more importantly more power to Baylor. As it currently stands, this kind of quarterback play will not put Baylor in the national championship picture much less the Big 12 championship picture. It has to get better. It’s not just me saying that. I’ll go back to the comments that Briles made Saturday night where he was critical of Russell and how he has to rid himself of the gunslinger mentality.
We all got frustrated with Petty because we thought he tried to play too perfect. But to his credit, he rarely put Baylor in a difficult position. There is no perfect quarterback. I get that. But rule No. 1 for your guy standing behind the center is that he cannot turn the ball over. Russell got away with it against SMU with his interception. The Mustangs messed up at the end of the first half deep in Baylor territory and came away with no points. Lamar scored 17 points off his four turnovers.
There is time for this to be fixed but it’s also running out. After Rice on Sept. 26, Big 12 play begins Oct. 3 against Texas Tech at AT&T Stadium. So if Rice looks anything like these first two, then you better hang on and keep your fingers crossed for the last nine games. Russell is the X-factor on this team. He isn’t a constant.
I’m sure some of you will be critical of me because it sounds like I’m Mr. Doom and Gloom. But I’ve been watching this game with great intensity for 33 years (some of you much longer than me) and the one thing we can agree on is that we know when we’re watching a really good quarterback.
We still don’t know what we’re watching with Seth Russell.
****
Some other thoughts...
>Well, it’s on Monday-Thursday at Globe Life Park in Arlington and the battle for the AL West lead. The Astros visit the Rangers and hold a 1½ game lead. It could have been a ½ game lead had it not been for the Angels 9th inning meltdown. Here are the pitching matchups.
Monday: Scott Kazmir vs. Cole Hamels
Tuesday: Collin McHugh vs. Martin Perez
Wednesday: Dallas Keuchel vs. Derek Holland
Thursday: Lance McCullers vs. Colby Lewis
This is going to be a lot of fun. But the Rangers also know they have to play to keep the Minnesota Twins off their backs. The Twins are one game behind for the second AL Wild Card spot and play host to Detroit this week in Minneapolis.
>By the way, there will be football at McLane Stadium this weekend. A really good high school game between Euless Trinity and Galena Park North Shore is set for 7:00 p.m. Friday.
>There was a tweet that was really impressive about the Art Briles coaching tree. While Baylor leads the nation in total offense (1,508), Briles two assistants Philip Montgomery (Tulsa) and Dino Babers (Bowling Green) are also in the Top 6. Tulsa is at 1,249 yards. Bowling Green is at 1,218. Babers’ team is coming a very impressive 48-27 victory at Maryland. Montgomery has defeated Florida Atlantic in overtime and won at New Mexico. This new wave of coaches looks good so far. Chad Morris got his first win at SMU with a 31-13 win against North Texas. Houston’s Tom Herman quietly took his team up to Louisville and beat the Cardinals, 34-31. Morris is 1-1. Montgomery and Herman are 2-0.
>That’s a pretty impressive two-minute drive Dallas QB Tony Romo who led Cowboys past the NY Giants, 27-26. I heard the TD to Jason Witten with seven seconds to play was the latest TD pass Dallas has ever had to win a game. The focus was on the Giants not taking a sack on the third-and-goal play from the Dallas 1-yard line. But the Cowboys have to go 72 yards with NO timeouts. The Giants defense needs to take the hit as well.
>No Serena Williams slam as she was upset in the U.S. Open semifinals on Friday. Just goes to show you never know until you know.
>I’m worn out by people saying, “Well, this would have been a different game had it not been for ______.” Spare me! The reality is the game unfolded. The events occurred. There was an outcome. Live with it. Denial is a river in Egypt.
*****
Now, to other Baylor news...
>With Eric Anderson leading the charge for a second-straight race, Baylor’s men’s cross country team finished third at the Ken Garland Invitational Saturday at the Eagle Point Cross Country Course. Meanwhile, the BU women were sixth in the meet hosted by the University of North Texas.
>The Bears bounced back from a narrow morning loss to end their weekend tournament play with an emphatic four-set win over Eastern Illinois 26-24, 18-25, 25-19, 25-13. With a set differential selected as the tiebreaker, BU earned a second place finish in the Dayton Invitational. The Bears are now 7-2 and play host to the Baylor Classic starting Friday. They meet SFA at 7:00 pm in the Ferrell Center.
>Baylor soccer put together an 8-0 shutout win over UTSA Sunday afternoon at Betty Lou Mays Soccer Field. The Bears (3-4-1) used three first-half goals and five in the second to topple the Roadrunners (0-6-1), claiming the Baylor Tournament title. Baylor heads to Colorado Springs, Colorado, next weekend for a pair of matches starting at Air Force Sept. 18 at 7 p.m. CT.
Let’s make it a great week!
Publisher
So Clairatt and Toby Whitby were seen Saturday morning in a widely known jazzercise club in greater Houston (leg warmers, guys? Really?) getting their workout in. Nothing wrong with physical fitness, of course. Hey, whatever works, right? But a recorded conversation of them talking about the early 1980s transitioned to them and their fav Melissa Manchester. Well, that makes sense. She probably has one of the best aerobic songs ever. And here it is.
But to provide some balance, here’s The Knack. After all, this is a bye week.
*****
I want you to go with me on a journey. Let’s return to the conclusion of the 2011 season. Robert Griffin III was on his way to winning the Heisman Trophy following the dramatic win over Oklahoma and leading Baylor to a double digit winning season. It culminated in the X-Box 67-56 win over Washington in the Alamo Bowl.
Then the speculation over whether RGIII was going to declare for the NFL draft picked up. It had already begun after he picked up college football’s most famous piece of hardware. Art Briles and his staff knew they needed to be proactive when it came to making sure the QB position on the depth chart was stable. How far back the preplanning began is only known to Briles and his staff. It’s safe to say that this staff probably had a sense it had to be proactive well before 2011 season even started.
If RGIII leaves, you have to go get somebody. If he stays, then you can wait for another year and find candidates. But that decision wasn’t coming until January. So the coaching staff had to wait this process out until Griffin announced he was going pro.
Within the euphoria, the 2011 roster had the backups of Nick Florence and Bryce Petty. Well, Baylor needed a third quarterback. But this was January when most of the top high school quarterbacks were already off the board.
Briles and his staff were left with two choices: They could go to the JUCO ranks or they could find a quarterback committed somewhere else and convince him to flip to them. Well, they started with JUCO Bo Wallace. Wallace had begun his career at Arkansas State before transferring to East Mississippi Community College. That didn’t go very far. There was an offer but Wallace eventually made his way to Ole Miss.
Then everything turned to Garland High School quarterback Seth Russell who had been committed to Kansas. There wasn’t really a lot known about Russell other than he had a big frame and a big arm. Of course, the coaching staff did as much homework as possible to make sure that it could lure him away from Charlie Weis. Russell started talking to the coaches, took an official visit in mid-January flipped to Baylor and signed.
Issue addressed. So he’s the guy who was going to follow Petty who was going to follow Florence.
When Petty became the starter in 2013, the redshirt came off Russell. He was the backup. That’s pretty much how Baylor has done it with the heir apparent signal caller. The No. 2 usually has zero college experience. And that’s fine. Players have to grow up sometime. I can remember we all said in 2013 that Baylor was a Petty injury away from having that season cave in on it. It didn’t happen. We also said that in 2014 and then collectively held our breath in the opener against SMU. Petty took a shot in the back, was diagnosed with minor micro fractures and would miss time. Russell made his first college start against FCS Northwestern State and delighted the masses with 438 passing yards and five touchdowns in the first half of a 70-6 blowout. Nobody thought any different.
Then fast forward to Texas Tech in late November. Petty goes out with a mild concussion in the middle of the third quarter. Russell has to manage this game to the finish line. But it was anything easy. Russell was really average at 8-for-17 for 82 yardsand a TD. Baylor denies the game-tying 2-point attempt and escapes, 48-46. Quietly, some in the Baylor nation viewed that Russell performance – when there was a lot more on the line – and thought hmmmm.
But the QB situation for the 2015 season didn’t leave a lot of choices on the depth chart. With Petty leaving after the Cotton Bowl, it was Russell, Chris Johnson and some walk ons. To be sure, there really weren't a lot of options. That’s why the Bears ramped it up in late November to go get Jarrett Stidham away from Texas Tech. This staff knew it was dangerously thin. It probably knew enough from watching Russell in workouts, scrimmages and in games and came to the conclusion that this era could go either way. Russell could either make Baylor a national championship contender or this thing could look 8-4 for the next two years. The push to sway Stidham worked. He arrived in January.
Now, Stidham wasn’t going to take the starting job away from Russell as 2015 started. But when Briles was always asked about Russell, he kept talking about Russell being a passenger in the car and making sure the car reached its destination. That’s not really how Baylor quarterbacks are viewed. Briles even admitted they really didn’t know what they had with Seth and probably weren’t going to until this season got into a rhythm.
Through two games, what we have seen from Russell doesn’t give me the confidence that this looks very good. Yes, there are big passing yards. Baylor is No. 1 in the nation in total offense. That’s what this offense is designed to do. But you have to look for the substance behind the flash. Russell completes 50 percent of his balls against SMU. He throws three interceptions and coughs up a fumble against a FCS team in Lamar. And 66-31 later, these first two games produce more uncertainty than clarity.
Well we can talk about how Russell was plagued by some drops or receivers taking the hit by saying they ran the wrong routes or whatever else. The bottom line is that when you’re the quarterback, you need to make plays. You need to make plays. You need to make plays.
That’s what you sign up for when you take this job. You either make them or you don’t. At the end of this, no one is going to remember the drops or the wrong routes. That news cycle for that stuff lasts 24 hours before it is history. People are going to look at the number QB numbers and go from there. And the reality is so does the Baylor coaching staff.
Against SMU and Lamar, Russell is 38-64 (59 percent) with 718 yards, nine TD passes and four interceptions. On the surface, it looks great. We know better. Russell is a streaky quarterback. There are times when he looks dominant. There are times when he looks like he has no idea. The fact that he finished the first half against SMU going 1-for-5 with a pick and finished his night against Lamar missing his last four just tells you that this is probably going to be this way for the whole season.
Sometimes track records help tell the story. Go back to his final two years at Garland. As a senior, Russell completed just shy of 55 percent of his passes for 1500 yards with 12 TDs and eight interceptions. When he split time as a junior, he completed 49 percent of his passes for 779 yards with seven touchdowns and six interceptions. Now, we can argue about the system run for Russell and what the expectations were. That’s fine. But the numbers are what they are.
For me, I just think this is who Russell is. Should he find the golden light switch, turn it on and plays to an exceptional level more power to him and more importantly more power to Baylor. As it currently stands, this kind of quarterback play will not put Baylor in the national championship picture much less the Big 12 championship picture. It has to get better. It’s not just me saying that. I’ll go back to the comments that Briles made Saturday night where he was critical of Russell and how he has to rid himself of the gunslinger mentality.
We all got frustrated with Petty because we thought he tried to play too perfect. But to his credit, he rarely put Baylor in a difficult position. There is no perfect quarterback. I get that. But rule No. 1 for your guy standing behind the center is that he cannot turn the ball over. Russell got away with it against SMU with his interception. The Mustangs messed up at the end of the first half deep in Baylor territory and came away with no points. Lamar scored 17 points off his four turnovers.
There is time for this to be fixed but it’s also running out. After Rice on Sept. 26, Big 12 play begins Oct. 3 against Texas Tech at AT&T Stadium. So if Rice looks anything like these first two, then you better hang on and keep your fingers crossed for the last nine games. Russell is the X-factor on this team. He isn’t a constant.
I’m sure some of you will be critical of me because it sounds like I’m Mr. Doom and Gloom. But I’ve been watching this game with great intensity for 33 years (some of you much longer than me) and the one thing we can agree on is that we know when we’re watching a really good quarterback.
We still don’t know what we’re watching with Seth Russell.
****
Some other thoughts...
>Well, it’s on Monday-Thursday at Globe Life Park in Arlington and the battle for the AL West lead. The Astros visit the Rangers and hold a 1½ game lead. It could have been a ½ game lead had it not been for the Angels 9th inning meltdown. Here are the pitching matchups.
Monday: Scott Kazmir vs. Cole Hamels
Tuesday: Collin McHugh vs. Martin Perez
Wednesday: Dallas Keuchel vs. Derek Holland
Thursday: Lance McCullers vs. Colby Lewis
This is going to be a lot of fun. But the Rangers also know they have to play to keep the Minnesota Twins off their backs. The Twins are one game behind for the second AL Wild Card spot and play host to Detroit this week in Minneapolis.
>By the way, there will be football at McLane Stadium this weekend. A really good high school game between Euless Trinity and Galena Park North Shore is set for 7:00 p.m. Friday.
>There was a tweet that was really impressive about the Art Briles coaching tree. While Baylor leads the nation in total offense (1,508), Briles two assistants Philip Montgomery (Tulsa) and Dino Babers (Bowling Green) are also in the Top 6. Tulsa is at 1,249 yards. Bowling Green is at 1,218. Babers’ team is coming a very impressive 48-27 victory at Maryland. Montgomery has defeated Florida Atlantic in overtime and won at New Mexico. This new wave of coaches looks good so far. Chad Morris got his first win at SMU with a 31-13 win against North Texas. Houston’s Tom Herman quietly took his team up to Louisville and beat the Cardinals, 34-31. Morris is 1-1. Montgomery and Herman are 2-0.
>That’s a pretty impressive two-minute drive Dallas QB Tony Romo who led Cowboys past the NY Giants, 27-26. I heard the TD to Jason Witten with seven seconds to play was the latest TD pass Dallas has ever had to win a game. The focus was on the Giants not taking a sack on the third-and-goal play from the Dallas 1-yard line. But the Cowboys have to go 72 yards with NO timeouts. The Giants defense needs to take the hit as well.
>No Serena Williams slam as she was upset in the U.S. Open semifinals on Friday. Just goes to show you never know until you know.
>I’m worn out by people saying, “Well, this would have been a different game had it not been for ______.” Spare me! The reality is the game unfolded. The events occurred. There was an outcome. Live with it. Denial is a river in Egypt.
*****
Now, to other Baylor news...
>With Eric Anderson leading the charge for a second-straight race, Baylor’s men’s cross country team finished third at the Ken Garland Invitational Saturday at the Eagle Point Cross Country Course. Meanwhile, the BU women were sixth in the meet hosted by the University of North Texas.
>The Bears bounced back from a narrow morning loss to end their weekend tournament play with an emphatic four-set win over Eastern Illinois 26-24, 18-25, 25-19, 25-13. With a set differential selected as the tiebreaker, BU earned a second place finish in the Dayton Invitational. The Bears are now 7-2 and play host to the Baylor Classic starting Friday. They meet SFA at 7:00 pm in the Ferrell Center.
>Baylor soccer put together an 8-0 shutout win over UTSA Sunday afternoon at Betty Lou Mays Soccer Field. The Bears (3-4-1) used three first-half goals and five in the second to topple the Roadrunners (0-6-1), claiming the Baylor Tournament title. Baylor heads to Colorado Springs, Colorado, next weekend for a pair of matches starting at Air Force Sept. 18 at 7 p.m. CT.
Let’s make it a great week!
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