GOOD DAY TO BE A KID

By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider

WACO, Texas – Baylor senior receiver Josh Cameron might have picked up a few touchdown celebration ideas at Saturday's Baylor Blitz youth skills challenge at McLane Stadium.

At one of the Run-a-Route stations, where Cameron split time throwing passes and shooting video, he saw one of the smaller campers do a flip after scoring a touchdown.

"That was crazy," Cameron said. "It was awesome."

Working their way around the John Eddie Williams Field, a group of nearly 150 third- through eighth-graders went through a series of stations that included a quarterback toss, sack drill, a relay race and "Touchdown City."

"It reminded me of the thing we did at the (Texas Bowl) game, it was similar to that format," said Cameron, referencing the community service event that players from Baylor and LSU did the day before the game at NRG Stadium, where kids from the DePelchin Children's Center foster care program went through similar stations.

"Being able to give back to the community like that is always fun. I was actually able to run around with a little camera, a little tripod. It was awesome."

Sixth-year Baylor head coach Dave Aranda remembers so many of the Baylor players talking about it "just right after the bowl experience."

After restrictions in some of the previous bowl games, including the 2022 Sugar Bowl, "when we went to this last bowl game and had the opportunity to do that, so many of the guys were like, 'This is what you do at bowls?' They wanted to do it again. So, to have it happen here is special. And the guys had fun with it, they were really looking forward to it. And a lot of them didn't want it to end. I know the kids were having fun, too, so it was good to see."

At the Quarterback Toss, led by Baylor quarterbacks Sawyer Robertson, Walker White, Nate Bennett, Edward Griffin and Cade Tessier, the campers did some footwork drills before trying to pass a football into a large net.

In the Sack drill, an obvious favorite, the kids ran around cones before smashing into a blocking dummy while diving on to a mat and then recovering a fumble. Celebrations were key in this one, too, spurred on by Baylor linemen.

At the end of a relay race that included some footwork and agility drills, the kids tried to kick a field goal through a smaller goal post. In the station near the north end zone, one of them booted it through the uprights, with the ball hitting the bleachers and bouncing up into the stands. Sign him up.

In the Run-a-Route station, the kids ran various routes, with the Baylor defensive backs sometimes trying to distract the receivers. At the one in the south end zone, where Cameron was working, there were some very imaginative celebrations that included dances, spikes and even the flip.

Finally, in "Touchdown City," two of the campers would run at each other, the offensive player trying to sprint around or juke the defender to get into the end zone.

"I think you just kind of look back on whenever you were a kid, getting to do stuff like that and see people who you look up to," said senior outside linebacker Kyler Jordan. "Just being able to impact the community in that way was really cool."

With the spring drills concluding on Saturday, Baylor football will kick off the 2025 season with a home game against Auburn on Friday, Aug. 29. For season or single-game ticket information, you can go to the link at 2025 Baylor Football.

GOOD DAY TO BE A KID

Players Mentioned

Nate Bennett

Josh Cameron

Edward Griffin

Kyler Jordan

Sawyer Robertson

Cade Tessier

Walker White

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