By Jackson Posey | Sports Writer
Just one week before the season, Baylor football named Toledo transfer Dequan Finn its starting quarterback over former Mississippi State transfer Sawyer Robertson.
“I thought both played well, but a decision is due,” head coach Dave Aranda said after the team’s final scrimmage of training camp.
QB1 @Dequanfinn5 #SicEm pic.twitter.com/NAhXDMCzf3
— Baylor Football (@BUFootball) August 20, 2024
When Finn, a sixth-year senior, announced his commitment in December, he was considered a strong favorite to win the starting job. The former Toledo signal-caller and 2023 Mid-American Conference MVP threw for 7,074 yards and 63 touchdowns and rushed for 1,840 yards and 25 touchdowns in 45 career games for the Rockets.
Finn was widely regarded as one of the top transfer quarterbacks in the nation after leading Toledo to 11 consecutive regular-season wins and the MAC championship game in 2023, ultimately settling on Baylor a few weeks after the Bears hired new offensive coordinator Jake Spavital.
“It fits my skill set very well,” Finn said of Spavital’s Air Raid-style offense earlier this month. “It’s obviously a spread offense, but my ability to extend it with my legs suits me well.”
But Finn’s rise to QB1 status was complicated by Robertson, a redshirt junior and the previous offseason’s prized transfer portal addition.
Robertson started four games in relief of an injured Blake Shapen (who transferred to Mississippi State in December) in 2023, passing for 864 yards, two touchdowns and four interceptions on a 56.4 percent completion rate while dealing with an ankle injury of his own.
Robertson has plenty of experience in Spavital’s brand of offense. He earned blue-chip recruit status at Lubbock Coronado under head coach Seth Parr, passing for 4,509 yards and 58 touchdowns as a senior in an Air Raid offense, before committing to play for the original architect of the Air Raid, Mike Leach, at Mississippi State. Many of the coaches Spavital has worked under, including Sonny Dykes at Cal and Dana Holgorsen at West Virginia, are direct Leach disciples.
“It’s definitely different [than Mississippi State’s offense] in some areas, for sure, but essentially the same thing,” Robertson said earlier this month. “Which, I love. It’s fun, and like I was saying earlier, [I] feel comfortable in it. It’s just kinda good to have some familiarity with everything, so it’s been good.”
Robertson is a bruising runner with solid pocket presence, while Finn is an electric athlete who loves to play out in space – many of the finer points of Spavital’s offense hinged on which quarterback was named the starter.
“I think [naming a starter] sooner is better,” head coach Dave Aranda said prior to training camp. “What you can do when you name a guy, then you can give him more reps, your team can kind of coalesce around them. Right now, there’s this set of plays for this quarterback, and then similar within these set of plays for that quarterback … We need to get that done. We’re fighting to do that.”
Baylor football has only seen three quarterback battles stretch into fall camp in the past decade. In 2017, Arizona graduate transfer Anu Solomon beat out Zach Smith and Charlie Brewer; after just two games, Coach Matt Rhule benched Solomon for Smith, who eventually lost the job to Brewer. Baylor finished the year with a school-record of 11 losses.
The second battle worked out better for the Bears. In 2021, Aranda waited until late August to name Gerry Bohanon the starter over Jacob Zeno and Blake Shapen. Bohanon (and Shapen) rewarded his confidence with a school-record of 12 victories, including in Big 12 Championship Game and the Sugar Bowl.
Baylor is picked to finish 12th in the new-look Big 12. With the Bears’ season opener against Tarleton State just two weeks away, the coaching staff is hitching its wagon to the veteran dual-threat.
“I feel comfortable and confident (in this offense),” Finn said. “Just chopping wood, carrying water, putting my head down getting straight to work. Not worrying about the outside noises. Having tunnel vision. Just keeping everything sharp … That’s all I care about right now.”
