Aug. 2, 2007
The Baylor football team opened fall camp with a 150-minute workout in helmets and shorts on the grass practice fields Thursday evening at Floyd Casey Stadium.
"We were pretty pleased with the first one," said Bears' fifth-year head coach Guy Morriss. "I thought the kids came out in a good frame of mind and flew around pretty good. Offensively, we executed OK for the first day.
"We have put some new wrinkles in and you could see the wheels grinding, but overall, I thought it was a good solid first practice."
Much of the attention during fall camp will be focused on the race to replace one of Baylor's all-time passing leaders, Shawn Bell, at quarterback. Fifth-year senior Michael Machen missed Thursday evening's workout for a graduate class, leaving junior John David Weed and sophomore Blake Szymanski to take the majority of the snaps on day one with the top offensive units.
"The quarterbacks are struggling with some new things, too," said Morriss. "I thought Blake (Szymanski) moved the club pretty good. We are just going to go through camp and let John David (Weed), Blake and Michael (Machen) battle it out for the starting job and see where the other two land (in the lineup). It's just going to be an ongoing, day-to-day process right now.
"There's going to be some give and take," he added. "I thought Blake had the better day today. Who knows who will come out on top tomorrow? We are going to have to find a way to put some reps into all three of them and then make a decision pretty quick as to who would elevate themselves to the top two and that's who we'll probably go with."
Day one of fall camp also included a walk-through practice and film session in the morning, followed by late afternoon special teams and position meetings prior to the first workout on the field Thursday evening. A majority of Baylor players are enrolled in the school's second summer session, which concludes next week.
The Bears will return to the practice fields Friday evening with the team's first day in pads scheduled for Aug. 7.
Notes: Baylor's annual fan day, Meet the Bears, is scheduled for Saturday, Aug. 18, starting at 4 p.m. at Floyd Casey Stadium ... Former Baylor outside safety Maurice Linguist, who worked as a student assistant coach during spring ball, will be on the coaching staff this fall in a similar capacity assisting with the strong safeties, the position he played from 2003 through 2006 ... 101 players took to the field Thursday evening ... Baylor opens its 2007 season Sept. 1 at defending Mountain West Conference champion TCU ... Baylor is slated to workout daily through Aug. 18, take Aug. 19, then start classes and settle into its regular-season routine on Aug. 20.
