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Baylor needs to replace a lot at wide receiver with K.D. Cannon and Ish Zamora gone. But Chris Platt should be the next great wide receiver at Baylor.
This is the fourth 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 ,Terence Williams or Blake Lynch by clicking on the player’s last name.
We’ll follow the same format we use for all of these. We’ll look at Platt’s strengths and weakness before offering a prediction of how he’ll do this season.
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Strengths:
Platt has excellent top-end speed, which makes him a needed deep threat for the 2017 Bears. He’s been timed at 4.4 in the 40 yard dash. Oklahoma State wouldn’t have questioned that time:
Platt finished with 567 yards as Baylor’s third wide receiver. He should have plenty of opportunities to build on that total when he gets open like this:
He’s not just a target on long passes though. The Bears relied on Platt to move the chains and get touchdowns in the red zone:
Baylor probably would have lost to both Iowa State and Oklahoma State without Platt. He was excellent in both games, and reminded Iowa State a cyclone is not a guy in a bird suit:
Weaknesses:
The common issue for Baylor’s returning wide receivers is catching the ball. Baylor had too many drops last year. The offense will be operating with a much lower margin of error in 2017, especially considering the depth on the offensive line. The Bears can’t have too many drops like this:
Baylor is not Texas football, so they had no trouble beating Kansas. But Platt struggled to bring the ball in against the Jayhawks:
There aren’t a ton of clips of Platt dropping passes. There are certainly some, but he can make difficult catches too:
There’s also no doubt he gives his full effort on every play. The Bears had a bad day against the Frogs. Platt kept fighting:
Prediction:
Chris Platt should be Baylor’s best wide receiver. He has excellent speed and his work last season might why Baylor finished 7-6 instead of 4-8.
Like all of Baylor’s receivers, there are some concerns about his drops. But Platt was one of the best surprises of last season. He gives incredible effort and should be better at catching passes in 2017.
The future is always difficult to predict. Yet I’ll offer one here: Chris Platt will be the next star receiver at Baylor.