By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
 
WACO, Texas – Klinard Wilson Jr. was so looking forward to Baylor football's season opener Friday night against the Auburn Tigers.
 
"He was the first person that told me, 'Put in a ticket for me,''' said Baylor senior receiver Kole Wilson., Klinard's younger brother. "He really wanted to come to the game."
 
But Klinard died last month in a tragic jet ski accident at the age of 28 years old. A Texas State transfer making his debut in a Baylor uniform, Kole wore an eye-black strip across his nose with the message, "Long Live Bambino," as an homage to his brother.
 
"That's his nickname, we called him Bam," Kole said. "So, I put this across just as a reminder. . . . I wish he was here, but I know he was watching."
 
And what a show Kole gave him.
 
While Baylor lost the season opener to Auburn, 38-24, before a sellout crowd of 45,233 at McLane Stadium, Kole Wilson hauled in eight catches on 12 targets for a career-high 134 yards.
 
"First off, I want to thank the good Lord for allowing me to be in this situation," Kole said. "We've come a long way. The coaches put us in a great position, we had a good game plan all week. The line held up, Sawyer (Robertson) did his job, and everything kind of worked out perfectly."
 
With most of the Auburn defense's focus on returning receivers Josh Cameron and Ashtyn Hawkins, "that left me in a perfect opportunity to go out there and make a play," Kole said. Cameron didn't catch a pass until the fourth quarter and finished with just two grabs for 54 yards, while Hawkins had four receptions for 70 yards on six targets.
 
Robertson, who was 27-of-48 for 419 yards and three touchdowns, was still able to spread the ball around. Tight end Michael Trigg had career highs in catches (seven) and yards (99), including a four-yard TD reception that made it a one-score game with 11:48 left.
 
"I couldn't be more proud of them," said Robertson, who had his second-straight 400-yard passing game against an SEC defense, adding TD passes of 33 yards to Alabama transfer Kobe Prentice and four yards to freshman running back Caden Knighten.
 
"Honestly, when we had our Friday meeting, I told them, 'This is the expectation.' They've already put enough stuff on tape. I don't know the final numbers, but it felt like all of them had close to 100 yards. That's dangerous when you can spread the ball like that."
 
Nothing that Wilson did was surprising to Robertson or head coach Dave Aranda. They had seen enough in spring ball and fall camp to know what he was capable of doing. And in his three previous seasons at Texas State and Incarnate Word, he had 127 catches for 1,658 yards and 13 touchdowns and returned three kicks for TDs.
 
"I think Kole has been playing this way since he's been with us," Aranda said. "I think there is a real bright light inside of that guy, and it's contagious with him. So, the best for him is yet to come. I think we have some other guys that are very talented as well that maybe need to catch that fire that he has, because they've got that ability, too."
 
Robertson said that everything Wilson did on Friday, "he's done in camp."
 
"Running by people, effective vertically," Robertson said, "and then also, I hit him on the one that was coming across, the shallow (route). He took that one for a long one. The speed is really dynamic. You've got to cover him a long ways. He really makes the offense that much more explosive."
 
With the Bears unable to establish a rushing attack – running backs Bryson Washington and Knighten tallied 83 yards on 20 carries – "it really makes what Sawyer and the receiving corps did that much more impressive," Aranda said. "Auburn was teeing off on them every time."
 
The Bears (0-1) will try to bounce back when they go on the road to face 16^th-ranked SMU at 11 a.m. next Saturday, Sept. 6, at Gerald J. Ford Stadium in Dallas in a game televised on The CW.
 
"We've got to fix it, and we've got to be able to be in better position," Aranda said, "because we've got a great opportunity coming up next week. We want to be an improved team. And all of this that we're going through now, we want it to be for good, and we want to be improved because of it and not let the discouragement weigh us down. That's really the challenge that's ahead of us right now."