Five best college football futures bets to make, including our Syracuse Orange, who return 80% of their starters this season. The No. Baylors one-two punch of Abram Smith and Trestan Ebner left the program. Power is in contention to be named the top punter in college football after averaging 45 yards per punt in 2021. Its safe to expect him to continue performing at a high level as a blocker and as a lethal receiving threat for Shapen. Breakdown: McWilliams time on the turf was limited, as he played behind two NFL running backs in Trestan Ebner and Abram Smith. It must replace the single-season school rushing record holder and both starting wide receivers. Wheat also worked with Aranda at LSU, spending seven seasons as a defensive analyst for the Tigers, including all four in which Aranda was defensive coordinator. With who they return upfront, expect the road-grading to continue in 2022. Taye McWilliams is the leading returning rusher but had only 17 carries in 10 games last year. Monaray Baldwin is their best deep threat, but the young 165 pounder can struggle to get off of physical corners. Blake Shapen rode an excellent performance in the Big 12 title game to the starting job this spring, unseating Gerry Bohanon, who has since transferred and is now the starter at USF. Making the field bigger is preferable to playing in a phone booth. The 2021 Big 12 Defensive Newcomer of the Year eats up two-to-three blocks and plugs up running lanes, giving the rest of the Baylor defense lots of flexibility and reduced stress. The 2019 class, which ranked 35th, has nine of the 24 signees still with the team, but the retention rates in 2020 (17 of the 18 signees are still with Baylor) and 2021 (16 of 17) are superb. Copyright 2017-22 Heartland College Sports. The Baylor Bears are riding a wave of momentum after a 21-7 victory over Ole Miss in the Allstate Sugar Bowl, and this announcement just makes things all the better down in Waco. A Big 12 championship game record 17-straight completions is one way to get into the spotlight, but thats just what Shapen did. Preseason prognosticators that looked at 14 returning starters and picked the Bears to win the league are being punished for not understanding that Baylor losing six players to the NFL Draft 4 of them in the first first 3 rounds isnt something that can be replaced. Michael Haag, Baylor athletics blogger. Heres why he prefers it that way, Are these Rangers good? Iowa State enters 2022 without OT Derek Schweiger (67.1 The 2021 season was no fluke. If Johnson is at star, then Walcott will play corner and vice versa. I expect an all conference season.6 TD catches in 21 pic.twitter.com/gOOF8Armmd. Dykes inherits six offensive starters and seven defensive starters, and theres plenty of room for growth on both sides. Redshirt freshman Devin Lemear graded out the highest of all the safeties this spring, Roberts said. The former Iowa Hawkeyes presence was shown even with Bernard on the squad, and hes beloved among his peers, so expect a big year from Doyle in 2022. We looked at not just the numbers for each team, but breakdowns on each side of the ball and whether teams return starters at the most important positions on the football field as well. LSUs Josh White will try to bolster the linebacker corps, which does return middle linebacker Dillon Doyle. And the unit got a boost in the offseason, when Baylor landed Tulsa defensive tackle transfer Jaxon Player, a Waco, Texas, native and two-time All-AAC selection. Returning that kind of experience should give Baylor the best offensive line in the Big 12, and possibly the country, in 2022. The good is that Brent Venables may be just the coach to deal with that kind of roster turnover and has already drawn rave reviews for the way hes circled the wagons and begun building culture. The Bears will ride the hot hand the 175 pound Reese has two games where he had 30+ carries, the 170 pound Sqwirl has a 25 carry game and theyre not going to worry about work load in a season finale. There will be more on the QBs shoulders this season with reading rushers Abram Smith and Trestan Ebner gone. Josh Fleeks moved this offseason from receiver to running back. Five different pass catchers have been 21-30 receptions and they dont have a true #1. If Alabama transfer Amari Kight can be part of an offensive line that keeps Plumlee upright, UCF could surprise and finish much higher than this. 17 Baylor Bears football team kicks off week four with a Big 12 Conference showdown against the undefeated Iowa State Cyclones in Ames, 2022 The Bears have been in the conference title game two of the past three years and have six double-digit win seasons and three Big 12 championships since 2011. Related: College Football's Top Quarterbacks on the Rise for 2023 4. AJ McCarty is ready to contribute at corner and Chateau Reed may be the most talented of Baylors corners, Roberts said. Can Iowa State replace Xavier Hutchinson, who seemed like the offenses only option at times last year? Shapen can be very sharp in the play action game, but he tends to fixate on his first read and defenses that deny him quick decisions can turn him over and get to him in the pocket. The Big 12 Conference lays claim to two of the top five small forwards in the country. Only five scholarship players have entered the portal since August: Bohanon, Sneed, defensive lineman Josh Landry, former backup quarterback Jacob Zeno and safety Tyrone D. Brown. Can a transfer class that brings in a few potential impact players turn the tide? For more information, please read our Legal Disclaimer. Baylor has added two more super-seniors to the list of returning players, as defensive linemen Cole Maxwell and Chidi Ogbonnaya have announced that they will be back in 2022. After a 2-7 There are tangible questions that need answers, too. Thats the bad. With the heartbreak kid gone, Morgan has a great chance to shine in the spotlight as one of Baylors best defensive players. Theyre certainly at their best running free on play action shots. Will that be enough for the Cyclones to overcome the leagues lowest returning starter count? Baylor returns four starters on the offensive line and has had five players return who have started at least eight games on the offensive line. The biggest reason to propel the Bears down these rankings is that Baylor ranks 100th nationally in returning production, third-to-last in the Big 12. The burst, football mind, physicality and speed that he has is gonna separate him, Aranda said. Your favorite teams, topics, and players all on your favorite mobile devices. The second coach expects Baylors running game will again be solid but noted how little production returns at receiver. The Bears have young athletes out wide capable of explosive plays, but they are remarkably inconsistent and inexperienced. No other Bear tight end has caught as many touchdowns as his nine career scores. Studying what Oklahoma and Kansas State did to them will be instructive. Baylor Bear Insider One of seven returning starters from a 31-20 Baylor team, sophomore infielder Tre Richardson didn't like that aching feeling last May when 2021 stats: Six sacks (second most), 7.0 TFL, 17 total tackles. Will receive lots of Vita Vea comps. But perhaps the single biggest reason to believe in Oklahoma: (Photo: Frank Jansky/Icon Sportswire, Getty), (Photo: Jay Biggerstaff, USA TODAY Sports), (Photo: James Guillory, USA TODAY Sports), according to ESPNs Bill Connellys measurements, When we looked at how teams fared in one-score games. Hes a guy that opened up his heart to the team and led his team in a real prideful, courageous way, Aranda said of Bohanon. Cornerback Al Walcott and safety Christian Morgan, both returning starters, will also see time at star, Roberts said. After losing eight players to the NFL over the summer, Baylor football will be forced to replace some big-time athletes from a 2021 Big 12 championship squad. The Bears match up well in some spots to Texas, but theyre a five loss team for a reason. When Baylors outside zone running game is humming, theyre a Bear to defend as Reese and Sqwirl are adept at finding small creases or using their quickness to make sharp cuts against the grain when second level defenders overrun to the sideline. He led the Bears in tackles in five games. Hes a graduate of BGSU and works as an auditor for Google content curation products. Ive watched them go through stretches where theyre utterly dominated by aggressive corner and nickel play. He is the sports editor for the school's student newspaper, the Baylor Lariat. It certainly helps that one of the offensive starters is Deuce Vaughn. 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