By Michael Haag | Sports Editor
Baylor football head coach Dave Aranda got to see both of his quarterbacks take part in the team’s first scrimmage of the spring Saturday, and he said “we’re seeing good things” from both of them.
Redshirt junior quarterback Blake Shapen and redshirt sophomore slinger Sawyer Robertson have been tabbed as the two QBs to battle it out this spring for the starting role in 2023. Robertson transferred to Baylor from Mississippi State University, while Shapen is the incumbent starter from 2022.
“Sawyer continues to push with maturity and leadership and his energy,” Aranda said. “For Blake … Tuesday was a really strong day, Thursday was good, he’s standing a little bit straighter and looking you in the eye a little more. He’s kind of coming into his own.”
Shapen struggled under center last year, as he only connected on 63.3% of his passes for 2,709 yards, 18 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. On March 24, he admitted he wasn’t enough of a vocal leader as he needed to be, so he’s been trying to improve that in order to retain his job.
Robertson spent his last two seasons with Mississippi State, but only went 6-for-11 for 23 yards passing to go with an interception across five games of limited action in 2022. Aranda said Robertson’s ability to be a leader has stood out most in the early part of the spring camp.
Regarding the scrimmage as a whole, Aranda noted lots of positives that came out of it.
“I thought today and the whole process has been good,” Aranda said. “For our younger guys to play fast and to play green and put themselves out there in an area where you can make a mistake and you can do something wrong, and learn and attack it the very next play, really that’s the thing. All the false stuff is out of the way and we can be true to the real things, and I feel a lot of that is happening now and there was a lot of that today.”
Aranda mentioned a few specific transfers that stood out to him on Saturday, including junior wide receiver Ketron Jackson (University of Arkansas), fifth-year senior linebacker Mike Smith Jr. (Liberty University) and junior tight end Jake Roberts (University of North Texas).
The fourth-year head coach brought in ten athletes through the transfer portal, which was the most transfers he’s ever had in one cycle at the helm in Waco. The previous high was five transfers. For reference, Aranda landed just three athletes in the 2022 recruiting class.
“They’re the veterans in the room,” Aranda said. “It’s such a different dynamic than maybe any other time. You look at the models and it’s generally an illustration of whoever is in front is thought of as the leader for that position group. A lot of those guys are transfer guys, and I think some of it comes from [the fact] that they’ve been in fights before and they’ve been knocked out and got back up and dusted themselves off.
“I think there’s a great respect there. Off of days like today, every day it’s somewhat different as far as the growth and how you approach things and everything. Mike and Ketron moving forward with some of the things they did. So excited for them.”
Collectively, the athletes and the coaching staff have raved about the energy surrounding the first four spring practices that have taken place. Redshirt sophomore long snapper Garrison Grimes said that same energy and effort was applied to Saturday’s scrimmage.
“I feel like the scrimmage just with the team overall went well, too,” Grimes said. “There was a lot of competition, offense and defense just fighting back with each other. But I feel like we’re heading in the right direction, for sure. And for the first scrimmage in spring, I thought it went really well.”
Another part of this spring slate has been integrating some of Aranda’s newly hired assistant coaches. The new faces include defensive coordinator and safeties coach Matt Powledge, inside linebackers coach Christian Robinson, running backs coach AJ Steward and special teams coach Tyler Hancock.
Aranda said “they’ve adapted really well” and he’s hoping to have struck gold with these hires, which he admitted he hasn’t done in his first few years manning the ship.
“I’m way comfortable and excited about the staff,” Aranda said. “Personally, I’ve probably screwed it up too many times and now is an opportunity to try to get it right. A lot of that is just knowing who you are and knowing what you’re not and knowing what it is, and when you don’t know that it makes it hard to find people who are a match for all of that.
“The more that’s defined, the easier it is to get people to fit. For you to be able to believe something and to say something for them to take that in your way to the team, I feel that’s pretty strong.”
Coming out of Saturday’s scrimmage, Aranda believes he saw the team take “a step in the right direction.” He said he knows there’s “a long way to go” before the season kicks off.
“I feel with the youth of the team we’re probably going to do more things wrong and learn that’s not the thing to do to have an idea of what’s right,” Aranda said.
Injury room
- Redshirt junior linebacker Brooks Miller is coming back from a concussion, according to Aranda.
- Aranda said sophomore tight end Kelsey Johnson is “coming back from a leg injury” and he hopes Johnson is playing in the next scrimmage (April 15).
- Redshirt senior outside linebacker Garmon Randolph is battling a heel injury, per Aranda.
Aranda said “we’re expecting to see everybody, some of them may be later in the spring” and no injury that hasn’t already happened will linger into the summer.
