Baylor Football: Examining the impact of Jeff Grimes on the Bears

Jeff Grimes is expected to be the new offensive coordinator for Baylor Football and should make big changes to an offense that was less than desirable in 2020.

According to multiple reports, Jeff Grimes is expected to be the offensive coordinator for Baylor Football next season. Grimes was the OC at BYU from 2018-2020 and led the Cougars to a top five offense in 2020.

Grimes is no stranger to head coach Dave Aranda, as they spent time together at LSU in 2017. Grimes was the offensive line coach while with the Tigers.

Grimes has also been an offensive line coach for Virginia Tech and Auburn. Grimes was apart of Auburn during their national championship run in 2010.

The Cougars went 11-1 last season and were led on offense by highly touted quarterback Zach Wilson. After averaging 17 points per game in 2018, Grimes improved them to 43.5 points per game, good for third in the NCAA. BYU ranked eighth in passing offense and 44th in rushing, led by 1,100 yard Tyler Allgeier.

Baylor football was on the other end of the spectrum, among the worst offenses in CFB. Baylor ranked 100th in scoring offense and 72nd in passing offense. The Bears had 813 rushing yards on the season, ranking 123rd in CFB.

After being none as one of the most lethal programs on offense during the Briles era, the Bears have fell short mightily of expectation. Grimes should change that.

Baylor football has the personnel on offense, but the personnel did not fit the system Fedora was using. In this play, BYU uses pre-snap motion to cause Boise having alignment errors. This is a play that Baylor can use with the personnel with players like Joshua Fleeks and Jaylen Ellis.

The most versatile player on Baylor next season will be running back Trestan Ebner. Ebner holds the Baylor record for receiving touchdowns and had two kick return touchdowns last season. This play could easily be a play Baylor plugs with Ebner having running room, going north and south.

Ebner in his career has rushed for 891 yards and seven touchdowns. He also caught 99 passes for 1,231 yards and nine touchdowns. Add his two kick-off touchdowns and he should not only be an impact player for Baylor, but the Big 12.

A big portion of BYU’s success last year was the rise of Wilson. Baylor does not have a Quarterback that can duplicate what Wilson can. However, the Bears do not need that as the playcalling compliments the quarterback. There doesn’t seem to be an extreme amount of reads and prioritizes innovation.

There is a lot of uncertainty with the quarterback situation with the Bears. Four year starter Charlie Brewer transferred to Utah in December.

The position is very young with four underclassmen, including three freshman. The system would fit true freshman Kyron Drones the most, as his arm might be the most polished out of the whole group.

However, sophomore Gerry Bohannon and redshirt freshman Jacob Zeno are expected to be the front runners for the job. Zeno has a big arm and showed it in the Big 12 Championship in 2019.

Bohannon is more of a dual threat quarterback and can take his fair share of blows as well. Bohannon also made an appearance in that championship game and made his own impact.

How the quarterback will be implemented is the big question. Inexperience mixed with a new system might create some early growing pains. With the hope of more preparation during the spring, Baylor should make better strides.

Considering the personnel surrounding Grimes, Baylor is expected to make a leap on offense. Grimes is also expected to work with the offensive line as well. That unit has been the Achilles heal over the past few years and has not been solid since the end of the Art Briles era.

Baylor is expected to bring back majority of their returning production. That list includes All-Big 12 honorable mentions, Ebner and Junior WR TyQuan Thornton.

For a first year Head Coach, Aranda had to make a tough decision of fixing a mistake. Baylor is hoping they made the right choice with Grimes manning the offense, after a underwhelming 2-7 season.