Baylor Football: Will Bears make another jump under Matt Rhule?
By Matt Workman
Defense could benefit from previous youth movement
The Baylor defense was still a work in progress in 2018. They had made some needed improvements from 2017 but still had tendency to give up the big play. The Bears also struggled with creating turnovers coming it at 117 nationally with a -9 turnover margin.
The good news for the Baylor defense is that they do return plenty of players that gained valuable experience in the last two years. A lot of the returning players were pressed into service as freshmen or sophomores and are now seasoned vets.
On the defensive line, senior Bravvion Roy and junior James Lynch will lead a young group. At defensive end, look for Texas A&M transfer James Lockhart to solidify that position after a impressive spring.
Some players to look for are sophomores Chidi Ogbonnaya, Rob Sauling and JUCO transfer Niadre Zouzoua. I wouldn’t be surprised or incoming freshmen Matt Jones and TJ Franklin also made their presence felt.
Linebacker is probably the position that has the least depth for Baylor, however, it is led by senior Clay Johnston. At SAM linebacker, senior Blake Lynch will be at same position for consecutive years for the first time in his career after solidifying the position and having impressive second half of the season.
Vying for the other linebacker position will be seniors Jordan Williams, Henry Black, junior Jalen Pitre and sophomore Terrel Bernard. Incoming freshmen Logan Compton, Will Williams and Soloman Turner will also push for playing time.
Secondary issues
While linebacker was thinnest unit the secondary was widely considered the weakest in 2018. This was mostly due to safety play and tendency to give up big plays. Baylor is working on schematic changes that will remedy this trend.
Among those are adding additional player to secondary to play hybrid role. Some names mentioned for this role are previous mentioned Black and sophomores JT Woods and Christian Morgan. The other starting safety is expected to be senior Chris Miller.
At cornerback, the presumes starters are going to be Jameson Houston and Raleigh Texada who pushed way into starting lineup and had impressive finishes to the 2018 season. Sophomore speedster Kalon Barnes and senior Grayland Arnold look to play prominent roles as well. Some freshmen to keep an eye out for in the secondary are Hakeem Vance, Byron Hanspard and Mark Milton.