Thoughts on Baylor’s First Official Depth Chart of 2018

A few minutes ago, @BUFootball posted the official depth chart for the season opener this week against Abilene Christian (official meaning that it’s going into the game notes/media guide). Here it is:

Before I share a few thoughts, @CraigSmoak beat me to it on Twitter, and I agree with basically all of them:

A few things I’d add, some of which I’ve already shared on Twitter myself:

• Never forget that if they didn’t have to, I’m not sure this staff would even do “official” depth charts. They treat these things as extremely fluid, and there will probably be significant change on a day-to-day basis, particularly on defense.
• I don’t know where Clay Johnston is for MLB, and I don’t know anyone that does for sure. He’s been “banged up” in practice terms, but he’s not been “out” as far as I know. Now maybe he is? We’ll have to wait for more information. But that position is a major concern right now.
• You can’t see it, but I’m doing my skeptical face at that OR for QB. The reports about Jalan McClendon have been very positive, but ... skeptical face.
• We’ve always known they were going to get Jalen Hurd the ball however they could, but I didn’t expect they would do it in the only way the other side really can’t do anything about except for kicking out of bounds: punt returns (EDIT: this said “kicks” before. It’s punts.) I like it. Corey Coleman did it a few times back in the day.
• The coaching staff said they want all the freshmen and sophomores to play, and they’re afraid that you heard them say they want some freshmen and sophomores to play. They want all the freshmen and sophomores that you have. (This was a joke; they didn’t actually say that. But it is a ton of guys they recruited in that two-deep).
• Recall that players can now play up to 4 games in a season and still retain their redshirt, and we don’t know how different staffs are going to use that. Could be something you see come in later, or it could be something you see earlier. If I was making the calls, and I had someone that I thought could contribute but wasn’t sure, I might give them an opportunity early to see what happens. Maybe someone like Tyquan Thornton, who has been good in practice, shows the same thing in games?
• OL is about what we expected except that Christian Beard is starting at LG. Everything else is pretty consistent with reports since Jake Fruhmorgen is out.
• I really like the potential of that defensive line, which could be a real strength.
• Blake Lynch at SLB. It’s apparently happening (until it isn’t, in which case this bullet point never happened, either).
• I would expect them to use TEs in mostly blocking situations until someone establishes themselves there. I would also expect a lot of 4-wide.
• Seriously, I don’t know where Clay Johnston is.

That’s it for now. If I think of anything else, I’ll throw it in the comments!