By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Foundation

Looking more like the explosive offense that has led the nation in each of the previous three seasons, Baylor scored on four plays of 35 yards or longer and averaged nearly 6.5 yards per play in Saturday's scrimmage at McLane Stadium.

Senior quarterback Seth Russell led the first-team offense on three touchdown-scoring drives while throwing for 211 yards and three TDs and adding 22 yards on two runs.

"I feel like all the guys were fresh today," Russell said. "We took a couple more days off this week than we did last week, which I think helped out a lot. The offensive line looked really conditioned, looked really fast today. As a whole, it just felt like we were on the same page a lot of the time."

After struggling in the first scrimmage a week earlier, "I thought the offense came more ready to play," head coach Jim Grobe said.

"The first scrimmage, the defense kind of had their way. There was a little bit of give and take (today)," he said. "One of the things I'd like for both sides of the ball to do is when they've had a really good series come back the next series and do it again. What we had today was I thought some good stuff on both sides of the ball, but not consistently good stuff. So, that's what we'll be looking for going forward."

Junior walk-on Wyatt Schrepfer was the leading rusher with 52 yards on nine totes and got the scoring started with a 35-yard TD run. The trio of Terence Williams, JaMycal Hasty and Shock Linwood also had a solid day, combining for 102 yards on just 18 carries.

Russell said the offensive line has made significant strides since the first week of camp. Center Kyle Fuller is the only returning starter, with Mo Porter, Patrick Lawrence and Dom Desouza rotating at the tackles and Ishmael Wilson, Blake Blackmar and Tanner Thrift working at the guards.

"I've always had confidence in them," Russell said of the o-line. "(Offensive line coach Randy Clements) has done a great job coaching those guys and getting them in the right positions. We're improving every day. That's what we have to do in our fall camp. Going into the first game, you have to be clicking. We'll probably still have some things to work out. But as a whole, I feel like we'll be ready to go."

Russell connected with Chris Platt for a 42-yarder and hit Lynx Hawthorne in stride for 38 yards. After missing his first attempt, kicker Chris Callahan booted field goals of 34, 26, 38 and 30 yards and was perfect on his extra points.

Working with the first-team offense, freshman Zach Smith was 4-of-10 for 39 yards, while redshirt freshman Zack Bennema was 3-of-5 for 23 yards.

Senior nickel back Patrick Levels led the defense with six tackles, while redshirt freshman linebacker Clay Johnston had five stops, one sack, one pass breakup and a QB hurry.

The only downer for Russell was missing on three red-zone passes on the last series of the scrimmage.

"I made a couple bad throws that I can't do," he said. "I've got to make those throws 10 out of 10 times so that we can move the ball and score points."

After making some decisions "that weren't the best" the first scrimmage, Russell "looked like he was a little bit more in charge and a little bit more understanding of what we were getting on the defensive side," Grobe said.

With only 13 days remaining before the Sept. 2 season opener against Northwestern State, the Bears still have some ongoing position battles, but "I think we have a pretty good idea of who's going to have to play."

At the end of the scrimmage, the team cheered loudly when Grobe announced that receiver/holder Cole Edmiston and linebacker Tyler Jaynes, a pair of junior walk-ons from Gatesville, have been awarded scholarships.

Jaynes started out as a baseball walk-on in the fall of 2013 and saw action on special teams in eight of 13 games last season, while Edmiston is a former prep quarterback who holds on extra points and field goals.

"Just two great kids that have been invaluable over the past three years," Grobe said, "not only playing offense and defense, but scout team guys and guys that are loyal to Baylor."