Baylor Football Updated 2014 Spring Depth Charts

Just a reminder, we lost quite a few people for all or some of Spring Practice this year due to injuries. I listed them in the last Spring Depth Charts post I did in February, so I won't do it again. Since then, we have also lost WR Clay Fuller and RB Anthony Webb and have regained CB Chris Sanders, though he is still limited and wearing the red ensign-like jersey. I know it seems like that's a lot of injuries, but look at the bright side. At least we're not the Texas Rangers, right?

Also, as I mentioned in a thread last week, I started writing this post before Baylor's third Spring Scrimmage. Now that I'm coming back to it again, that Scrimmage has occurred. There are a few things we can glean from what happened, as well as the observations of those I've spoken with that were there for the event. As always, I'm also taking a bit from the excellent coverage over at BearsTruth (Baylor 247Sports) and SicEmSports (Baylor Rivals).

If you have time, I highly suggest you take a look at the pictures from the last scrimmage over on BaylorBears.com. Not only do they show actual football happening (in a form, at least), they reveal a few little nuggets of information about who is playing with whom (in terms of units) and against whom (1s vs. 2s and the like). For example, picture 12 of 23 shows Jason Osei playing LT next to LaQuan McGowan with the first team offensive line! Who would have expected to see that? Andrew Billings is pictured chasing down both Bryce Petty (picture 4) and Seth Russell (picture 11), meaning he was rotating with both the 1s and 2s on the DL.

Offense:

When I say above that "quite a bit has changed," I mean mostly with the defense. Our offense hardly ever changes. It just keeps rolling along, pillaging opposing defenses and throwing up numbers that would have Neil deGrasse Tyson searching for his TI-83+.*

*Sidenote: These weren't apparently were new when I was in high school at the turn of the millennium, and they're still making them and charging around the same price nearly fifteen years later. I realize you have to adjust that for inflation in the interim, but still. Nobody runs a racket like Texas Instruments. Nobody.

The big change here is that we apparently are serious about playing all 6-5, 300 pounds of Blake Muir at center, at least right now. Assuming he stays there into next season (a tenuous assumption, but stay with me) and Drango comes back at LT, I foresee a lot of incredible network graphics marveling at the size of our OL. Or at least I would if we were in the SEC and such things mattered. Just look at his line, L-R:

LT: Drango (6-5, 315)
LG: McGowan (6-6, 385 maybe)
C: Muir (6-5, 300)
RG: Hilliard (6-4, 330)*
RT: Baker (6-6, 310)

*Hilliard is supposedly hurt right now, giving rise to the Osei-McGowan-Muir-Broxton-Baker line some reported on Saturday. I'm keeping him in my charts here because I don't know how long he's supposed to be out.

The smallest of them is 6-4. The largest rises from the sea periodically to lay waste to Tokyo. We can run left behind 700 pounds of junior maulers or maybe go straight up the middle behind the largest center you've ever seen.

As for the rest, not much has changed. We've heard really good things about true freshmen Davion Hall and Terence Williams, both of which could be in line for immediate playing time. Somewhat paradoxically given our depth, it would probably be easier for Hall to get it than Williams.

Defense:

Here's where we've seen a few things happen. The emergence of Kiante Griffin, by all reports one of the most impressive defenders in camp so far, settled things at Baylor's "Bear" position. That allowed the staff to move Davis back to linebacker, where in the absence of Bryce Hager (groin surgery) and the need to replace Eddie Lackey, all Hell has apparently broken loose. Aiavion Edwards has one spot, MLB, mostly nailed down. We're rotating players through the other like Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers. Early in the spring, Kendall Ehrlich seemed to get the majority of time ahead of newcomer Grant Campbell. When he fell off, Xavier Phillips ascended. I'm keeping him there for now, but I really do believe you'll eventually see Campbell and Bryce Hager starting when the season rolls around. You may be surprised to find out that Taylor Young, all 5' 9" of him, is in serious play for a role at either MLB or OLB. He led the third scrimmage in tackles and is apparently all over the field.

I'm doing a lot of hand-waving in the secondary, meaning I don't exactly know how things stack up at this point. Reports are that Terrance Singleton, the 2011 5A Offensive Player of the Year if you recall, has taken over at cover safety in Terell Burt's absence this spring, so that's something to watch. Tion Wright's name comes up a lot in reports, mostly due to his incredible speed and ball skills. As I mentioned above, Chris Sanders is now practicing again in a non-contact role. This last portion of spring practice will be critical for his development.

*****

So that's the way I think things stand up right now. I encourage you to look for as many of these types of articles as possible from as many sources as you can find. I think those of us trying to figure this stuff out agree on the broad strokes, the stuff that's really important, like who might be in play at different positions and how spring battles are going. Smaller details like who is backing up whom and which side of the field they're playing on are less important, as weird as that sounds, since we'll obviously know eventually.

On that front, my plan is to attend this Saturday's final Spring Scrimmage, and I hope to see as many ODBers there as possible. The Scrimmage is schedule to start at 11:00, but if they hold true to form, don't be surprised if it gets going slightly early. Let me know if you're going in the comments and we can try to get together down there!