Matt Rhule Named Big 12 Coach of the Year; James Lynch Defensive Player of the Year;

Matt Rhule was named Big 12 Coach of the Year. Given Baylor was picked to finish sixth in the preseason poll and finished second, it’s an obvious selection.

James Lynch was named Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year and was the league’s selection for best lineman. He was also a unanimous All-Big 12 selection. I think the only shocking thing is that he wasn’t the unanimous pick for the best defensive player award. But he was the only defensive player to be a unanimous selection for the first team. Lynch is a monster and now Baylor’s career sack leader.

Bravion Roy and Denzel Mims joined Lynch on the 1st team. Nobody can argue with those selections.

Plenty of Bears were on the second team and were honorable mention. Most impressively, Clay Johnston, and his replacement when he went down with an injury, Terel Bernard, both made the second team.

I think Jameson Houston deserved to make either the first or second team. And it’s really impressive that Xavier Newman-Johnson, a man who planned to redshirt until the West Virginia game, earned honorable mention.

The full teams are available here.