A Closer Look At the 2021 Offensive Line

Unfortunately, the trend of shaky offensive line play continued for the Baylor football team in 2020. Whether it was scheme or personnel, the results were the same. Former QB Charlie Brewer spent most of the time under duress and at times Baylor struggled to establish the running game. It’s been basically the same quality for over 5 years. Since the 2016 season, the Baylor offensive line has ranged to being the worst in the conference, to being slightly above average at its peak. However, with a new offensive coordinator and offensive line coach, there might be hope for a resurgence in play for this upcoming season.

The Leader: Connor Galvin

The senior left tackle has a chance to leave his mark on the Baylor football program. There are not many offensive lineman that can say they have started all four years in a Baylor uniform. Galvin has been the only offensive lineman to receive any sort of preseason award hype. He was a 2nd team preseason selection in 2020 and 2021 by Athlon sports.

The Transfers:

Fortunately, Baylor will be helped by two transfers on the line this season. First, is Vanderbilt transfer Grant Miller—the son of former Baylor great Fred Miller. As a Commodore he started 16 games, most of them at the center position. Also new to campus is Buffalo transfer Jacob Gall. Coming from the G-5 level might be an adjustment, but he has plenty of experience. The transfer market has been hit or miss for Baylor offensive lineman. The program seems to steadily get grad-transfers or Juco players to make the move to Waco, but with limited results. Now, with over 20 starts combined, both Miller and Gall will look to give the Bears a much needed boost on the trenches.

The Potential:

Two players that could have a lot to do with whether the Baylor offensive line play takes a step forward or not is Khalil Keith and Xavier Newman. Unfortunately, it’ hard for me to statistically quantify the potential for these two individuals because of the position they play, however, I have seen each of them have their moments. Personally, I never understood why Keith didn’t get more playing time last year. He only started four of the nine games in 2020. I thought he got better in 2019 as the season went on and had a really nice game against Texas. Newman has had his ups and downs as Bear. He was forced into action as a true freshman as a part of band-aid offensive line. Every year he seemed to improve and just hit a little bump in the road in 2020.