College Football News Preview 2021: Previewing, predicting, and looking ahead to the Baylor season with what you need to know.
– Contact/Follow @ColFootballNews & @PeteFiutak
– What You Need To Know: Offense | Defense
– Top Players | Keys To The Season
– What Will Happen, Win Total Prediction
– Baylor Schedule Analysis
– Baylor Bears Previews
2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015
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2020 Record: 2-7 overall, 2-7 in Big 12
Head Coach: Dave Aranda, 2nd year, 2-7
2020 CFN Final Ranking: 87
2020 CFN Preview Ranking: 42
2019 CFN Final Ranking: 21
Baylor Bears College Football Preview 2021: Offense
– Yeah, the whole Baylor offense thing didn’t exactly work in Dave Aranda’s first season. There was an attempt to change things around a bit, but the results were painful – the program had NO time to work in the global pandemic offseason.
The Bears finished 118th in the nation in total offense averaging just 310 yards per game, and the scoring didn’t get better as the year went on and the O failed to get past 24 points six of the nine games. However, there’s plenty of experience returning, a full offseason, and a new offensive coordinator in Jeff Grimes from BYU to get this going.
First things first …
– Baylor has to settle its quarterback situation, and Grimes doesn’t have a Zach Wilson to work with. Longtime starter Charlie Brewer is off to Utah, but backups Jacob Zeno and Gerry Bohanon are around with a little time logged in. True freshman Kyron Drones might be a factor in the fall camp battle for the open gig.
The receivers are there to start opening things up a bit more. The trio of RJ Sneed, Gavin Holmes and Tyquan Thornton has one of the best combinations of experience and explosion in the Big 12 – and potential. Getting back good receiving TE Ben Sims helps, too. Now the passing game has to work the pop and big plays weren’t there.
– The ground game has to be better, and the offensive front that struggled in pass protection has to be a whole lot stronger despite losing three starters. The transfer portal should help with a few new parts coming in – Grant Miller from Vanderbilt and Jacob Gall from Buffalo – to push for jobs along with veterans Connor Galvin at tackle and Xavier Newman-Johnson at one guard spot.
The running backs are there to do a whole lot more for an attack that averaged just 2.7 yards per carry. 5-8 sophomore Craig Williams is a quick back who averaged 7.5 yards per carry with 197 yards in just four games.
2018 and 2019 leading rusher John Lovett left for Penn State, but 230-pound Qualan Jones and 215-pound super-senior Trestan Ebner return in a good rotation.
– What You Need To Know: Defense
– Top Players | Keys To The Season
– What Will Happen, Win Total Prediction
– Baylor Schedule Analysis