National Signing Day Update: Baylor Signs 5, Hopes for Princely Finish

National Signing Day 2020 Part Deux is in full swing today, and Baylor’s oft-maligned (after the first NSD for this cycle in December) 2020 recruiting class got a lot bigger this morning with the addition of five new signees, bringing our total to 17. Barring some surprise commit or signee from left field, that leaves just one more potential addition, 4* DT/DE Princely Umanmielen, outstanding. He announces at/around 2 and is reportedly going to choose between Baylor, Texas, Florida, and Auburn, and 247Sports’ Crystal Ball has him choosing the Bears as of right now with 6 of the 9 predictions (all of the school-specific predictions, to be precise) pointing toward Waco. You can watch on ESPNU and ESPN2.

After Princely announces at 2:20 or so, Baylor has scheduled a press conference for 3 PM for Coach Aranda to talk about the signees. Take from the timing what you will.

In case you haven’t followed the action on the Twitterverse this morning, here are the signees so far in order of when they signed, and please note that a couple were already known as commitments, so they aren’t exactly “new.” Just keep that in mind. Everyone below is a 3* by 247Sports’ Composite rankings, which are what I typically use.

OG Micah Mazzcua—Baltimore, MD (St. Frances Academy)

The first commit of the Dave Aranda Era at Baylor was also the first signee, sending in his LOI around 7 AM right when the fax machines (it’s actually just email or text now) opened up.

Mazzcua was previously committed to Michigan before flipping to the Bears following his official visit last month. He will fill a huge position of need on the OL and could be in line to play next season, although that’s always a dodgy proposition with linemen.

S Mike Harris—Phenix City, AL (Central HS)

This was the first commit & sign of the day after Harris visited over the weekend, meaning he was not previously committed, and we got to celebrate both!

Travis compared him to Chris Miller on Twitter (and I’m sure he’ll expound on that a bit in his evaluations to come), and I agree. He should fit well into Aranda’s scheme.

S Chateau Reed—Lawton, OK (Lawton HS)

Chateau was the second of our commit & signs on the day and the second of three probable safeties. Do you think the coaching staff considered safety a priority going into NSD 2 this cycle?

JUCO DB Alfahiym Walcott—Butler CC (formerly Wilmington, NC)

Walcott was the third of today’s commit and signs and the third probable safety of the bunch. He should/could contribute immediately but will have four years to play three. Walcott chose Baylor over Auburn, but another Big 12 power supposedly made a really late push, as well.

Walcott may be our lowest-rated recruit because JUCOs are often rated lower than they otherwise should be, but for my money, he’s extremely important to the team next year as we transition to the Aranda/Roberts defense.

QB Blake Shapen—Shreveport, LA (Evangel Christian Academy)

Our QB-of-tomorrow-of-today is signed, sealed, and delivered, and he looks extraordinarily similar to our QB-of-today-of-today in Charlie Brewer. So similar that it’s eerie, in fact. We can talk more about this going forward in separate articles.

With Shapen in the fold, all of our major needs for this class are filled. At QB we now have Brewer (SR), Gerry Bohanon (RS-SO), and Jacob Zeno (RS-FR) joining Shapen. Larry Fedora will have quite the QB room to play with this season.

So that’s where we are right now pending Princely’s decision later this afternoon. With 17 commitments and a 85.64 average/recruit, Baylor currently has the #52 class in the country and the #9 class in the Big 12 according to 247Sports’ Composite Team Rankings. If you add Princely—who would be our highest-ranked recruit if he signed—we jump to around #47 and #7, respectively with a 18-man class.

See you all at 2 PM! I’ll be in an airport about to get on a plane at 2:30, so you may have to celebrate without me for a bit.