HELLO AGAIN, EVERYONE! Yes, it is me, the long-lost former blogrunner of this, the greatest Baylor blog named OurDailyBears.com in the history of Baylor blogs named OurDailyBears.com. I’m going to give reviving these monthly recruiting threads, long a favorite of the commentariat here at ODB, another shot. We’ll see how it goes together!

In case you had forgotten over the last years without them, the way these threads work is pretty simple. I create a (one single) thread for each given month and then update and add information as we go along. Every time I do that, I’ll update the title showing the date of the latest update so that you can see there’s been a change. I’ll also try to keep up with what are basically Version Notes at the bottom of each thread. Other contributors are welcome and encouraged to add notes as they see fit provided they let people know the updates have been made.

Let’s do this.

247Sports’ Crystal Ball:

Baylor’s 2021 Crystal Ball Prediction List — This link is set to the 2021 recruiting class, but if you use the drop-down on the page, you can get to 2022, as well.

Check back on these often; the predictions update every day.

2021 Recruiting Class — National Rank: 30; Big 12 Rank: 3; Commits: 19.

Quick Note: I’m always going to try to use 247’s Composite rankings, but it’s not because of favoritism of their service or our site thereon. It’s actually the opposite—the Composite rankings seem to me to be the most unbiased because they draw from the most sources, and I like that.

At this point the rankings are probably pretty trustworthy with respect to who is in the top 30 or so. Of that top 30, only Auburn, Texas A&M, and Oklahoma have 14 or fewer commitments. They’ll all probably end up with more but are already each inside the top 20. Penn State is just outside the top 30 at #33, and they’ll jump up. Generally speaking, the teams with more commitments already have less room for their classes to grow (in rankings) absent adding elite talents, while teams that have fewer commitments have much more volatile rankings regardless whether the next marginal commitment is elite.

As for our class, it is basically impossible to predict at this point how big it will end up being for two primary reasons: 1) the “free year” with eligibility this season, and 2) the resulting increase the NCAA is going to be forced to make to the current 85-scholarship limit at least temporarily unless they want a horde of guys currently lower on depth charts to suddenly (and possibly involuntarily) going on medical scholarships or deciding (again, possibly involuntarily) its in their best interest to transfer. Stated another way, if the NCAA is going to have a “free year” of eligibility to guys that would otherwise be out after this year, at least some will take it, creating a problem balancing existing rosters with new entrants that either the coaches or the NCAA will have to try to solve. Purely a guess here, but I’d say we’re likely to see a 3-year temporary increase of the 85-scholarship limit to 100 initially and decreasing by 5 each year to get back to 85. I won’t even try to figure out how that might affect Title IX or other sports affected thereby.

Of course if someone has already figured out how they’ll actually fix this, I reserve the right to completely obliterate the above paragraph as if it never existed and/or amend it as necessary. On to the commits!

OFFENSE: QB (1/2), RB (1/2), WR (4/4), TE (0/1), OL (3/?)

QB: Kyron Drones (Shadow Creek HS / TX)
RB: Jordan Jenkins (Lindale HS / TX)
WR: Hal Presley (Mansfield Summit HS / TX)
WR: Elijah Bean (Summer Creek HS / TX)
WR: Javon Gipson (George Ranch HS / TX)
WR/ATH: Roderick Daniels (Duncanville HS / TX)
OL: Tate Williams (Wall HS / TX)
OL: Connor Heffernan (Georgetown HS / TX)
OL: Ryan Lengyel (Jesuit HS / TX)

I listed everyone at their designated positions on 247Sports and the like with the exception of Daniels, who I listed as a WR/ATH because he carries the ball a lot for Duncanville.

DEFENSE: DT (2/2), DE (2/2), LB (0/?), JACK (1/?), CB (1/?), S (2/2)

DT: Byron Murphy II (Desoto HS / TX)
DT: Dakote Doyle (DeSmet HS / MO)
DE: Cooper Lanz (Denton-Ryan HS / TX)
DE: Sam Carrell (Sandia HS / NM)
LB: Jackie Marshall (East St. John HS / LA)
LB: Tyrone Brown (West Orange-Stark HS / TX)
JACK: Romario Noel (Cy Ranch HS / TX)
CB: Tevin Williams (Stillwater HS / OK)
S: Cisco Caston (Weatherford HS / TX)
S: Devin Lemear (Manor HS / TX)

I am open to all kinds of criticisms/comments/whatever on these defensive position allocations since the system we’re running is relatively new to the vast majority of us (but not some!). Just let me know what you think below.

2021 Wish List:

Check back on this. I need to build it out based on outstanding offers, industry predictions, etc.

2022 Recruiting Class — National Rank: 30; Big 12 Rank: 3; Commits: 2.

Formal, written offers only recently (September 1, I believe) were able to go out for 2022, and the team with the most commitments (LSU with 7) is predictably #1 in the rankings (as LSU might end up being regardless, but still). Only 3 schools (LSU, tOSU, and Penn State) have more than 3 commitments. Baylor has two.

WR: Randy Masters (Shadow Creek HS / TX)

DE: Kaian Roberts-Day (Festus HS / MO)

Festus High School! Festus!

2022 Wish List:

See above.

Updates:

To come.

Changelog:

9/7/2020: Created September 2020 Recruiting Thread