Baylor Football: 5 biggest questions facing Bears in spring 2018

Baylor football is facing an important spring with some questions to answer. What’re the five biggest questions facing the Bears?

It was a forgettable season for Baylor football as the Bears went just 1-11 in 2017, a far cry from their days as New Year’s Six contenders. However, despite that record, Matt Rhule has this program headed in the right direction.

In fact, not many coaches can come off a 1-11 season and get job offers from the NFL. It looked as if he’d be leaving at one point, but he put those NFL aspirations on hold in order to lead the Bears out of the Big 12’s gutter.

Rhule and Co. now face an important spring with plenty of questions to answer, including inquiries about the team’s health.

What’re the five biggest questions facing Baylor this spring?

5. How much will the defense improve?

The defense wasn’t all that effective in 2017, allowing 36 points per game and 457 yards per contest. Neither of those put them anywhere close to the top-tier nationally. There’s really not anywhere to go but up from those numbers.

Luckily for the Bears, they aren’t losing much, in terms of starters, from the 2017 team. In fact, Davion Hall, Taylor Young, Taion Sells and Brian Nance are the only major contributors leaving. Back are Clay Johnson, Harrison Hand, Verkedric Vaughns, Jordan Williams and Ira Lewis.

The defense has the pieces to be solid against Big 12 foes, but will it sneak into the top-half nationally in terms of overall effectiveness? We will find out just how far this unit has come during the April 21 spring game.