Our Daily Mailbag- 4/21: Football, Hoops and Food

We’re starting a weekly mailbag. You can submit questions to our email- ourdailybears@gmail.com, hit us up on twitter- kkaut or OurDailyBears or contact us on Facebook. We will answer questions about Baylor, but we’ll also answer questions about food and odd historical conterfactuals. There are few questions that we will not answer.

The Green & Gold Game is on Saturday. Recruiting is heating up for football. And we’re awaiting Johnathan Motley’s decision, which will frame everything with next year’s hoops team. Let’s get to it:

Does Zach come out of the QB competition on top? Am I the only one who didn't see a significant drop off in QB play after Seth got hurt? (Aside from wins, I thought he looked really good given the circumstances.)- Lance Smith

I would be surprised if Zach Smith is not the starting quarterback. One thing I’m interested in is how much Anu Solomon can push Smith. Solomon was a good starting QB at Arizona. But Smith has a powerful arm and made tight throws (shout-out to K.D. Cannon for making this catch and shout-out to Terry Teagle :

Only twice this decade has Baylor had the same quarterback start every game. Even if Smith wins the job, they may need to rely on Solomon at some point. He should be a great option too.

Mark thought he would, and I agree. I was happy to get one last use of some GIFs of Wainright playing basketball, and I did so here. Wainright should be a giant target in the red zone, and with the way he’s thrown the ball, he could even run a few trick plays out of the wildcat. I think he lands a pass and dunks it on the crossbar.

I was in Lawrence during this game. I did not go to the game because I assumed there was no way Charlie Strong’s team would lose a must win game to the Jayhawks. But you can still get the internet at the Lawrence Chick-Fil-A and celebrate while having to wait for a young kid to refill your drink. Seriously, why doesn’t Chick-Fil-A just put the drinks out from behind the register? Once we answer that question, we may finally understand how a team with the talent Texas had lost to Kansas.

I have a couple questions for your mailbag:

1. What player do you expect to have a big spring game that's not named RJ Sneed.

2. What position do you think will be the biggest surprise during the season?- Andrew Tineo

I think JaMycal Hasty will be excellent. A big reason why I believe that, and this also answers your second question: the offensive line—at least as long as it stays healthy—should be better than it was last season, even with the loss of Kyle Fuller. I think most people don’t have a huge expectation for that group.

I am still a member of the Davion Hall club, and I don’t think a lot of people are expecting much from him. K.J. Smith may be the best defensive lineman in the conference, and few recognize that.

I like the Taqueria’s and now that I live in the Midwest again, just about anything would crush the options in the land of snow. I just want a Taco Cabana to make it up I-35.

No news on that front yet. This is one of those deals where until there is a formal announcement, anything could happen. I looked at this a few days after everything broke this summer.

Basically, the NCAA has the power to do a lot. The bylaws are broad. Many believe the NCAA will not levy strong penalties because of Baylor’s response and the fallout from Penn State, but a few overpaid folks with the NCAA will make that decision. In the meantime, Baylor appears to have made some fantastic moves lately.

I think spring games are really just about nobody getting hurt and getting a look at the team in a simulated game condition. But We’ll cover the spring game extensively.

TCU shouldn’t be happy Kenny Hill had a brutal outing, and if Zach Smith makes some brilliant throws Baylor fans should be happy, but I won’t draw too many conclusions from a spring game.

Long story short: In your opinion, what Baylor athletes or coaches (current or former) could also be successful politicians?- Mark Hickey

I love this question. In basketball, King McClure, Odyssey Sims, Jake Lindsey and Ish Wainright could all win an election. They provide excellent quotes and seem like they could handle adversity during a campaign. I think Ekpe Udoh would be a fantastic elected official, but I’m not sure if he’d want to deal with a lot of the nonsense that goes along with running for office.

In football, I’ll limit to the last few seasons. RGIII could run for something some day, Nick Florence seems like the kind of awesome guy who will serve on a city council, raise his family and run a business, and Terrance Ganaway could inspire vegetarians to eat a box combo at Raising Cane’s. I’d vote for any of the people I’ve listed.

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We received many other questions, and Mark answered several of those. If we didn’t get to your question this week, please ask us again next week. We want to make this a regular feature, and someday I’ll answer some of those questions. Sic ‘Em!