Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
 
WACO, Texas – After 61 career games, including a pair of bowl games, sixth-year Baylor linebacker Matt Jones can't imagine not playing in the Kinder's Texas Bowl on Tuesday.
 
"With me and Sawyer (Robertson), we both come from West Texas. And out there, all you want to do is play football," said Jones, a first-round All-Big 12 pick who registered 103 tackles. "First-round picks probably aren't going to play in this bowl game. But if we were first-round picks, we would go play, just because we love football. It's what we've done. It saved us. It got us here.
 
"It's like backing out on your team. You've gotten this far, and you've done everything you can. You've sacrificed so much. You've worked so hard. So, why just stop now? Why not go finish the season strong."
 
Sawyer Robertson, a Lubbock native who has thrown for 2,626 yards and 26 touchdowns with only seven interceptions, said he doesn't "get why you wouldn't want to."
 
"It's just another opportunity to play football with your brothers," he said of Baylor (8-4) facing LSU (8-4) in the Texas Bowl matchup at NRG Stadium in Houston.
 
"I think it's really special, especially for the seniors. For all that they've done for this program over the last four years, I'm so happy that they get to play another game and that I get to play with them. I'm just looking forward to that and sending them out on a high note."
 
Jones said it "the right way to go out."
 
"It means everything to me," he said. "I've been here so long, it's a good way to go out. You get to go celebrate one last time with your teammates, you team who got you to where you are right now. It's an honor, man, and we're very blessed to be in this position."
 
While Jones leads the team in career games (61), career starts (45) and consecutive starts (25), Robertson is making his 14^th career start and 11^th-consecutive after beginning the season as the backup to Toledo transfer Dequan Finn.
 
Robertson and the Bears finished with the longest winning streak at the end of a regular season in program history, winning their last six and capping it with a dominant 45-17 victory over Kansas. Getting another win in the bowl game would be "huge," he said.
 
"Not only that, but especially against the opponent that we're playing. A lot of respect for LSU, they're super talented. If we win this one, it's going to be big, really big for the confidence of everybody. Keep the momentum and carry that momentum into the offseason and on into next season."
 
Jones said he wishes that he could "come back for one more year," because "Baylor will be in the Big 12 (Championship game) next year. They'll be in the Big 12 championship, mark my word."
 
The Bears have had 10 players enter the transfer portal during the December window and have had eight players sign, including wide receivers Kobe Prentice from Alabama and Kole Wilson from Texas State.
 
"I'm really excited about the two guys we got out of the portal," said Robertson, who transferred from Mississippi State two years ago. "There's a lot of speed there, lot of production, too. They've played a lot of snaps. That, on top of what we've got coming back and the high school kids we got, as a quarterback, I'm really excited to get to work with those guys in the offseason."
 
While this could be the last game for a lot of the Baylor seniors, Jones is hoping that a good bowl game performance will enhance his stock for the 2025 NFL Draft.
 
"When scouts go look at me or anyone else on the team, they're going to go straight to this game," he said. "This is one of our biggest opponents. It's an SEC team, so they're going to go straight to this tape and see, 'What did he do well? What did he do bad against this team?' before they go look at any other team. So yeah, it's going to be a great opportunity to put everything I have in my ability, to put it on tape and just show the scouts what I can do."
 
The Bears arrived in Houston on Thursday and will work out daily at Rice University. While Baylor sold out its ticket allotment, tickets are still available through secondary outlets and the NRG Stadium ticket office.