By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Foundation

Stopping short of making a prediction, Baylor football coach Matt Rhule told a packed house for Tuesday's Greater Waco Chamber of Commerce Kickoff Luncheon that "we've got a really, really strong group of young people that want to go play."

"I think you're going to see a good football team," he said. "I know they're picking us wherever they're picking us, but I'm out there with those kids every day. And we're not perfect, they have to overcome some coaching sometimes, but we've got a really, really strong group of young people that want to play. They might be inexperienced, you might not know all their names, but you will. They're ready for their opportunity."

Baylor has some depth issues in the offensive line and inexperience at key positions like receiver and cornerback, but Rhule said he's hoping the Bears get better throughout the season, "that fights to overcome adversity, that plays the game the right way, that doesn't talk trash to their opponent, that doesn't beat themselves with penalties, but a team that goes out there and makes each other better."

Rhule joked that he had thought about announcing the starting quarterback for next Saturday's season opener against Liberty, but I promised (Texas Football magazine's Dave Campbell) I would do that with him and him alone. So, I'll do that another day."

When he left Temple University last December, Rhule said he accepted the Baylor job "sight unseen." He had only been to Texas twice before, once on a recruiting trip and "once to play the (Dallas) Cowboys when I was an assistant coach (with the New York Giants)."

"I don't know that coming here and being able to look around would have done it justice," he said. "Whether it's a phone call or a text, whether it's an email, whether it's a prayer, whether it's people inviting us to their church, whether it's people stopping to say hello, this has been one of the kindest times I've ever experienced in my life. I want to say thank you to you and thank you to this community. What a special community it is, and I'm grateful that I have a chance to call it my community now."

Helping Rhule and the bulk of his staff in the transition from Philadelphia-based Temple University to Waco have been former Baylor players and high school coaches Shawn Bell, offensive analyst; and David Wetzel, associate athletic director for football relations.

"Many people know (Wetzel) as the head coach at (San Antonio) Reagan, many people know him as a former Baylor Bear, many people know him as the head of the Texas High School Coaches Association," Rhule said. "I just know him as a great, great man. He loves Baylor, he loves young people, and he's been a wonderful gift."

On his first trip to George's Restaurant, Rhule saw two people walking toward him and thought, "Oh, here we go I'm the head coach, they want to introduce themselves to me."

No, they walked right by him, "almost knocked me out of the way, because they saw who we call, 'The Bright Light,' Shawn Bell from China Spring, from Baylor."

"If it weren't for those two guys, I'd still be telling people, 'Hey, we need to go over to (phonetically) MEX-E-UH and look at some recruits," Rhule said, referencing the Central Texas town that is pronounced Muh-hay-uh. "They quickly brought me around. Sometimes, I'll say things and kind of look at David like, 'Is that right?'''

Rhule also thanked women's basketball coach Kim Mulkey for always being "a phone call or a text away."

"I thought I was a tough coach until I sat behind her bench at the Texas game," he said. "I was videotaping her and sending it to (senior linebacker) Taylor Young and those guys, saying, 'You guys have no idea.'''

He also thanked longtime trainer Mike Sims, who retired earlier this summer and took a position with Southwest Sports Medicine. "When we showed up with a different way of doing things and talking fast with different accents, no one worked harder from 5 a.m. till the job was done at night. Just unbelievably grateful to him and his ability to transition us in and make sure we know how things were going," Rhule said.

During a four-week-long camp that began back on July 27, Rhule said the objective has been to "build a team."

"It's been about trying to reconnect our kids to campus and reconnect our kids to this community," he said. "Because when you have something to play for, when your why is about more than just going to the NFL, when your why is about something bigger than yourself, you play so much better. When you look up in the crowd, and you know there are people there that spent their money to come watch you play, that they care about not just what you do but how you do it, then you play so much better. You stay so much more focused. You play as a team."

For football season or single-game ticket information, call the Baylor Athletics Ticket Office at 254-710-1000 or go online at www.baylorbears.com/footballtickets.