Baylor Releases Post-Spring Depth Charts

Earlier this evening, ESPN 1660's Craig Smoak tweeted out the official Post-Spring Depth Chart for Baylor, a chart that answers some questions and raises others with respect to the 2015 Baylor Bears.  Here it is:

Full #Baylor post-spring depth chart. pic.twitter.com/Y10xP6fraF

— Craig Smoak (@CraigSmoak) April 5, 2015

In all honesty, there's not a lot of intrigue here.  Even with injuries keeping several returning starters out for much, if not all, of the spring workouts, Baylor only had one position (punter) where either a starter or primary backup didn't come back.  And at that spot, we're apparently going with a 2015 recruit that isn't even on campus yet because there's simply no one else (and he's awesome, don't get me wrong).

Reformatting the chart above into something a little more usable yields...

Offense

Everything pretty much worked out here as expected, except McGowan's inclusion as a co-starter at tight end.  If you saw that coming, head to Vegas now.  The starting offensive line listed now is the same that finished last season, the receivers are slotted in now as we saw several times last season, and though there's been no official announcement, Russell is your QB.  A couple other notes:

• Johnson and Stidham are listed in the disjunctive.  It probably doesn't bode well for a player in his third spring that he wasn't definitively better than one who should be graduating in about six weeks, no?
  
• Lynx stepping into a starting role is a pleasant surprise.  I assumed with the hype around Platt that he would eventually jump into that spot, and he may well yet do so, but Lynx was impressive enough this spring to earn the spot.  Good for him!
• We talked when they came here about how important Hammad and Wilson would be for depth, and it looks like we're going to see that this year. 
  
• The average Baylor TE is roughly 6-6, 295.  That's like having an extra tackle.  A lot of that is McGowan, sure, but the point remains.
  
• Baylor finally dispensed with the unnecessary UB/RB distinction.  Yay!

Defense:

Here, you might see a few names you didn't expect, mostly in the ranks of the second string.  Just like on the OL, Baylor returns its entire defensive line from last season, including DE Jamal Palmer.  Campbell jumps in at MLB for the graduated Bryce Hager, and last year's backup Blanchard is the Heir Apparent at NB now that Collin Brence is gone.  Other things of note:

• Ryan Reid and Tion Wright will battle for the starting spot opposite Howard, and that's a good thing.  Wright was one of the most talked-about defensive players this spring. 
  
• Andrew Morris is a name many may not know, and he'll get run this year at backup NT.  I look forward to it.
• Look out for Raaquan Davis at MLB. 
  

Special Teams

Oh yeah, I'm not completely ignoring special teams anymore.  Not at all.

Let's move on.

*****

One thing I want to stress is that these are the Depth Charts as of this moment.  Things could change with continued development or when the rest of the freshmen get here over the summer.  Also, Baylor has the habit of not listing second-string players where they have multiple possible starters, implying that whoever doesn't win will be second.  That may not be true, and even if it is, it also implies that whoever isn't listed is third string by default.  Take LE, for example.  Palmer and Smith will either battle for that spot or switch off, but you'll also probably see guys like Josh Malin and/or Greg Roberts there, as well.  Just something to keep in mind in the way these charts work.