By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Foundation

Off to an 0-5 start in his first season at Baylor, the easy thing for Matt Rhule to do would be to write it off and start playing for the future.

He's doing the opposite. Rhule is coaching for his seniors.

"I've said it time and time again, we owe it to Taylor Young and (Davion Hall) and Brian Nance to push this team as hard as I can right now and try to play really good football these last seven games," he said before Tuesday's afternoon workout. "We just want to be a better team, and we want to find a way to go win some football games.

"We've been in all five games, we've had a chance to take the lead in all five games, but we haven't been able to do it. . . . We recognize the progress, but we also want to make sure that we have much more progress moving forward."

During the Tuesday media session, Rhule also announced that senior offensive guard Ishmael Wilson and junior cornerback Jourdan Blake are "no longer members of the football team."

"I'm not going to get into the particulars, because they're really good people and I want to be respectful of them," he said. "We wish them the best as the stay here and graduate, but they will no longer play for us as we move forward."

Additionally, Rhule said that junior running back Terence Williams has been reinstated after asking to come back and assuring "me he would be a great teammate."

"That's really the most important thing to me. Our kids have been through a lot, and they need to know they can still count on each other. They need to know the standards for one are the standards for all," Rhule said. "I let Terence speak to our leadership council. They voted and felt he deserved a second chance. As I told him, there will be no third chance, but this is a wonderful opportunity for him to grow and become the man his family and we all want him to be and we're confident he can be."

Going into the bye week after Saturday's 33-20 loss at Kansas State, Rhule said he had probably 15 players come by his office Monday night and another 10 visit with him on Tuesday, just asking, "Coach, what can we do?"

"Denzel Mims got all the receivers and brought them all into my office and said, 'Hey Coach, what do we need to do to get better?" Rhule said of the sophomore receiver, who's had 25 receptions for 533 yards and a national-best seven touchdowns. "This is a kid who's leading the nation in touchdown catches. He wants to meet with me to find out what we can do to get better. Not, can I get the ball more? There's a lot of that happening."

The Bears have "100 kids doing everything right," Rhule said, and eventually everything is going to click.

"A lot of people are talking about the football right now, and I'm concerned about our team and who they are, what they're doing," he said. "That's what everyone should really be concerned with. As we do that, then the football will just continue to elevate, and there will be a day when the football is really, really good. Hopefully, it's soon. And the standard won't change. When we start winning, I'm not going to start saying, 'Well, we won, so you guys can go do whatever you want.'''

One of the most encouraging things through the first five weeks has been the play of freshmen like John Lovett, who's rushed for a team-high 321 yards and three touchdowns; Xavier Newman, who's started the last two games at offensive guard; and cornerback Harrison Hand, who is "playing like a vet."

"To see those freshmen out there competing, to see those redshirt freshmen and sophomores competing and getting better and hanging in there," Rhule said. "That's two preseason Top 25 teams we've played the last two weeks (Oklahoma and K-State). So, I think our freshmen are walking out of that saying, 'OK, I can definitely play at this level. Now, it's not good enough right now, but I can definitely play at this level.'''

After getting freshman quarterback Charlie Brewer in for two plays in the loss at K-State, Rhule said the plan moving forward is to give him a package or a series every game.

"What I don't want to do is I don't want Charlie to just play out of necessity," he said. "If we're up and rolling, he probably won't play. And if there's that dead spot, we will try to play him. Let's take some pressure off Zach. Zach didn't practice last Monday after the Oklahoma game, he was banged-up. So, we have to take some hits off of Zach. We're trying to get the o-line better and run the ball a little more, but Charlie has to be ready."

The Bears will face 14th-ranked Oklahoma State (4-1, 1-1) at 2:30 p.m. next Saturday, Oct. 14, in Stillwater, Okla., in a game that will be televised by FS1.

"They can see the film and they can see how much better they're getting," Rhule said. "And they hear the NFL scouts coming in and saying, 'Boy, you guys are getting better.' But, at some point, they need something tangible. No one's going to do it for them. It's just going to have to happen. From that regard, I'm just anxious for them to go ahead and make it happen at some point."