Inaugural Baylor Line Report

I think it's really cool that I get to be a part of the Baylor Line, and get to write for such a great Baylor blog. It gives me a unique perspective on things I think. So I'm going to try and start writing Baylor Line Reports. Just a post about something dealing with the Line, or just analysis from the perspective of a current freshman in the Baylor Line.

In five days the biggest freshman class in Baylor history will take the field as part of the Baylor Line to signify the start of the 2012 Bears football season. This freshman in particular couldn’t be more excited to finally witness a Baylor football game as a student. The whole experience of running on the field and being part of a loud, passionate fan base is going to be a surreal experience. I grew up a Baylor fan and I’ve played football my whole life, so just the fact of being on the field at Floyd Casey Stadium will be a surreal experience all on its own.

The vibe I get of other Baylor freshman seems to be that they are just as excited as I am about the first game. As soon as I bring up the football team, or anything about the first game, anyone I talk to starts getting wide-eyed and excited. For reasons that vary between running the line, being a part of the game in the student section, watching good football, or just a compilation of all these things. The first question I always get though when I just start spewing facts about the football team and rattling off the roster is how our quarterback will be this year. To which I immediately respond with telling them how Nick Florence is going to be great for this team. He most likely won’t win the Heisman, but he will be a solid quarterback in a high-powered offense. I also might mention how he filled in for Robert Griffin III against Texas Tech last season burning his red shirt and putting up great numbers, or how he once was the single-game passing yards leader at Baylor until that RG3 guy broke his record, and pretty much every other record.

Back to me being growing up a Baylor fan, I’ve followed this team and know the players decently well. I guess that will happen when you go out and buy NCAA Football 13, start a Baylor dynasty, and then input all the names off of the official Baylor roster into the game by hand, and adjust the depth chart accordingly. As fun as that is, and how I know a lot more names here than people know mine, just playing the game, as real as it seems, isn’t real life. (If it were, Baylor would be celebrating a national championship this year.) What makes it real is seeing these players walking around campus. They have always just been names, or people I see playing on Saturdays, but now that I get to see them walking around in just street clothes, it’s pretty cool. It’s resonated in me that I’m so much more than just a fan now. Yes, I’m a student and that in its own makes me more than a fan, but the fact that I will be running on the field and welcoming every player on to the field, as well as having the opportunity to get to know these guys on a personal level, is not something every regular fan gets to do. I’m part of a pretty cool thing here.

It’s no surprise that people doubt Baylor going into this season. Everyone doubts Baylor, because their name is not Texas. That place down south could have the pick of any number of great high school quarterbacks, and they can’t decide between two guys that arguably wouldn’t start for some of the better high school teams in the state. Some are still picking them to go to a BCS bowl though. Why? Because their name isn’t Baylor I guess. Names mean a lot in college football. It’s the same reason why someone somewhere picks Notre Dame to win the national championship every year. My goal is that hopefully, by the time I graduate, the Baylor name will hold much more weight than when I first got here.