BAYLOR FOOTBALL NOTEBOOK

By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
            Devin Neal didn't hesitate for even a moment.
            Asked whether it was better to rile up the home fans at McLane Stadium or silence an unruly crowd on the road, the Baylor junior safety said, "I'd really say silencing an away crowd."
            "The one memory that brings up from this season is at Iowa State," he said. "It was initially really loud at the beginning of the game, you could feel the momentum going back and forth. And then the defense, doing what it had to do and taking it away from them, you could see people leaving the game. You didn't hear anything. It was like a Tuesday practice. So, yeah, I like taking the energy away."
            That could be hard to do in Saturday's 6:30 p.m. game at 60,454-seat Jones AT&T Stadium in Lubbock, when the Bears (4-3, 2-2) go on the road to face the Texas Tech Red Raiders (4-3, 2-2).
            "We know it's going to be a crazy atmosphere," senior receiver Gavin Holmes said. "It's going to be a black out, (Kansas City Chiefs quarterback) Pat Mahomes is going to be there. But, those are just distractions to us, essentially. We're just going to have to go out and play our game. . . . When we go out there, it's only going to be us. Everybody else is going to want to take our heads off. Obviously, we can't turn off the crowd. But, we've been in atmospheres like that."
            What they haven't seen are the flying tortillas that the Tech fans throw on the field during the game.
            "I wondered what that was flying on the field. I thought it was like paper plates or something. They actually throw those on the field?" Neal said. "I didn't know that was a thing. No, I've never had a tortilla thrown at me."
            'THAT'S MY DOG:' In his first five years at Baylor, Holmes saw four other receivers coaches come and go before Dallas Baker was hired in February when Chansi Stuckey left to take a job at Notre Dame.
            Also tutored by Bob Bicknell, Frisman Jackson and Jorge Munoz, Holmes says of Baker: "That's my dog."
            "I love Coach Baker. He's been a father figure to me and all of us out here," said Holmes, who leads the team with 397 yards and three touchdowns on 18 catches. "This is by far the closest receivers room I've ever been a part of, and I think it's a testament to him. He just preaches unity."
            While some of their conversations are football-related, Holmes said, "it's more about life with him."
            "You can see that when he celebrates with us," Holmes said. "He's genuinely happy for us and genuinely cares. It's so easy to play confident for a coach like that. I think he's helped us out a lot."
            PREPARING FOR THREE: With senior quarterback Tyler Shough cleared to play for the first time since suffering a shoulder injury in the season opener, the Red Raiders could use as many as three quarterbacks in Saturday's game.
            Sophomore Donovan Smith has started four games and played in all seven, throwing for 1,505 yards and 12 touchdowns with seven interceptions, while redshirt freshman Behren Morton started the last two and passed for 886 yards and five TDs with three picks.
            "They've had a few other quarterbacks in there," Baylor coach Dave Aranda said, "but they've all found ways to get the offense to work off the particular trait of the guy that's there."
            Neal said it starts with film study this week, because "you don't know who's going to be out there and what they're doing until the last second."
            "You see a formation or what guys (are) out there," Neal said. "You're not going to know what you're getting into unless you watch film and get some sort of experience. We've just got to make sure we're all together watching the film and know whose strengths and weaknesses are."
            FAMILIAR FACES IN NEW PLACES: Former Baylor associate head coach Joey McGuire is off to a 4-3 start with wins over Texas and West Virginia in his first year in Lubbock after a five-year run with the Bears that included two appearances in the Big 12 Championship.
            But, the Baylor connections run deep. There are no less than a dozen football staffers at Tech, including inside linebackers coach Josh Bookbinder and tight ends coach Josh Cochran.
            Bookbinder was a defensive quality control assistant for the Bears from 2018-21 and is the grandson of Hall of Fame coach Grant Teaff, while Cochran was an offensive line GA and quality control coach under Matt Rhule in 2017-19.
            Former Baylor players Brian Nance and James Lockhart are in support staff roles as director of scouting and defensive quality control assistant, respectively. James Blanchard, who had two stints at Baylor, is the Red Raiders' Director of Player Personnel.
            The Tech staff also includes strength coaches Lance Barilow and Brandyn Musgrave; Quintin Jordan, director of football operations; Harrison Hanna, assistant director of football operations and recruiting; Kirk Bryant, senior offensive analyst; and football recruiting post-grad intern Jake Pittman, a former Baylor student manager and another Teaff grandson.
            Conversely, Baylor's staff includes former Texas Tech All-Americans Aaron Hunt, Assistant AD for football recruiting; and Kevin Curtis, who's in his second year as the cornerbacks coach.
            "I've got friends there that have already been talking smack to me," Holmes said. "Of course, there are coaches on that team that I respect, that I had great relationships with when they were here."

BAYLOR FOOTBALL NOTEBOOK

Players Mentioned

Gavin Holmes

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