Baylor Football: Spring Game Comments

Saturday, my friend Britt and I drove down to Waco to watch the Baylor spring game. Using the term "spring game" would be a loose interpretation of what actually took place on the field. It was more of "Offense vs. Defense."

Here are my thoughts/comments for my Baylor Bear friends...

The entire game was about an hour and a half. Kirby Freeman, the Miami Transfer and a Senior, was the first QB to take the reins as the starter. His first snap was a fumble. Typical.

Next up, Robert Griffin (see picture). He is a TRUE Freshman - he graduated early in December from Copperas Cove High School and was highly recruited. He switched his Houston commitment to Baylor when Art Briles was named the head coach. All I can say is WOW!

This kid is the real deal. It's been a while since I've seen an "athlete" run the Baylor offense. Maybe J.J. Joe was the last one. Griffin is fast. He seems to have a very accurate arm, and he truly spreads the defense when he has the ball. When he runs on a keeper, he "jukes and shifts" and people miss. It was like watching a man among boys when he had the ball... and, if I haven't said it enough, "He's a freakin' FRESHMAN!"

Our running game is very-much improved. Jacoby Jones and Jay Finley were very good runners. Remember the past 2 years where our offense basically lined up the same on every down? Not anymore. We have sets with 2 RBs and then one runs out of the box in motion. We have sets where we have 4 players in the backfield, then they all take off to compliment the receivers.

I'll say this: Our offense should be able to move the ball this year. Whether running or passing, we didn't bog down like we did in past years. I saw some good downfield blocking, too, from the O-line, which was encouraging. I hadn't seen them do that in the past - hit someone and keep running downfield to find someone else.

Areas of improvement: Receivers dropped too many balls. There were some key passes where it would have been a huge gain, yet the ball was dropped.

Now on the Defense. We're running a 4-3. My hope is that our Offense is REALLY good, but if our defense is that bad we're in trouble. There were some bright spots, such as Sam Sledge getting a sack and numerous hurries by the D-Line on the QBs. I saw some blitzes, too. I also read they were given a very basic package.

My concerns are with the backfield. There were passes thrown to receivers where it looked like the CB was playing about 5 or more yards away from them. I've heard we're very thin, thus why they moved Krys Buerk from WR to CB. He did pretty good, by the way.

Special Teams were fine. Decent punts (I think there were 2) and the field goals were all made. Nothing very long - I think the longest was 41.

Back to the quarterbacks: The way they would run the offenses would be to mix it up between the starters and the non-starters. So Kirby would get a shot with the starters, then Griffin, then Blake Syzmanski. Then they'd mix it up. I did think they gave a lot more reps to Kirby.

Britt and I came away with Griffin being the true starter, followed by Syzmanski and then Kirby. They were just a distant 2nd to Griffin. That kid will be a playmaker for us!

By the way, Briles calls every play. He's right there on the sideline. I also noticed the coaches VERY excited and encouraging to each player. The morale seemed totally different.

At the end of the game, the team came over and was clapping really loud towards the fans and then led us in "Sic Em Bears!" I didn't see it, but people that were there said Griffin was front and center cheering!

Now, given our schedule, I think we've got a VERY tough year ahead of us. I see us going two directions. If this makes sense, I think we might be a better team than last year but come away with a worse record...

However, through my green & gold glasses, I can also see us surprising some folks. I'm going to be there on August 30 when we open against Wake Forest in Waco. And, I'm contemplating purchasing season tickets.

Yes... THAT'S how excited I am for the upcoming football season!

Sic Em!