By Will Chamblee | Sports Writer, Video by Drake Toll | Managing Editor Baylor football head coach Dave Aranda announced that star senior linebacker Terrel Bernard and emerging freshman running back Craig ‘Sqwirl’ Williams will both be out for the season. The pair suffered injuries during Baylor’s 38-31 loss to Iowa State in Ames, Iowa on Saturday. Bernard tore his labrum and fractured part of his shoulder. He is expected to have surgery to repair the injury. Williams tore both his ACL and MCL and will also require season-ending surgery. Aranda said the program will greatly miss both Bernard and…
Author: Drake Toll
Regardless of the election results, we’re all human. And we need to act like it.
Is it time to bench Charlie Brewer?
Drake Toll | Managing Editor Baylor President Linda Livingstone sits down with Lariat TV News’ Drake Toll to discuss the tough questions that students are currently asking surrounding the university’s reopen. In the interview, Livingstone addresses triggers that would send Baylor online, offers a message to students who are scared and delivers insight on Baylor’s 4% tuition increase in the midst of the pandemic. The following is a transcript of the interview in its entirety: In response to a spike during the first week of reopening: Well, I think you have to look even beyond the reopening. We actually were…
By Drake Toll | LTVN Managing Editor Contrary to the posts you’ve scrolled across from the Facebook “doctors” everywhere, COVID-19 actually does exist — I lived it. And, no, it’s not remotely fun.Granted, it’s been implanted in our brain that plenty of people can contract the virus and never skip a beat, but here’s the firsthand journey of someone who was fully symptomatic but thankfully recovered.Moving back to Waco, I understood the risk that presents itself to every student this semester. I’m a very social person, and especially knowing how fast the new coronavirus spreads, I believed it to be…
By Drake Toll | LTVN Managing EditorA called strike three blew past Houston’s Bethany Busch on March 10th at 9:40 p.m. in game two of a doubleheader against the Cougars. That was the final play of the Baylor softball season. Just 24 games into the young year, the 19-5 Lady Bears were ranked No. 18 in the country and boasted unbelievable promise. They had already surpassed their win total from the season prior, and just finished a clean two-game sweep of Houston in Space City.That’s when the NCAA took the ultimate precaution to combat COVID-19 by cancelling the remainder of…
By Drake Toll | Broadcast Managing EditorIf you told me three days ago that acrobatics and tumbling is a sport, I would have stood firm in disagreement. To me, there was so much that pointed to A&T being an activity — designed as a pastime, not made for primetime. Even with Baylor’s five straight NCATA (National Collegiate Acrobatics and Tumbling Association) titles and a No. 1 overall preseason ranking, I doubted. And yet, here I am, defending the sport for what it is: a sport.Collegiate A&T, designated specifically for women, began just a decade ago with the intent of “combining…
By Drake Toll | LTVN Managing EditorDave Aranda, the 28th head coach of Baylor football, is a calm, soft-spoken California native who carries a big stick: his defense. Nicknamed “The Defensive Coordinator Whisperer,” the former LSU assistant lives and breathes pigskin. An attendee of Redlands High School in Redlands, Calif., Aranda lettered in football and started at linebacker beginning his sophomore season, a unique feat at the time. Then called “The Fencepost” due to his quiet demeanor, the wily Aranda was sought after by multiple collegiate football programs. That is, until a single play his senior year completely altered his…
By Drake Toll | Broadcast Reporter, Video By Nate Smith | Broadcast Reporter The top-seeded Baylor volleyball team advances to the NCAA Championship’s round of 32 after sweeping the Sacred Heart Pioneers (25-20, 25-18, 25-8) Friday night in the Ferrell Center. The Bears struggled to get comfortable in the first two sets, beginning the match down 4-1 and trailing multiple times in both sets. Baylor head coach Ryan McGuyre said the team was not as locked in as they needed to be. “We, as a team, felt like Sacred Heart came ready to play, and we weren’t as sharp as…
By Drake Toll | Broadcast ReporterChalk it up as an 11-win regular season and a share, at least, of the Big 12 regular-season title for No. 9 Baylor as the Bears charged into Lawrence, Kan. and dominated the Jayhawks 61-6. Matt Rhule’s 11-1 record in year three juxtaposes the Bears’ 1-11 mark just two seasons ago. With the win, Baylor becomes the first Power 5 program ever to go from 1-11 to 11-1 in the span of two years. Rhule also remains an undefeated 3-0 against the Jayhawks and spoils Les Miles’ first Senior Day, dropping to 3-9 overall and…
By Drake Toll | Broadcast ReporterKanye West is igniting a historic revival. I know it sounds crazy, but bear with me. This is obviously a bold statement that needs excessive explanation, but first, what comes to mind when you read those words? What do you picture? I picture a radical movement of Christianity that encompasses the entirety of the United States. Kanye’s recent release of his first gospel album, “JESUS IS KING,” is the beginning of a revival that parallels that of Billy Graham’s great crusades.Whether you are a Christ follower or not, it is objectively true that Kanye has…
By Drake Toll | Broadcast ReporterThe Baylor Lady Bears basketball team will finish undefeated and repeat as NCAA champions in 2020. Other columns I have compiled consist of bold sports predictions, but this one speaks for itself. While my previous articles detailing how Baylor football could accidentally go 11-1 and volleyball could intentionally win the Big 12 remain freakishly on-par despite numerous doubters, any prediction of the Lady Bears winning another title should be greeted with little scoffing. As for the undefeated part, that may need some explaining. So, let’s dive in.Coach Kim Mulkey and the Lady Bears are coming…
By Drake Toll | Broadcast ReporterThe Baylor men’s golf team will win the Big 12 Tournament this season. Yes, here we are again. If you’re a Baylor golf enthusiast, this article comes as a godsend considering the uncanny success of my two previous prediction pieces. Before we continue on with the imminent success of the men’s golf team, let’s revisit my previous articles that entail how Baylor football could accidentally win the Big 12 and Volleyball could intentionally win the Big 12.In the football realm, I predicted the Bears to finish 11-1 this season with the one loss coming to…
By Drake Toll | Broadcast Reporter At first glance, Thomas Barnard, or Tom, is a quaint member of the staff at Baylor University. His day-to-day consists of meetings, scenic strolls around campus, indulging in his hobby of photography and maybe even taking an occasional pit stop to watch squirrels play in the trees. Tom lives a normal life that seemingly would not warrant a must-see news story—or so it seems. The mystery, the anonymity and the oddity behind Tom’s story makes him all the more captivating. It would shock many to find out that the soft-spoken lover of all things…
By Drake Toll | Broadcast ReporterThe Baylor Bear volleyball team could intentionally go undefeated this regular season. Obviously winning games is always intentional, yet I find no better word in an attempt to parallel with my recent article that describes how Baylor football could accidentally go 11-1 which, by the way, can still happen.With Texas being a perennial powerhouse in the Big 12, the Longhorns were the sole team in the conference to warrant any national hype in the offseason. The Bear volleyball team entered their 2019 campaign ranked 20th in the AVCA preseason coaches poll, but few analysts would…
Drake Toll | Broadcast ReporterThe Baylor Bear football team could accidentally go 11-1 this regular season. Obviously winning games is no accident, yet I find no better word in a year where the Big 12 could see more parity than the infamous 2007 season in which Kansas (yes, Kansas) finished 12-1 and defeated No. 3 Virginia Tech in its only BCS bowl victory in school history. While the conference as a whole may be more dramatic than the most recent installment of “The Bachelorette,” this year’s Baylor squad differs greatly from the 2007 team that was quarterbacked by Blake Szymanski,…
By Drake Toll | Broadcast Reporter Baylor Athletics held their annual “Meet the Bears” event at McLane Stadium this past Saturday with a new twist to the fun. For the first time in the four year history of the fan-oriented meet and greet, the football team was not the only program showcased. Players and coaches from various men’s and women’s teams joined Bear football on the stadium concourse to sign autographs and take pictures with fans young and old. While nearly a dozen teams were able to meet their fans, much of the buzz at the event revolved around the…