Updated 2014-2015 Scholarship Chart

With everything updated and a week remaining before the 2014 season starts, I have us now at the full allotment of 85 scholarships.  That means no more transfers or potential additions unless they're willing to walk on (or I'm wrong).

The year next to each class is the year of their graduation, not their final season. Projected starters are denoted with a (S) next to their name.

I've done the best I can with the information at hand to try to project all of the players who, barring unexpected change, are in line to receive football scholarships for the 2014-2015 season. This is not a complete roster of the entire football team. This project necessarily involves a boatload of speculation, since I'm including some players and not including others, and is by no means intended to be authoritative or offensive. If you know something I don't know, please share.

As you can tell, it's pretty obvious that unless we lose several members of the incoming recruiting class to grades/qualification (which has been known to happen) or current players to attrition, Baylor could find itself in relatively dire straights scholarship-wise for the 2014-2015 academic year. The latter -- attrition -- is arguably more important than the former and occurs when players on the roster now determine (sometimes with a bit of help) that it is in their best interest to seek greener pastures elsewhere. Last year, just as an example, we lost 5 players for sure, possibly 6, to transfer or early graduation. This year, we could/should see similar numbers, even if we lose a recruit or two to grades between now and next August.

I'll speculate on a number of things (obviously), but despite significant rumors swirling, I won't do that on the names of potential transferees here. What I will say that is that if the typical transferee is a redshirt freshman or sophomore who has been passed up by someone behind them or recruited over (with an elite incoming freshman or a JUCO). Older players transfer, as well, especially those who have already graduated, but most often it is the younger guys with enough eligibility remaining to take the 1-year transfer hit.

Other than the scholarship situation for next year, I did this to show how small Baylor's recruiting class will be in 2015. With only 11 seniors (by next year's classification) and 4-5 other spots probably coming open to attrition, we're looking at a class definitely in the teens, probably of 16-17, at most. Should someone like Oakman leave early (which he probably will), that opens another spot. We now have 11 commits (Lynch, President, Stricklin, Hasty, Brown, Porter, Tolbert, Tecklenburg, Hager, Houston, and Wilson) and 1 greyshirt (Stefan Beard), leaving maybe 5-6 spots. So keep that in mind.

*Beard has reportedly not qualified out of high school, raising the possibility that he doesn't greyshirt as expected.  Non-qualifiers typically have to spend 2 full years in JUCO to graduate there and satisfy entrance requirements for D1 schools.

Reported 2014 Departures (Updated):

CB Tyler Stephenson
NB Kiante' Griffin
NB Austin Jupe
DT Zorell Ezell

WR Robbie Rhodes

Stefan Beard and T'Kevian Rockwell were not listed previously, so I didn't have to take them off now.

UPDATE: (7/30) BearsTruth is reporting that 2014 signee OL Devonte Jones has qualified and will enroll at Baylor for practice next week.

UPDATE: (8/11) BearsTruth reported this weekend that 2014 signee TE Blake Mahon will accept a medical scholarship due to injuries suffered during high school.

UPDATE: (8/23) Bryce Petty tweeted earlier today that Andrew Frerking has been placed on scholarship, bringing Baylor to 84 as of this moment.

UPDATE #2: (8/23) John Landes tweeted this afternoon that long-snapper Jimmy Landes was put on scholarship.  He's listed as a 4th-year junior on the roster, but he may just graduate this year and leave us in the same place a year from now.

With Landes and Frerkin on scholarship now, I have us at the 85 limit.

Update: (8/25) Rami Hammad is transferring to Baylor. It's unclear whether he qualifies right now as a sophomore or freshman.  With Hammad, I have Baylor at 86 scholarships, meaning that I am wrong somewhere.

Update: (8/26) Devonte Jones is greyshirting this year, and will enroll in January.