Baylor Football Blog
Saturday, August 19, 2006
Some Northwestern State News
So, I was perusing one of my favorite blogs (Smufootballblog.blogspot.com) and saw that two players from SMU are now playing at Northwestern State University, the team we'll be playing for the second game of the year.
Now I don't want to be accused of looking ahead of TCU, but I thought that it might be interesting to note that former Mustangs Richuel Massey and Ricky Joe Meeks are now playing for NWSU. Baylor fans might remember Massey as the smallish RB that gashed us for 64 yards on 8 carries to open last year. I'm not sure why he transferred away from SMU, but he's a pretty good tailback.
Ricky Joe Meeks is another mystery. From what I gather (and I'm open to being wrong), he never seriously challenged for the QB job at SMU, but from the sounds of things he is picking things up pretty well at NWSU (see article below)
http://www.thetowntalk.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060809/SPORTS/608090322/1006
Now, this is not intended to be some sort of ominous warning about how we might lose to NWSU, but it is interesting to see that despite the fact that we don't play SMU this year, we'll see some familiar faces. ¶ 8/19/2006 0 Comments
So, I was perusing one of my favorite blogs (Smufootballblog.blogspot.com) and saw that two players from SMU are now playing at Northwestern State University, the team we'll be playing for the second game of the year.
Now I don't want to be accused of looking ahead of TCU, but I thought that it might be interesting to note that former Mustangs Richuel Massey and Ricky Joe Meeks are now playing for NWSU. Baylor fans might remember Massey as the smallish RB that gashed us for 64 yards on 8 carries to open last year. I'm not sure why he transferred away from SMU, but he's a pretty good tailback.
Ricky Joe Meeks is another mystery. From what I gather (and I'm open to being wrong), he never seriously challenged for the QB job at SMU, but from the sounds of things he is picking things up pretty well at NWSU (see article below)
http://www.thetowntalk.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060809/SPORTS/608090322/1006
Now, this is not intended to be some sort of ominous warning about how we might lose to NWSU, but it is interesting to see that despite the fact that we don't play SMU this year, we'll see some familiar faces. ¶ 8/19/2006 0 Comments
Preseason Newcomer of the Year
I had this question posed on another site and I thought I would selfishly rip it off as a topic for the blog (Sorry cbull, and thanks to Bear's Illustrated!).
I think there are a lot of candidates, and I'm going to narrow it down by saying the player can't have started or lettered to be considered for this.
My main picks for this, and my reasoning behind it, are:
Antonio Jones -
Probable starter at LB, the kid has the total package. In front of him, he'll have a number of tackles with a lot of experience, including a pair of senior starters and seniors in the second and third string. These are blue collar guys that aren't going to make a lot of plays, but will allow Jones to make the plays behind them. Also, he won't have to have a lot of pressure on him to be the man, because he'll have one of the top secondaries in the conference behind him. He's a young player slotted into an experienced and highly trained defense, so he'll be free to go out and make plays.
David Gettis -
Big, strong, fast, confident. Everything you want in a receiver. Except experience. And then there's the fact that we don't have a quarterback perfectly situated to get him the ball in every case. Now I'm not bagging on Bell, I know he can throw the ball 50 yards when he needs to, but he doesn't have a cannon arm. Luckily, Gettis isn't a one-trick pony. This kid can take a 5-yard out route the distance from the 12-yard line. He's 6'4" 208lbs, so there isn't a corner out there that is going to outsize him. He's a world-class mid-distance sprinter that has run as fast as a 4.36 and runs sub-4.45 consistently. It depends on the surface and his fatigue level, but even when he's not his fastest, he's still faster than almost anyone out there. And he's got sure hands. Throw in the fact that he runs sharp routes, he's gonna have two threats (Zeigler and Shelton) that are at least as big a threat as he is, and then the fact that this offense doesn't really allow the defense the luxury of double-teaming receivers, and you've got a dream scenario for a ready-built freshman receiver. I don't think he'll reach his potential this year, but next year with a strong-armed QB (either Kinne, Blake or Tyler), he's going to be scary good. But this year he could still put up big numbers.
Ernest Smith -
Huh? ANOTHER freshman receiver? If you've seen this kid, you'd know that this should not come as a surprise. Smith isn't quite as big as Gettis, it turns out. 6'3" around 190, but the kid has body control like you wouldn't believe, and he's got moves like a 5'7" scat back. He's been breaking ankles (not literally, despite the injury bug we've seen) all summer and fall long, and if he can show more sure hands, he'd quickly lose the tag of "that other big receiver we signed". I really think Smith has the chance to be as good a receiver as Gettis is, when it is all said and done. Gettis is special, no doubt. But remember that Smith isn't that far behind.
Brandon Stiggers -
One of the most underrated recruits we got in this class. He'll be replacing Willie Andrews, and while he doesn't have Willie's elite athleticism, he's probably a bit more physical and I think he'll be very solid in the OS position. He's going to have the chance to really rack up some tackles and his coverage skills are really picking up. A poster on Scout had him as his newcomer of the year, and the more I think about it, the more I believe that Stiggers fits the bill better than most of these others. Gettis and Jones have developed some hype. Even Smith has wowed and gotten some attention from fall camps. But Stiggers has been somewhat overshadowed by CJ Wilson, Braelon Davis, Anthony Arline and Dwain Crawford. I think when he breaks out, people are gonna sit back and say,"Wow. I didn't know that kid had it in him." ¶ 8/19/2006 0 Comments
I had this question posed on another site and I thought I would selfishly rip it off as a topic for the blog (Sorry cbull, and thanks to Bear's Illustrated!).
I think there are a lot of candidates, and I'm going to narrow it down by saying the player can't have started or lettered to be considered for this.
My main picks for this, and my reasoning behind it, are:
Antonio Jones -
Probable starter at LB, the kid has the total package. In front of him, he'll have a number of tackles with a lot of experience, including a pair of senior starters and seniors in the second and third string. These are blue collar guys that aren't going to make a lot of plays, but will allow Jones to make the plays behind them. Also, he won't have to have a lot of pressure on him to be the man, because he'll have one of the top secondaries in the conference behind him. He's a young player slotted into an experienced and highly trained defense, so he'll be free to go out and make plays.
David Gettis -
Big, strong, fast, confident. Everything you want in a receiver. Except experience. And then there's the fact that we don't have a quarterback perfectly situated to get him the ball in every case. Now I'm not bagging on Bell, I know he can throw the ball 50 yards when he needs to, but he doesn't have a cannon arm. Luckily, Gettis isn't a one-trick pony. This kid can take a 5-yard out route the distance from the 12-yard line. He's 6'4" 208lbs, so there isn't a corner out there that is going to outsize him. He's a world-class mid-distance sprinter that has run as fast as a 4.36 and runs sub-4.45 consistently. It depends on the surface and his fatigue level, but even when he's not his fastest, he's still faster than almost anyone out there. And he's got sure hands. Throw in the fact that he runs sharp routes, he's gonna have two threats (Zeigler and Shelton) that are at least as big a threat as he is, and then the fact that this offense doesn't really allow the defense the luxury of double-teaming receivers, and you've got a dream scenario for a ready-built freshman receiver. I don't think he'll reach his potential this year, but next year with a strong-armed QB (either Kinne, Blake or Tyler), he's going to be scary good. But this year he could still put up big numbers.
Ernest Smith -
Huh? ANOTHER freshman receiver? If you've seen this kid, you'd know that this should not come as a surprise. Smith isn't quite as big as Gettis, it turns out. 6'3" around 190, but the kid has body control like you wouldn't believe, and he's got moves like a 5'7" scat back. He's been breaking ankles (not literally, despite the injury bug we've seen) all summer and fall long, and if he can show more sure hands, he'd quickly lose the tag of "that other big receiver we signed". I really think Smith has the chance to be as good a receiver as Gettis is, when it is all said and done. Gettis is special, no doubt. But remember that Smith isn't that far behind.
Brandon Stiggers -
One of the most underrated recruits we got in this class. He'll be replacing Willie Andrews, and while he doesn't have Willie's elite athleticism, he's probably a bit more physical and I think he'll be very solid in the OS position. He's going to have the chance to really rack up some tackles and his coverage skills are really picking up. A poster on Scout had him as his newcomer of the year, and the more I think about it, the more I believe that Stiggers fits the bill better than most of these others. Gettis and Jones have developed some hype. Even Smith has wowed and gotten some attention from fall camps. But Stiggers has been somewhat overshadowed by CJ Wilson, Braelon Davis, Anthony Arline and Dwain Crawford. I think when he breaks out, people are gonna sit back and say,"Wow. I didn't know that kid had it in him." ¶ 8/19/2006 0 Comments
