Bryce Petty Channels Art Briles & RG3: All Talk and No Walk Part of Baylor Football?

“For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted..” Matthew 23:12

That is a direct quote from the Bible about staying humble. It’s something many Christians rightly aspire to abide by.

But somehow, a private Baptist university in Waco, Texas has become the face for developing baseless pride in people within its athletic department.

We are talking, of course, about the Baylor Bears football program.

Talking a lot without backing it up is becoming the new thing at Baylor it seems. Bryce Petty must have decided to join the crowd.

Recently, Petty did an interview stating that he should not just be the top quarterback taken ahead of Jameis Winston and Marcus Mariota. He stated that he should be the No. 1 pick in the draft. To be fair, here’s the exact quote from the Newsday article that broke the story.

"“I feel like I’m No. 1. I really do,” he said Wednesday after the South team’s practice for Saturday’s Senior Bowl. “That’s not a cocky thing, it’s not an arrogant thing. It’s just me being confident in what I do and understanding that I have a learning curve [to adjust to].”“But at the same time, I’m really like a little kid in a candy store. I love the idea of playing chess instead of checkers, which is what we’ve been playing in college. So beating you with my mind and my arm is an aspect that I haven’t had the opportunity to do, so I’d love it.”"

So the baseless claim to feel like you’re the best player in the draft isn’t cocky? If that’s true, then Johnny Manziel doesn’t talk trash.

Obviously, the comment alone is laughable when you consider that Petty racked up stats against terrible defenses all year with TCU being the lone exception. His injury woes are also a huge question when it comes to NFL durability. And in two of his best statistical games, Kansas and Oklahoma, Baylor just kept piling on when the game was well in hand. That might be another sinful act in relation to pride, by the way.

Okay, back to TCU. There’s nothing we can do to take away from that game. It is the lone exception to the point we’re trying to make because it was Petty’s best game all year and maybe the best game for a quarterback in general.

But outside of that, all Petty did when healthy was rack up stats against terrible defenses and look pathetic against West Virginia.

The Michigan State game wasn’t his fault, but it seemed like there were plenty of chances Petty had to put the nail in the coffin in the fourth, but the didn’t take them.

So with that wealth of knowledge, why would anybody think he’s the top quarterback in the draft, especially the No. 1 pick? It’s a baseless argument.

I’ll give him that he belongs over Marcus Mariota. That’s it.

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With the First Pick

However, this isn’t just a Bryce Petty issue. Arrogance seems to ooze out of this Baylor program.

Remember Art Briles spending the month of December whining about his team not reaching the College Football Playoff?

His team was 11-1 but had a bad loss to West Virginia, and with the worst out of conference schedule in FBS, Briles’s bark was bigger than his bite. And his bite looked much softer after the Bears blew a 20-point lead to Michigan State in the Cotton Bowl.

But now, with Briles’s personality and Petty’s statements, we have enough evidence to suggest Briles gives off a sense of entitlement to his program and his players, creating spoiled brats in the process.

The final case of that: Robert Griffin III.

Even when he was at Baylor, RG3’s arrogance showed by stating things like, “I think I just won the Heisman,” moving his pro-day to take a subtle shot at Andrew Luck, consistently undermining his coaching and pointing fingers at everybody but himself when things go wrong and bringing his Daddy into the mix when he can, focusing on promoting his brand rather than getting healthy, and of course, telling teammates he could have them cut or released by bragging that he was in the owner’s pocket.

Of course, this ridiculous arrogance can partially be blamed on his Dad for obviously coddling him, at least in the public eye, and Dan Snyder, a moronic owner who spoils all his investments and gives them a sense of entitlement. But now, it looks like Baylor helped mold him into that as well.

This is clearly a football program under Briles that wins, makes headlines, puts out draft picks, and remains in the national championship picture. He has built something in Waco.

But there is a clear sense of entitlement and lack of humility for this school that doesn’t appear to exist elsewhere.

And doesn’t that fly in the face of the religion of that school?

Next: Meet Shippensburg University: The Div. II School with Two Pro-Bowlers

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