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Baylor Football: 5 takeaways from Bears’ spring 2018

By Connor Muldowney

FORT WORTH, TX - NOVEMBER 24: Charlie Brewer #12 of the Baylor Bears looks for an open receiver against the TCU Horned Frogs in the first half at Amon G. Carter Stadium on November 24, 2017 in Fort Worth, Texas. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)
FORT WORTH, TX - NOVEMBER 24: Charlie Brewer #12 of the Baylor Bears looks for an open receiver against the TCU Horned Frogs in the first half at Amon G. Carter Stadium on November 24, 2017 in Fort Worth, Texas. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images) /
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Baylor football has made it through spring ball and it’s time to look forward to the 2018 season. What’d we learn about the Bears this spring?

When Matt Rhule left Temple to coach Baylor, he knew he had his work cut out for him. He was leaving a program he had built up to coach one which had controversy surrounding it with the firing of Art Briles and the result was a 1-11 campaign in 2017.

There were plenty of rumors of Rhule leaving after just one season to coach in the NFL, but he turned down potential offers to return to Waco.

Baylor seems to be headed in the right direction, however. The Bears return some key pieces such as Denzel Mims, Ira Lewis and Charlie Brewer. If this team can avoid another early-season meltdown, we could see the Bears reach 6-7 wins in 2018.

What’d we learn about the Bears this spring?

5. Secondary needs work

The secondary didn’t fare well last season, ranking 115th in the nation in passing yards allowed per contest, which actually placed them at sixth-best in the Big 12. The pass-heavy conference ballooned the Bears’ numbers, but they struggled before conference play, too, allowing Liberty to score 48 points and Duke to put up 34.

Grayland Arnold and Harrison Hand are back as the starting quarterbacks, but safeties Blake Lynch, Chris Miller and Verkedric Vaughns should be upgrades from what the Bears had in 2017.

Still, this unit has some work to do. Even though the talent is there, the defensive backfield needs some work throughout the remainder of the offseason, and it was evident this spring. In fact, it allowed 186 yards on 14-of-24 pass attempts with three touchdowns in just a quarter of play in a game cut short due to storms.

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