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Blake Lynch seems primed for a breakout season. He flashed his potential last season, while at times adjusting to Big 12 football.
This is the third post in a series that will look at every Baylor football player expected to see the field this season. You can read post on Zach Smith or Terence Williams by clicking on the player’s last name.
We’ll follow the same format we use for all of these. We’ll look at Lynch’s strengths and weakness before offering a prediction of how he’ll do this season.
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Strengths:
Blake Lynch is a massive wide receiver. He’s 6-feet-3-inches and weighs 205 pounds. His strength helps him extend plays and break tackles:
Lynch is listed as an inside wide receiver on the Bear’s depth chart. That surprised a few people because Lynch has some big play potential. But he’s shown he can catch deep passes wherever he’s lined up:
Hopefully Baylor will stay healthy at the running back position. But if the Bears don’t, Lynch is a very capable back. At Gilmer High School, he played running back, wide receiver and quarterback. When Baylor had terrible injury luck, Lynch was ready:
Lynch was also skilled at adding yards after catches or carries by taking good angles. Against Kansas State, that finally got Baylor’s offense going:
Weaknesses:
Lynch’s primary weakness was his inability to hold onto the ball. He needs to make this kind of catch if he wants to be Baylor’s top wide receiver:
Lynch sometimes has bad ball placement too. Against SMU, that led to a fumble:
There are two reasons to hope drops and fumbles aren’t a chronic problem. First, Lynch played his first season of college football last year. At Gilmer, it often didn’t matter where Lynch put the ball because he was much faster than everyone. His fundamentals should improve with additional reps. Second, he made some difficult catches too got better as the season went along. He showed some of his natural ability early in the season:
Prediction:
When Blake Lynch gets healthy, he may be Baylor’s most talented wide receiver. He’s blessed with good speed and fantastic strength. He should regain his spot on the depth chart when he’s back.
Lynch had too many drops last season, but he really improved as the season went along. He should be one of Baylor’s best receivers. I think he’ll end up with 800 all-purpose yards and be the Bear’s second leading receiver.