College Football Check-In 2

by Darren Boyd

 

The Baylor Program has had a resurgence over the last 3 years under Coach Art Briles. He has lead the Baylor program back to a level of National Respect. This is a big year for this program as its the last year in the dump that is Floyd Casey stadium. They move into their state of the art 250 Million Dollar stadium on the bank of the Brazos River next year. The Offense will be the strength of the team again. Led by self proclaimed Heisman Candidate RB Lache Seastrunk, former Temple High School great, this high octane Offense will have no problem lighting up the score board every week. The only question mark is QB Bryce Petty, he is getting his shot as a junior after several Redshirt seasons. He is 6'3 230 pounds and draws some Tim Tebow comparisons in his game. Baylor must hope he is a lot more accurate then Tebow was in college. Baylor also scored a recruiting coup by stealing WR Robbie Rhodes from Texas. The expectation is that Rhodes, in time, will continue the NFL pipeline of Baylor Receivers like Kendall Wright and Terrance Williams.

    The Baylor Defense is the Achilles Heel of the program. Last year Baylor Ranked last in Total Defense and Pass Defense in the Big 12. LB Bryce Hager is a tackling machine and DE Chris McAllister can get after the Quarterback. The Secondary uses small and undersized Cornerbacks in Joe Williams and K.J Morton both are 5'9. This is a problem with the bigger wide Receivers in the Big 12. The Defensive side of the ball did well in it's requiting class by landing DT Andrew Billings, who was also a top Guard prospect, and LB Brian Nance. I envision another 8 win season for the Bears this year, Their Offense will be cant miss TV but their Defense is too porous to make them legitimate Big 12 Championship Contenders.

 

TCU had a rough introduction into the Big 12 finishing with a losing record in conference play. They made a bowl game though cause everybody make a bowl game these days. The program will get a boost with the return of troubled Sr. QB Casey Pachall. He was reinstated to school after his DUI arrest and rehab stint. If his head is on straight, he is a welcome addition back at the QB spot. TCU has a tough schedule on paper starting with their date with LSU on August 31 at Cowboy Stadium.  TCU had a solid recruiting class getting RB Kyle Hicks who was going to Texas but chose TCU late in the process.  TCU's Offense gets a spark from the return of Waymon James after he injured a knee is week 2 last year. The WR Corp looks solid with Brandon Carter, Cam White and the 6'4 LaDuris Brown who had 5 td catches last year.

  TCU's Defense is the strength of this team. The Frogs were the big 12 leaders in total Defense and rush Defense. Sophomore Devonte Fields is coming off of a 10 sack season. He had a rough spring though, first he was called out by Coach Patterson for his work ethic, then suspended for the first 2 games of the season for violating team rules/conduct. CB Jason Verrett is on a lot of NFL teams radars, he had 6 INTS last season.  TCU is a tough team to gauge this season. I'm calling for a 6 win season this year for the Honed Frogs.