Big 12 Media Days: Baylor

Baylor, the forgotten Texas team.  If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around, does it make a sound?  Maybe if it falls hard enough. 

Head Coach Art Briles is entering his third season at Baylor, yet the expectations still seem to be fairly low.  It's not easy being the 4th wheel in the state of Texas, arguably the fifth or sixth if you go outside the conference.  While year three at Nebraska seems to mean they've gotten over the hump, year three at Baylor means you still have a LONG way to go.

We're in the Big 12. We're in the Big 12 South this year in 2010, and it's my job to get Baylor out there and make them a force in this league that we're in and do whatever is in my power to at least get us bowl eligible.

Count Briles in the camp that might benefit from a 10 team league and having the opportunity to play every team in the North every season.  As for bowl eligibility in 2010, it's not an easy road, but when is it?

So what about Robert Griffin?  Is he back, is he healthy, can he be what the potential suggested two seasons ago?

As far as where he's at physically right now, he was 217 pounds this morning. That's up about probably nine pounds from where he was a year ago at this time, which I like.

What we've got to do, when we get him on the field September the 4th, is see how he responds instinctively. That's how you determine where you're at physically is when you make movements without your brain working first.  And
so that's the thing that I think we'll see as the season goes along. But from a physical standpoint right now, he's in really good shape.

Griffin will undoubtedly be as key to Baylor as any one player can be to a team in the Big 12.  A season ago with his injury, Baylor went from that potential stumbling block on everyone's schedule to managing just one win against Missouri. 

His size and athletic ability make him a dangerous weapon on any play and because of that Baylor will compete.  Throw in the fact that the team as a whole is finally beginning to develop from a talent standpoint with the increased recruiting success of Briles and maybe Baylor has a chance to move out of last place in the South.

We're physically the best football team we've been from just as far as the talent standpoint. You know, the guys -- I mean, they have a very determined attitude, which we have to have. I mean, that's -- we understand what we have to do. We know we have to become a bowl-eligible football team, first and foremost, and then we'll go from there.

Top Five Baylor Storylines for 2010

1. Danny Watkins, fireman turned football player.
2. Robert Griffin's return to the huddle.
3. The rebuilding of the Bears defense.
   
4. Earning respect.
5. Win in the State of Texas(Sam Houston State, @Rice, @TCU, Texas Tech, @Texas, Texas A&M).