Spring Football Wrap-Up
5/6/2005 12:00:00 AM | Football
May 6, 2005
2005 Baylor Spring Football Wrap-Up
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Baylor Opens 104th Grid Campaign Sept. 3 At SMU: Year three of the Guy Morriss Era at Baylor kicks off Sept. 3 when the Bears face former Southwest Conference rival SMU in Dallas. It will mark the second time these foes have met since the SWC disbanded with Baylor giving Morriss his first win on the Bears' sideline with a 10-7 victory over the Mustangs in 2003 at Waco.
The Bears, who will play only five home games for the first time since 1998 and must play away from Floyd Casey Stadium five times in their first seven games, meet Samford in their Sept. 10 home debut before closing non-conference action at Army on Sept. 17. BU starts Big 12 play Oct. 1 at Texas A&M.
Baylor returns 48 letterwinners, including 13 starters, from last year's team which was 3-8 overall and 1-7 in the Big 12. "I think the kids are comfortable in the system, and that's finally starting to show," said Morriss. "You can tell we are stronger. Overall, we're just in better shape as a program than when we got here. You can physically see it.
"We've got to learn how to keep our level of play at an emotional high, because there's still not going to be too many teams that we're going to match up with physically or athletically just yet," he added. "So you've got to be close to perfect technically and emotionally charged up. That's what I hope they're starting to understand."
Another Tough Schedule Awaits Bears: After playing eight of 11 games a year ago against teams that went on to earn bowl invitations, Baylor will face six bowl teams in 2005. However, that's really nothing new for coach Guy Morriss' program, as 15 times in his first 23 games (including 13 of 16 Big 12 contests) along the Baylor sideline he's faced an opponent who wound up with a bowl bid at season's end.
Two of Baylor's three wins a year ago and six of its eight losses were at the hands of eventual bowl-bound teams. Morriss' team knocked off Cotton Bowl participant Texas A&M (35-34 in overtime) and New Orleans Bowl entrant North Texas (37-14) but dropped games to bowl bound programs Texas (Rose champion), Iowa State (Independence champion), Texas Tech (Holiday champ), Oklahoma State (Alamo), Oklahoma (Orange) and UAB (Hawaii). Baylor and Syracuse were the only programs to play eight eventual bowl teams in 2004 and the Bears' slate ranked as the nation's sixth-toughest according to the NCAA.
The Bears' 11 2005 opponents combined for a 70-58 (.545) record a year ago and six earned bowl invites--Texas A&M, Iowa State, Oklahoma, Texas Tech, Texas and Oklahoma State.
All-told, six of BU's eight 2005 Big 12 games will be against teams that earned bowl bids last year. The Bears' eight Big 12 foes went 61-34 (.642) a year ago and accounted for six of the league's seven 2004 bowl bids.
Baylor Coaching Staff Boasts 196 Years Of Experience: The 2005 Baylor football coaching staff, which remains intact for the second straight season, boasts a combined 196 years of experience in the professional, collegiate and high school ranks. Seven members of this year's Baylor staff have worked for Guy Morriss since he first became a Division I-A head coach in 2001 at Kentucky.
Not only is the Baylor staff steeped in sideline experience, but it features three men, Morriss (one), defensive coordinator Bill Bradley (three) and receivers coach Harold Jackson (five), who have combined to earn nine NFL All-Pro awards between them. Two others, special teams coordinator/linebackers coach Mark Nelson and offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Brent Pease, also enjoyed successful professional football playing careers.
Offense Shines In Bears' 2005 Spring Game: Behind the running of junior Paul Mosley and sophomore Brandon Whitaker, the Gold team rolled to a 70-26 victory in the Baylor football team's annual spring game April 23 at Floyd Casey Stadium. The Bears' Gold squad, comprised mainly of projected 2005 starters, rolled up 424 total-offense yards, while holding the Green team to 90 total yards.
Whitaker, who sat out the 2004 season as a redshirt while recovering from a knee injury, rushed for a scrimmage-high 115 yards on nine carries (12.7 ypc) and scored four touchdowns. The White squad scored eight rushing touchdowns on the afternoon, with Whitaker scoring on runs of 62 (a scrimmage-long rush), 1, 7 and 7 yards. Mosley, meanwhile, Baylor's top rusher a year ago, had a scrimmage-high 14 totes for 88 yards and two touchdowns, while averaging 6.3 ypc.
"That's a good punch (at running back)," said Baylor coach Guy Morriss. "You've got a power guy who hammers it up inside in Paul Mosley and a quick guy who can slash you and cut back, hit the sidelines and go in Brandon Whitaker. They are going to complement each other very well."
Junior quarterback Shawn Bell completed 16 of 20 passes for 179 yards and two touchdowns with one interception for the Gold squad. He also rushed two times for 18 yards and scored on a 3-yard run.
The Bell Tolls At Quarterback: Shawn Bell etched his name in Baylor football lore by leading the Bears to a upset overtime victory over No. 16 Texas A&M a year ago and will enter his junior campaign No. 1 on the depth chart at quarterback. Bell, who has made four of his five career starts against nationally ranked opponents, impressed the Baylor coaching staff with his leadership and decision-making during spring drills.
"He (Bell) seems more mature and more comfortable back there," said Baylor coach Guy Morriss. "Shawn has a better grasp of what we are trying to get done and he knows where he is supposed to go with the football. He knows the personnel that are supposed to be around him and he can get people adjusted.
"The thing that makes him good in our system is the respect he gets from the other 10 guys out there on the field," he added. "The guys respect him and they'll follow him as a quarterback and a leader, that's important."
As a sophomore in 2004, Bell completed a team-high 60.2 percent of his passes (68-of-113) for 544 yards and no interceptions with six touchdowns. He ranked No. 8 among all Big 12 signal callers a year ago in pass efficiency rating with a 118.1 mark.
In his 17-game Baylor career, Bell has thrown just one interception in 213 attempts with seven touchdown strikes to his credit.
Sophomore Terrance Parks, who missed the final week of spring drills after sustaining a deep gash during a scrimmage on the index finger of his right (throwing) hand, is listed No. 2 behind Bell heading into fall camp. After seeing early action at wideout as a redshirt freshman in 2004 (he caught six passes for 79 yards on the year), Parks saw his most extensive time under center over the Bears final two games at No. 25 Oklahoma State and vs. No. 2 Oklahoma in Waco.
In relief of Bell (who left the game with a broken hand) early at OSU, Parks threw for a career-best 261 yards and two touchdowns. The following week in his first career start, he completed 14-of-22 passes for 130 yards with no interceptions against the Sooners.
Senior Mark Murphy, a walk-on who has taken just two snaps for the Bears under center in a game, is listed third on the depth chart heading into fall camp. True freshman Blake Szymanski, who threw for 4,083 yards and 45 touchdowns in leading Wichita Falls (Texas) Rider High School to an 11-3 record, could also see action as a rookie.
Sepulveda Aims For Guy Award Repeat: Junior Daniel Sepulveda, who received the 2004 Ray Guy Award as the nation's top collegiate punter, has his sights set on becoming the trophy's first-ever two-time winner and only the sixth two-time All-American in school history over his final two seasons as a Bear.
A consensus 2004 first-team All-Big 12 performer, Sepulveda ranked No. 2 in the Big 12 and No. 3 nationally in punting (46.0 ypp). His 44.3 ypp career average ranks No. 4 among active Division I-A punters and is the best-ever by a Bear. Sepulveda placed 41.9 percent of his punts (26 of 62) inside the opponent's 20-yard line a year ago and his net average of 42.5 ypp ranked No. 2 nationally.
The former walk-on, who did not punt in high school, improved his net average from 37.4 ypp as a redshirt freshman in 2003 to 42.5 ypp in 2004. Sepulveda's 2004 average of 46.0 ypp was the second-best single-season mark in school history and he boomed 24 punts 50 or more yards for the year.
Special Special Teams: The strongest facet of Baylor's squad in Guy Morriss' two seasons on the sideline has arguably been its special teams play. After recording four scores in 2003, the Bears' special team units tallied two more scores in 2004 and featured the 2004 Ray Guy Award winner in Daniel Sepulveda and consensus first-team All-Big 12 return specialist Willie Andrews.
Sepulveda captured the Ray Guy Award as the nation's top collegiate punter after ranking No. 3 nationally with his 46.0 yard average and Andrews led the league in kickoff returns with his 24.7 yard mark.
A senior outside safety who will again contend for All-Big 12 and All-America honors, Andrews ranked No. 6 in the Big 12 and No. 65 nationally in 2004 with 107.6 all-purpose yards per game despite not taking a snap on the offensive side of the ball. He also led the Bears in quarterback sacks with three and was the squad's third-leading tackler with 67 stops (48 solos).
The 2004 Bears, who ranked No. 5 nationally in net punting (40.6 ypp), No. 35 in kickoff returns (21.7 ypr) and No. 36 in punt returns (11.1 ypr), were the only Big 12 team to rank among the nation's top 36 in all three of those statistical categories a year ago.
Maurice Lane, Tackle Machine: Senior free safety Maurice Lane should contend for All-Big 12 and All-America honors as well as the Thorpe Award in his final season at Baylor after leading the Bears in tackles for the second straight year as a junior.
A second-team 2004 All-Big 12 selection, Lane has started all 34 games he has played in at Baylor and already ranks among the school's all-time leaders in solo tackles. With 205 career solos, he stands No. 4 on BU's career list and needs just 95 more to join College and Pro Hall of Famer Mike Singletary as the only Bears to record 300 or more career solos. Lane, who has 281 career tackles, is just 23 stops shy of the school's all-time top 10 and 100 away from moving into the No. 2 position behind Singletary's career mark of 662 stops.
In 2004, he led the Bears and ranked No. 3 among all Big 12 performers (tops among league defensive backs) in tackles with 104 (9.5 tpg). Lane paced the Big 12 and ranked No. 3 nationally in solo tackles with 7.0 per game, as his 77 solos ranked as the eighth-best one-season total in school history. He ended the season with four straight double-figure tackle games, one of which was a season-high 16-tackle game at Oklahoma State.
Bears Defense Shows Improvement: In Bill Bradley's first season as the Bears' defensive coordinator, his defense produced four All-Big 12 performers and allowed an average of nearly 30 yards per game fewer (421.1 ypg) than it did in 2003 (450.0 ypg). The Bears' pass defense, which ranked 101st among all NCAA I-A programs in 2003 prior to Bradley's arrival, was rated No. 62 at the end of his first season in Waco.
Baylor returns eight starters on the defensive side of the ball for the 2005 season, including its entire first-team secondary, and seven of its top 10 tacklers from a year ago.
Six I-A Transfers On 2005 Baylor Depth Chart: Baylor's 2005 roster features six players who began their collegiate careers at other Division I-A programs but have since found their way to Waco and a place on the Bears' post-spring depth chart. All six are former Texas high school preps.
Tulane transfer Will Blaylock missed nearly all of Baylor's spring drills with an ankle injury, but the junior is listed as the Bears' top center. Sophomore Jordan Adams stands No. 2 at tight end after joining the program from New Mexico.
On the defensive side of the ball, Nick Moore, who lettered at Georgia Tech as a true freshman in 2003, is No. 2 at linebacker behind Colin Allred and another Tulane transfer, sophomore Alton Widemon, is No. 3 at cornerback.
Junior Paul Howard, the Bears' No. 2 defensive end, began his collegiate career at Texas Tech and played there as a redshirt freshman, and No. 3 defensive tackle Klayton Shoals redshirted as a true freshman at Iowa State before joining the Baylor program.
Howard and Shoals both lettered for the Bears in 2004 while the other four were in the program but sat out due to NCAA rules.
Bears Again Lead Big 12 In Graduation Rates: For the fifth time in the Big 12 Conference's nine-year history, Baylor University posted the highest student-athlete graduation rate of any league institution, according to figures released by the NCAA last fall.
The Bears' most-recent graduation rates, for the freshman class of 1997-98, is 78 percent, a school record by four points over the previous high of 74 percent in 2000. That figure is also 8 points higher than Baylor's general student population and 16 points better than the NCAA Division I national average of 62 percent.
Baylor also graduated a Big 12-best 76 percent of its male student-athletes and a league-high 82 percent of its female student-athletes. The Baylor football program produced a Big 12-leading 88 percent graduation rate, marking the fifth time in the league's history it set the standard for classroom excellence.
Among all Division I-A football programs, Baylor's graduation rate ranked as the nation's 10th-highest mark according to the most-recent NCAA figures.
In addition to leading the Big 12 in graduation rates five times, Baylor ranked second on three other occasions. All-told, 88 percent of Baylor student-athletes who exhausted their eligibility and entered school from 1988-89 through 1997-98 have left with degree in hand according to the NCAA study.
Baylor Quick Slants: Sophomore cornerback Braelon Davis, listed No. 1 on the Bears' depth chart, injured his knee during spring practice and may miss the entire 2005 season if surgery is required. Named to the 2004 Sporting News All-Big 12 freshman team, Davis ranked No. 10 on the squad in tackles a year ago with 24 stops ... Sophomore offensive tackle Nick Pace, who started all 12 games along the Bears' o-line in 2003 as a true freshman, returns after a medical redshirt year in 2004 and is listed No. 1 on the depth chart at right offensive tackle ... Three of Baylor's four returning offensive starters are in the offensive line--senior left guards Lequalan McDonald and Glen Oskin, and senior left tackle Evan Stone. McDonald, No. 1 at left guard heading into the 2005 season, has started 23-straight games for the Bears entering the 2005 season, while Oskin, listed No. 2 behind McDonald, made nine starts a year ago (17 for career) and Stone drew seven starts in his first season as a Bear and is the team's No. 2 left tackle ... The Bears return two of their top three receivers from a year ago in juniors Dominique Zeigler and Trent Shelton. Zeigler, who earned honorable mention All-Big 12 honors from the league's coaches as a sophomore, caught a team-high 55 passes for 536 yards and five touchdowns, while Shelton snagged 38 receptions for 426 yards and four scores a year ago. Shelton has caught at least one pass in 22 straight games entering the 2005 season ... Junior running back Paul Mosley's average of 4.6 yards per carry was the best by a Baylor season rushing leader since 1997. Mosley rushed for a team-high 536 yards and accounted for four of the team's rushing TDs ... Baylor's 35-34 OT win over Texas A&M a year ago in Waco ended the Bears' 18-game non-winning series streak against the Aggies (the teams played to a 20-20 tie in 1990) and snapped a 22-game losing string against ranked (AP) opponents which dated to the 1998 season and a 33-30 win over No. 20 North Carolina State at Waco ... Baylor quarterbacks completed a school-record 59.5 percent of their passes in 2004 and set a new one-season standard with 235 completions ... The Bears have lost 24 straight road games since opening the 2000 season with a 20-7 victory at North Texas and have never won a Big 12 road battle (0-36) ... Guy Morriss' Bears are 6-7 all-told at Floyd Casey Stadium, but stand 0-10 away from Waco in his tenure ... In two seasons under Morriss, nine Bears have earned all-conference honors from the league's coaches, one shy of Baylor's total for the 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2002 seasons combined ... The 2005 NFL Draft saw the Kansas City Chiefs select DE Khari Long in the sixth round, the highest a Bear had been selected since 1999 ... Baylor FB Jonathan Evans inked a free agent contract with the Dallas Cowboys ... The 2005-06 academic year will mark the 10th anniversary of Big 12 Conference competition.
