Baylor Football Official Post-Spring Depth Charts

First thing's first, the heights, weights, positions, and classifications on the official roster have been updated with the latest information on each. Baylor Football has 22 seniors on this latest roster, a number that should give us a rough estimate of how many the Bears would look to take in the 2014 recruiting cycle. I say "rough" estimate because transfers happen and we may lose a junior or two to the draft-- Lache Seastrunk, I'm looking at you-- should things go well for them. We have 16 juniors, 23 sophomores, 24 redshirt freshman, and 4 true freshman (probably spring enrollees) behind that, meaning our roster as a whole is relatively balanced between upper and lower classmen.

Among those seniors, according to the latest update, are 6 members of the offensive two-deep depth chart and 9 on the defensive, including both starting corners, both defensive ends, two linebackers, and a safety. The good news, particularly on the defensive side, is that younger players, sophomores and even redshirt freshman, are also well-represented, meaning numerous players we'll rely on for the future should get significant playing time this year behind senior starters. If you could draw it up beforehand, that's probably how you'd do it.

At the end of this post, I'll give my general thoughts about the roster as a whole. For now, here are the official post-spring depth charts straight from the horse's (Baylor's) mouth.*

*At some point, I'll update these charts with heights/weights. We are not now at that point. Check the links above for that information.

Baylor Offense

Most of the alterations between the latest official charts and the ones I posted last week before the Spring Practice are cosmetic-- listing Lache and Glasco as co-starters at RB, for example-- save two: Rashodrick Linwood is now listed as the starter at Glasco's old position (UB) and Clay Fuller and Jay Lee are co-starters opposite Antwan Goodley. It was my understanding that Lee had distanced himself somewhat and Goodley was the most likely to see playing time cut, but that is apparently incorrect. I should also add that Kaleb Moore secured a backup spot behind Goodley, though drops are a big, big problem with him.

The big absence obvious from even a glance is JR OT Troy Baker, who sustained a slight tear of his ACL during spring practice and will be out six months, if not longer. His injury necessitated moving Palmer into his more-natural spot at tackle from center, where his snaps had been a bit of a concern previously. The right guard situation seemed to work itself out a bit towards the end of spring with Hilliard taking the reins, but everyone I've heard talk about it says that position is far from "settled." The offensive line will continue to be a work-in-progress through the summer, to say the least.

Baylor Defense

Unlike the offense, where I nailed most of the names if not exactly how they were situated, I missed three players on the defense in my previous projections, all of which are listed as backups in the back seven. Prince Kent is back on the 2-deep behind fellow-senior Sam Holl, a change that makes sense to me given how much playing time Kent got late in the season. He hasn't been what we expected him to be when he came from Hargrave to Baylor, but he's got another year to show what he can do. The two real newcomers are Orion Stewart, either the last or second-to-last addition to Baylor's 2012 recruiting class and a relative afterthought, and Anthony Webb, a RB-turned-CB-turned-S.

The thing I'm most excited to see on this should be pretty obvious: Magee is finally and officially a defensive tackle at Baylor. We thought this day might come eventually when he signed with Baylor a year ago but certainly not this quickly; he's our starter (at this moment) on the inside at 19! Awesome.

Roster Notes

• People keep asking me on twitter about Brian Nance, so here's what I've heard: he arrived at Baylor in January out of shape for what our coaches expect and hasn't had enough time yet to get where they want him to be. Over the summer, that may change. If it doesn't, you could see him redshirt. If he gets his physical house in order, he could see use as a pure rusher off the edge on passing downs.
• At 6'7", 375 pounds, LaQuan McGowan is easily the biggest person our roster. He may be the biggest person I've ever seen, period. Endurance is a question because of that size, as is quickness. He may be best utilized in short-yardage sets or near the goalline as a simple road-paver. He's got two inches and 40 pounds on Cyril, for crying out loud!
• Jason Osei has outstanding size for a guard at 6'3", 330 pounds. As he gains experience and strength in our program this summer, he could surprise going forward. Watch out for him to be a contributor on the line sooner than later.
• OT Pat Colbert has become TE Pat Colbert, perhaps as a result of the fact that he's had trouble putting on weight since he got here and we have two senior TEs about to graduate this year. Of course, he's also listed on the 2-deep as the backup LT (at 20 pounds heavier than the roster says, I might add), so we could have mixed signals.
• Looking over a few discrepancies between the two, I'm willing to bet that the depth charts have better measurements than the roster itself. Most of the differences are quite small: five pounds here, ten pounds there, but if you want the best possible information, look at the depth charts. I think.
• Darius Jones and Clay Fuller are listed as the primary kick returners, with Fuller also backing up Levi Norwood as the primary punt returner.
• We picked up a punter/place kicker I've never heard of in Kyle Peterson, who is backing up both. I assume he's a walk-on.
• I like this roster, you guys. Talent top-to-bottom and decent depth everywhere except the OL. If we have a scholarship to give (something I can't really say for sure because I don't know who is on scholarship and who isn't), you might look for us to pick up another OL (Tyler Edwards, maybe?) during the summer for depth.