Report: Baylor hires BYU OC Jeff Grimes to lead offense

Big 12 Athletics

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Baylor football will hire BYU offensive coordinator Jeff Grimes to the same position, according to reports from Yahoo Sports and The Athletic

Grimes helped orchestrate one of the top offenses in America in his third season in Provo, Utah. BYU tied with Alabama for the national lead with 7.84 yards per play and finished No. 3 with 43.5 points per game during a magical 2020 season. For his efforts, Grimes was named a finalist for the Broyles Award, which eventually went to new Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian. 

Under Grimes' tutelage, BYU quarterback Zach Wilson completed 73.5 percent of his passes for 308 yards per game, 33 touchdowns and just three interceptions. Wilson is expected to be a top 10 pick in the 2021 NFL Draft. He played all three seasons under Grimes. 

In addition to the on-field success, Grimes has many attractive off-field qualities for this team. Grimes graduated from Garland Lakeview Centennial and played college football at UTEP. He also coached with Baylor head coach Dave Aranda at LSU, where he served as offensive line coach and recruited the state of Texas. 

Grimes replaces Larry Fedora as offensive coordinator at Baylor. The Bears are also in the market for a receiver coach after not retaining passing game coordinator Jorge Munoz. While Fedora has a history of putting together productive offenses, the pieces never came together in his lone season at Baylor. 

As opposed to BYU's nation-leading yards-per-play offense, Baylor ranked No. 125 – third-to-last – in yards per play at a pathetic 4.44 yards per play mark. The only programs worse per-play nationally were Kansas and UMass. 

Baylor goes into 2021 with a wide open quarterback battle after the transfer of senior quarterback Charlie Brewer. Sophomore Gerry Bohanon and freshmen Jacob Zeno, Blake Shapen and Kyron Drones are expected to compete for the starting job. All but Shapen were four-star recruits coming out of high school. 

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