With both coordinators back and all the returnees on the line of scrimmage, Baylor can figure it out. Over his last five games he has 3 touchdowns to 6 interceptions and while he hasnt had a Ewers level bottoming out, hes been shaky. Aranda pointed to Fleeks and Baldwin as possibilities. The transfer portal will help the Sooners make up for some of the losses, and if Dillon Gabriel can join the five returning offensive starters and hit the ground running, the Sooners could take off. On average, Baylor opponents had 8 yards to go on third downs, the longest average distance in the Big 12 and seventh best in the nation, according to PFF. Flahertys reasoning: While the team loses plenty on the defensive side, the Wildcats return Will Howard and all five offensive linemen. 2021 stats: Six sacks (second most), 7.0 TFL, 17 total tackles. How the star shakes out will impact the rest of the secondary. For more information, please read our Legal Disclaimer. The slinger has proven he has an elite arm, and if the cards fall right, he is a legitimate contender for Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year. The Wildcats have their 12 returning starters equally spread across both sides of the ball, with six on offense and six on defense. In the three games Shapen saw significant action Kansas State, Texas Tech and Oklahoma State Shapen completed 71 percent of his passes and averaged 190 passing yards. Shapen can be very sharp in the play action game, but he tends to fixate on his first read and defenses that deny him quick decisions can turn him over and get to him in the pocket. With the heartbreak kid gone, Morgan has a great chance to shine in the spotlight as one of Baylors best defensive players. Offensively, the coach praised the scheme and the job offensive line coach Eric Mateos does. I do stuff that I win, and I dont even make it look like Im trying that hard. Those are all things that have to die. Pass protection improved immensely, too. The secondary is being retooled with Christian Morgan providing the most veteran presence at safety. He looked inward, forcing himself to evolve. Theres still plenty of talent in H-Town, and the offense still has enough pieces to cause havoc (the young receiving corps could be particularly nasty). Defensively, adding Player and having the entire two-deep back up front is viewed as a strength. He and his wife, Karina, got married last January and have a 4-month-old daughter, Zoe. LT Connor Galvin, RG Grant Miller, RT Kahlil Keith, and C Jacob Gall are all seniors who were eligible to return for another season in 2022. But Oklahoma would tell you that some of the departures arent the worst thing in the world, and Brent Venables upset the apple cart a bit in the offseason by going guns blazing into the transfer portal. Starters Gabe Hall, Siaki Ika and Cole Maxwell and rotational linemen TJ Franklin, Chidi Ogbonnaya and Brayden Utley return. Roberts will evaluate multiple options there, including returning safety Lorando Johnson, who backed up Pitre last year. With who they return upfront, expect the road-grading to continue in 2022. Five different pass catchers have been 21-30 receptions and they dont have a true #1. 2021 stats: Started all 14 games at center. But perhaps the single biggest reason to believe in Oklahoma: (Photo: Frank Jansky/Icon Sportswire, Getty), (Photo: Jay Biggerstaff, USA TODAY Sports), (Photo: James Guillory, USA TODAY Sports), according to ESPNs Bill Connellys measurements, When we looked at how teams fared in one-score games. The clearest strength of the Baylor offense is an OL that represents the 2nd most seasoned unit in college football. Im truly excited to see what the defense will accomplish in (Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports). 14. Hes joined by Matt Jones, who has been a massive drop off from the cat quick NFL draftee Terrel Bernard. Enter Sonny Dykes, who took the short jaunt from Dallas, and SMU, to Fort Worth. With those two moved on, fall camp has indicated the Richmond native as being the likely bell cow back starting in Week 1, and hes impressed many as of late. Joey McGuires first team will be fascinating to watch with an offense that returns four starters but also adds Zach Kittley, the architect of last years explosive Western Kentucky group. Iowa State enters 2022 without OT Derek Schweiger (67.1 The Bears tend to be deliberate on offense and average 6.1 yards per play on the strength of an efficient running game and a sporadically explosive but inconsistent play action passing game. Cumulus and the Big 12 are not affiliated with this website. The travel schedule is brutal for Baylor with trips to BYU, Iowa State, Oklahoma and Texas on tap. 7:00 AM on Aug 19, 2022 CDT. Were winning every day. Aranda stressed the need for reps among the candidates to get comfortable. Here are our predictions for the Big 12's order of finish in 2023. Its worth noting that while Baylor started the year rock-ribbed against the run with their massive interior Tite front, theyve surrendered 179 yards per game rushing over their last three games. He and his wife, Karina, got married last January and have a 4-month-old daughter, Zoe. The Bears badly miss Jalen Pitre and JT Woods. With a solid crop of returning players, the question will be whether that talent can start delivering results on the field. Expect Baylor to give Texas a wake-up call in the regular season finale but settle for a 9-3 campaign. The 2021 Big 12 Defensive Newcomer of the Year eats up two-to-three blocks and plugs up running lanes, giving the rest of the Baylor defense lots of flexibility and reduced stress. Expect more transfer help at running back (UNLVs Aidan Robbins) and on both lines. However, this years group will have some major absences to contend with, including Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year Jalen Pitre and All-Big-12 first-team linebacker selection Terrel Bernard. Whoever wins the quarterback job out of Tyler Shough and Donovan Smith has both starting experience and a high ceiling. By Michael Haag. If youre talking about which team is the Big 12 favorite, Im going with Baylor because of what they have up front, the coach said. Will the rushing attack be as reliable as it was a year ago? But Baylor also brings in 247Sports No. 247Sports writer Kevin Flaherty joined Athlon Sports in predicting Texas to finish first in the Big 12 conference.

Five best college football futures bets to make, including our Syracuse Orange, who return 80% of their starters this season. Related: Early 2022 Big 12 QB Preview and Rankings 3. Bohanons passing numbers were solid in nonconference play (66.6 percent completion rate, 626 yards, four touchdowns and one interception in three games) but his yardage and completion rate dipped in Big 12 games. The QB will also be working with a rebuilt receiving corps. They can probably look at the 20-13 Norristown loss where the Eagles made a goal line stand and a few kneel-downs to pull off the upset as a turning point, Aranda likes how Blake Shapen is developing leadership skills: "The thing Im most proud of is his leadership and the art of when to say something and how to say it and being authentic with everything youve got. Baylor has been one of the least active teams in the transfer portal nationally. "I thought football had to be part of it, somehow." Ten of Kansas 11 offensive starters are back from a team that ranked in the top 10 in Offensive SP+; the lone exit comes at left tackle, where Kansas signed a former five-star recruit in Wisconsins Logan Brown. Baylor will get the Cowboys at home, but theyll be coming back from a road trip to Iowa State while OSU will be coming off a bye week. Dont be surprised either if five-star linebacker Anthony Hill bullies his way onto the field either; hes that good. Shapen showed promise in his two starts last year, the regular-season finale versus Texas Tech and the Big 12 championship win over Oklahoma State. Its another to go from being a strength to being leaders. But if he comes in and truly finds his footing, the Cougars could be too low here. Yes, we know. CLICK HERE to download the CBS Sports Mobile App and get the latest on your team today. Everything theyre doing, I feel good about it, Roberts said. Its rare to see a combination of strength, speed and agility for someone with Halls frame. If Johnson is at star, then Walcott will play corner and vice versa. Another year in Venables defensive system couldnt hurt either, as Oklahoma struggled at times to be assignment sound on that side of the ball. I see glimpses of speed from him where I feel like he can outrun guys, but hes also not afraid to put his shoulder down#SicEm, 2021 stats: 31 receptions (third on team), 361 receiving yards (fourth on team), six receiving TDs (second on team), recorded one rushing TD. 124 nationally: 121st on offense and 107th on defense, are stepping up in conference AND are doing so while replacing head coach Luke Fickell, who went who went 53-10 over the last five years. He is the sports editor for the school's student newspaper, the Baylor Lariat. Prod. On the other side of the ball, West Virginia will need some of the younger players it has landed in recent classes to pan out sooner rather than later. Texas has to press their advantages here and not concede confidence building throws to Shapen. (We have) to come from a position of powerlessness, a sense of, Hey, were fighting for every edge. There are also five transfers combined from those two cycles still around. It might be way too early for college football predictions, but before the rest of the country hits the field for spring ball, here are our early predictions for Power-5 conference champions in 2023. Things could take a turn for the worst early if the defense isnt quite up to their 2021 form in the first half of the season. Will that lead to more wins? On the line, starters at four positions return: left tackle Connor Galvin, center Jacob Gall, right guard Grant Miller and both right tackles, Khalil Keith and Gavin Byers. The Waller native is set for another huge year, playing alongside some of the nations best D-lineman, who are good candidates to be on this list. True freshman Kyron Drones might be a factor in the fall camp battle for the open gig. Hes a guy that opened up his heart to the team and led his team in a real prideful, courageous way, Aranda said of Bohanon. The biggest reason to propel the Bears down these rankings is that Baylor ranks 100th nationally in returning production, third-to-last in the Big 12. But expecting TCU to reach the Big 12 title game again might be too much. But perhaps the single biggest reason to believe in Oklahoma: When we looked at how teams fared in one-score games, the Sooners went 0-5 (0-4 in the article, then lost a one-score bowl game). Lorando Johnson, S Lorando Johnson likely wont declare in the 2023 NFL Draft cycle, but his name is one to keep in the memory banks. Two years ago, Kansas had the youngest team in college football. 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