By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
            Without hesitating for even a second, sophomore Josh Cameron said the thing you'll see from the Baylor wide receivers this year is "bombs on bombs on bombs, all the way down the field."

            "I think it's going to be fun to watch," said Cameron, who hauled in 28 catches for 386 yards (13.8-yard average) last season after earning a scholarship in the spring.

            Second-year receivers coach Dallas Baker, informed of Cameron's comments, said "you guys just got Josh in trouble." The cat's out of the bag.

            "We want to be like Rocky when he went to Russia to fight, that we're working in the dark," Baker said. "Then, when we start the season, everyone will be surprised with the way the receivers are showing up."

            After losing Tyquan Thornton to the New England Patriots in the second round of the 2022 NFL Draft, the Bears didn't have a true go-to receiver last season. Monaray Baldwin led the way with 33 catches for 565 yards and four touchdowns, but no one came close to Thornton's 2021 season, when he had 62 receptions for 948 yards and 10 TDs.

            Asked if this year's team would have a go-to receiver, Baker said, "Yes" and then rattled off the names. "His name is Hal (Presley), Monaray, Josh, Jordan (Nabors), Armani (Winfield). I can keep going. That's the go-to receiver."

            "I love what I'm seeing from them," Baker said. "They talk about confidence, but the big thing is having faith and knowing who you are. It's showing out there when those guys play. The offense is changing, but changing in a great way."

            A sprinter from Killeen Ellison, the diminutive Baldwin (5-9, 164) was in position to lead the receiving corps last season after scoring on a 48-yard end-around run in the Bears' win over Ole Miss in the Sugar Bowl. But he suffered a hamstring injury in the spring that "just kept lingering and lingering" and also missed a game after a concussion early in the season.

            "I feel like we've come a long way, because last year people we were saying we were young," Baldwin said. "But I feel like in a short amount of time, we've matured. Like, everybody's making plays. It's not really 'a guy,' it's more like everybody's a guy. We can all make plays, we can all run with the (No. 1 offense). I just feel like we're all maturing."

             Initially an Auburn signee, Presley transferred back to his home state in the summer of 2021 and had his moments last season with 32 catches for 382 yards and four touchdowns. His eight-yard TD grab right before intermission was one of the Bears' few highlights in the 30-15 loss to Air Force in the frigid Armed Forces Bowl.

            "I would say I'm a lot more comfortable now, and I feel like Coach Baker coming in had a lot to do with it," Presley said. "Just my confidence level, it's way up. . . . I feel like if you have confidence, you can do anything. But when you're not (confident), that's when we're dropping balls. Did y'all see the plays out there? We caught a lot of good balls. That's what you can do when you have confidence."

            While the Bears returned three of their top four receivers from last season, they also added former four-star receiver Ketron Jackson Jr. from Arkansas in the transfer portal. In two seasons with the Razorbacks, the Royse City, Texas, native played in 25 games with eight starts and totaled 21 catches for 374 yards and four touchdowns.

            On Saturday, Baylor head coach Dave Aranda said Jackson is "the name that comes to mind of all of them" from the Bears' first two scrimmages.

            "Not only his energy . . . but his effort on special teams, his effort on blocking," Aranda said. "And then, he's got a knack for big plays."

            Before the start of the spring workouts, Jackson pleaded with Baker not to put him with the No. 1 offense, because he didn't like it when "they were bringing in transfers (at Arkansas) and just throwing them in there."

            "I told him, the great thing about that is that God has given me the ability to always remember what it was like to be your guys' age," Baker said. "The older you get, sometimes you forget. But God has blessed me with the gift where I don't forget. I remember what it was like to be like him. So, I didn't put him with the first group, just brought him along. And he's going to be a great, great addition to the team. He's very humble."

            Baldwin said Jackson is "probably one of the best route runners I've ever seen."

            "He just came in as an older guy, he's mature, he does everything right," Baldwin said. "He's fast, big, strong. He really has everything in his bag."

            The 6-1, 216-pound Cameron said he thanks "God for every single day" that he gets the chance to play football at Baylor.

            "It's been awesome," he said. "Just always put in extra work, that's all I really came to do. When I got the scholarship, it was an awesome feeling, and now I'm just continuing to put in that extra work. Now, I would say instead of doing extra weightlifting, I'm trying to take care of my body more and get extra rehab, step up in that area, too."

            A talented but young receiving corps also includes juniors Jonathan Davidson and Landry Kinne, sophomores Elijah Bean, Jordan Nabors and Jonah Burton, redshirt freshman Cameron Bonner and first-semester freshman Micah Gifford.

            Even with newcomers like Jackson, Gifford and Kinne, a converted quarterback, Baker said the receivers are "like a brotherhood. It's like those guys grew up together."

            "They ask a lot of questions about my playing days or whatever," said Baker, part of a national championship team at Florida and a Super Bowl champion with the Pittsburgh Steelers. "And I tell them, that national championship team didn't have a bunch of talented guys when we won (41-14 over Ohio State). I'll debate with anyone and tell them until I'm blue in the face. It was all about how close we were."

            The Bears will have one more practice Thursday afternoon and then wrap up the spring football session with the annual Green & Gold Game at 12 p.m. Saturday at McLane Stadium.