Baylor football kicks off this week. The Bears will host Abilene Christian, a program with three D2 national titles, on Saturday at 7 p.m.
Head Coach Matt Rhule held a press conference Monday afternoon in regard to Bears preparation for the first game of the year.
Rhule started the presser talking about the depth chart that was released recently. He wanted to note that the chart was decided as if they were to play a game that day.
Rhule said the competition isn’t over and will continue into this week.
Rhule noted a few players will not play in the early games for various reasons.
Greg Roberts will miss the ACU game and a half of the UTSA game due to summer disciplinary issues.
Ashton Logan and Brandon Thomas will sit out game one due to off the field issues.
JaMycal Hasty will also miss the first half of the Kansas game due to TCU scrap issue last season.
Baylor is looking to the future, not focusing too much on last season when they finished 1-11. Rhule believes if you focus on the past, you become victims to it.
Bears believe they should have humble confidence heading into week one, but noted ACU is a team led by a coach that knows how to win, and the Bears are not overlooking their competition.
Baylor expects ACU to bring a really good passing offense to the table this week, and a solid defense against the pass. Rhule believes ACU will give a lot of different looks defensively.
As far as the quarterback competition, Rhule believes it would be a disservice to the team to have already decided on a starter.
Rhule doesn’t want the competition for the spot to end. He said Jalan McClendon has all the tools and has been putting in extra work coming in at 6 a.m. and not leaving until 11 p.m.
Charlie Brewer has been playing free. Coaches saw a change about halfway through training camp as he settled into himself.
Gerry Bohanon has been learning from McClendon and Brewer.
Starting announcement could come as late as Friday afternoon.
True freshman have gotten significantly better and will make an impact this year.
Rhule feels split practices at beginning of training camp helped, as well as young guys being coached by older guys.
Rhule wants Baylor to be a player-driven team, not coaches.
Bears fighting training camp injuries, like Blake Lynch, were working individually in full pads on days where the team was only doing walkthroughs.
Defensive ends are a worry for Rhule.
Injures last year, allowed some younger guys to get a taste of Big 12 football, something they’ll rely on this year.
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