Daily Bears Reports 8/26: Home Opening Weekend for Volleyball and Soccer; Final Baylor Football Scrimage Update; Trayvon Bromell Comes Home

Todays’s Events

• Sport: Women’s Volleyball
• Event: vs. UT Rio Grande Valley
• Time: 6:00 p.m. CT
• Sport: Women’s Soccer
• Event: vs. Purdue
• Time: 7:00 p.m. CT

Baylor Women’s Soccer

Baylor Soccer faces Purdue and Incarnate Word in this Home Opening weekend. News Channel 25 has the story, stats and Baylor Quick Notes.

Baylor soccer begins its 2016 home season by taking on Purdue at 7 p.m. CT on Friday and Incarnate Word at 5 p.m. on Sunday at Betty Lou Mays Soccer Field.

After opening the season last weekend on the road with a split at Detroit Mercy (won 2-0) and Michigan State (lost 1-0), the Bears look to improve upon their 16-2-2 all-time record in home openers. Both matches will feature live stats and streaming audio on BaylorBears.com. Twitter updates will also be provided on the @BaylorFutbol official account.

Baylor Women’s Volleyball

Baylor Volleyball opens their season with the Baylor Invitational this weekend. From Baylor Bears dot com.

The tournament runs Aug. 26-27, with the first match beginning Friday at 4 p.m. in the Ferrell Center, with Texas A&M-Corpus Christi taking on Prairie View A&M.

Baylor kicks off play at 6 p.m. on Friday, facing UT Rio Grande Valley.

On Saturday, the Bears will square off with Prairie View A&M at 11 a.m., closing out tournament play later that evening at 7 p.m. with Texas A&M Corpus Christi.

BU is coming off of McGuyre’s first season at the helm of the program, posting a 17-13 record.

Baylor’s Volleyball Coach Ryan McGuyre wants to make a deep run into the NCAA tournament this year. WacoTrib’s Bryce Cherry has the story.

“We challenge the girls to have a motivation of permanence,” McGuyre said. “The competitive ones really want to get in the tournament and go deep in the tournament. I am a competitive one. I want to get in the tournament and go deep in the tournament. I’ve been there before, it’s a fun experience.”

Baylor Bears Football

Football has completed it’s final scrimmage. Jerry Hill has this Baylor Bears dot com story.

With an emphasis on keeping players healthy, the Baylor football team went through limited scrimmage situations and capped off Thursday's session with the first-team units going against the scout team.

"That was one of the big concerns today," head coach Jim Grobe said after Thursday's scrimmage at McLane Stadium. "We wanted to get some work; it's not time to call it off yet. But, we wanted to make sure in our last scrimmage that we got a chance to look at some of the things we might see against Northwestern State and get started on that. The game day organization stuff was the most important thing today, besides keeping everybody healthy."

Senior quarterback Seth Russell was particularly sharp, completing 6-of-8 passes for 109 yards and one touchdown. He engineered a pair of scoring drives, with Terence Williams capping the first with a five-yard TD run and then Pooh Stricklin hauling in a 42-yard TD pass from Russell.

Also getting back to full speed is junior KD Cannon, who hauled in two catches for 47 yards to lead all receivers.

"The past couple days, he's caught the ball pretty well," Grobe said. "Obviously, he needs more work. But, it's exciting see him back in there."

With junior nickel back Travon Blanchard undergoing minor knee surgery the day before, senior Patrick Levels filled in with the No. 1 defense and finished with three tackles. Aiavion Edwards led the defense with five stops, while sophomore defensive tackle Ira Lewis had a sack and fumble recovery.

Grobe said Blanchard will likely miss the first couple games after getting his torn meniscus repaired. "But you never know, kids heal at different rates," the coach said.

"I will say that Phil Bennett, our defensive coordinator, had his knee worked on and was practicing the next day," Grobe said. "So, if that tells you anything, I think Trigger (Blanchard) better get going, because the coaches look like they're a little tougher than he is."

Baylor has four Bears placed on the Rotary Lombardi Award watch list. Kyle Fuller, Seth Russell, Shock Linwood, and Taylor Young have made the preliminary watch list. From Baylor Bears dot com.

The Rotary Lombardi Award began in 1970 by the Rotary Club of Houston to honor NFL coach Vince Lombardi and to recognize outstanding college football lineman. The award began as recognition to only interior line positions that Vince Lombardi played while an undergraduate at Fordham University (offensive and defensive guard), and later expanded to include linebackers and tight ends, with the addition of including non-performance values: leadership, courage, desire, respect for authority, and discipline.

The 47th Annual Rotary Lombardi Award continues the evolvement of the Lombardi legacy by now expanding the eligibility of the award to all player positions that are outstanding performers and exhibit great leadership attributes. Following the preliminary watch list, a nomination period will open to the internal selection committee to add additional players who meet the skill and leadership standards set forth for the Rotary Lombardi Award.

The award ceremony date will be announced later in the football season along with updated lists of award candidates.

Olympian Trayvon Bromell Returns to Classes at Baylor

Lady Bears

Lady Bears Head Coach Kim Mulkey sent an eighteen wheeler full of school supplies to her hometown of Hammond, Louisiana today to aid victims of the recent flooding. KCEN TV 6.

Jets Bear

Bryce Petty is making a case for the No. 2 Jets quarterback position. From fansided.

Petty’s college statistics speak volumes, as far as his talent. As the starter for the Baylor Bears, he led the Big-12 in passing touchdowns, with 32, and threw for 4200 yards. He went on to win the Big-12 Offensive Player of the Year and was in the top 10 for Heisman voting both in 2013 and 2014. Clearly, he has the ability to play solid football.

But aside from just the tremendous skills on the field, Petty exudes the kind of leadership every coach looks for in a player.

One can tell by his demeanor towards rookie Hackenberg. He spends time in the film room outside of practice hours and listens to not only his coaches, but the seasoned veterans around him, such as Fitzpatrick and center Nick Mangold. “He’s more confident in his reads and therefore the footballs coming out a lot better,” Fitzpatrick said, per Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News. “I think he’s done a great job all preseason even with the situation with everything up in the air. Who knows? Just grinding every day.”