2018 Baylor Preview

Share or Save for Later

Share on Twitter Share on Facebook Save to Favorites

If it’s true you learn more from losing than winning, Matt Rhule might have a stack of master’s degrees on his desk.

Rhule took over at Baylor in December 2016, just a year removed from a three-year run of 32 wins and two Big 12 titles. Art Briles’ firing decimated the already-signed 2016 recruiting class and a handful of other players transferred, leaving behind a bare bones roster.

Add that to Rhule’s wide-angle shift in scheme on both sides of the ball and you get Year Zero in the Waco rebuild that could use Chip and Joanna Gaines’ skills getting the program fixed up. Going from 10 wins to one in just two seasons is a jarring proposition, but Rhule has been here before. His first team at Temple in 2013 won two games. In 2015 and 2016, he won a combined 20 games. The results from his first year in Waco weren’t there, but behind the scenes, he saw plenty to give him optimism a similar result is possible after starting from scratch with the Bears.

“They were going to come back every week and fight. They showed a lot of resiliency to withstand all the difficulty of losing. They showed they had a toughness, that they could handle that and stick together and that we were going to get better. We showed flashes of playing well, we just couldn’t put it all together,” Rhule said. “That left me very excited for the future. We will get better. These guys are good enough. They just have to grow up a little bit.”

When Rhule looked at the roster he inherited, he had five scholarship offensive lineman. He has 18 now. But he also saw a wealth of talented players who arrived on campus as part of the recruiting wave that follows a run like the program enjoyed in Briles’ final three seasons. There just weren’t enough of them left to field a consistent winner. Last year was about laying the foundation to change that and embracing the youth movement.

Now, the climb can truly begin.

“I feel like our kids all think that we don’t ever have to go back there again. We were there, we saw we can count on each other. We saw what it takes to win, and we can go out and find a way to win ball games,” Rhule said. “It was a benefit to us to have the year go that way. We got much closer. That galvanized the program.”

The building blocks are in place. Quarterback Charlie Brewer took over midway through last year’s disastrous run after Anu Solomon’s career ended and Zach Smith struggled. After taking over in the middle of league play as the starter, the former Lake Travis star completed 69.5 percent of his passes for nine touchdowns and three picks.

Four starters on the battered offensive line return, and the offense added a pair of high-impact transfers. High school All-American Jake Fruhmorgen started for Clemson’s national title team before transferring. Jalen Hurd ran for 2,638 yards in three seasons at Tennessee before leaving the team, and he’ll give the Bears a 6-4, 230-pound slot receiver.

Eight starters from the defense return, and for some, it’ll be a battle with younger players to keep their jobs before the season begins and after it gets rolling.

Ira Lewis is a 290-pound terror along the defensive line, and made 11.5 tackles for loss in 2017, fifth-most among returning talents in the Big 12.

“Last year was a learning process, trying to learn the defense and everybody understanding where they need to be. There was a lot of hesitation. People didn’t understand what to do,” Lewis said. “Now, there’s more of, ‘I know what to do. I just have to do it.’”

That feeling permeates the roster and the coaching staff. For everyone, 2017 was about lessons learned. Now, 2018 is about applying those lessons.

This article is available to our Digital Subscribers.
Click "Subscribe Now" to see a list of subscription offers.
Already a Subscriber? Sign In to access this content.

Sign In