Tim Heitman – USA TODAY Sports
The Baylor Bears have quickly turned themselves into one of the top teams in the country in recent years with back-to-back Big 12 titles to their name to prove it. Last season, they were on the cusp of qualifying for the College Football Playoff (just ask Art Briles) and will be heavy favorites to be in the mix again in 2015. They’ve been able to maintain their run of triumph through a successful line of succession at quarterback that will continue next fall with Seth Russell.
Russell is a fourth-year junior that has sat patiently behind Bryce Petty the last two seasons learning and developing his game. He finally got the chance to lead the Bears as the No. 1 QB in spring practice this past week and looks to be a heavy favorite to keep the job in fall. There will be challengers, of course, during spring practice but none of those other quarterbacks has the experience of Russell, whose talent alone would probably get him the starting job next season. His time in this system, however, puts him ahead of the pack heading into the spring.
While Russell didn’t get a ton of meaningful experience acting as Petty’s backup, he certainly turned heads when he got the chance. When Petty was out with an injured back, Russell stepped in and threw for 438 yards and five touchdowns through the air with another touchdown on the ground against FCS Northwestern State in just the first half of action. His lone start earned him Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week honors and showed that he’s more than capable of running Baylor’s high-paced offensive attack. On the season, Russell completed 48-of-85 passes for 804 yards with 8 touchdowns and just one interception.
He has all the measurables to be successful, possessing great arm strength to stretch the field in the passing game and enough athleticism to be dangerous with his legs. That combination will be deadly when it takes control of the Baylor offense next fall with the plethora of weapons at their disposal.
Most importantly, however, Russell has stepped up as a leader of this team during the spring. Teammates have raved about his maturity and ability to command the huddle (when the team actually huddles) and has seamlessly transitioned into the QB-1 role. The coaches have given their vote of confidence to Russell despite not officially naming him the starter for next season by telling reporters that Russell will have to be beat out if anyone else plans on leading the Bears’ offense in 2015.
And it’s not like Baylor has duds filling out the depth chart behind him. Sophomore Chris Johnson is a big-bodied, strong-armed signal caller at 6-foot-5, and true freshman Jarrett Stidham is a highly touted prospect coming to Waco, ranking No. 2 among dual-threat quarterbacks in the 2015 recruiting class. Each brings plenty to the table in terms of adding to the Baylor offensive attack, but neither can match Russell and his well-rounded experience in the system.
Relying on that experienced option and showing patience with their quarterbacks seems to have been the key to Baylor’s sustained success in recent years. Since Robert Griffin III put Baylor on the college football map with his Heisman Trophy winning season in 2011, the Bears have turned the offense over to experienced backups and reaped the benefits. Following RGIII, Nick Florence had a breakout season in his first, and only, year leading the offense in 2012, throwing for 4,309 yards with 33 touchdowns and 13 interceptions as the Bears went 8-5.
Following Florence, Baylor got two years out of Petty, who really took Baylor over the top in the Big 12. In his junior season of 2013, Petty threw for 4,200 yards with 32 touchdowns and just three interceptions, leading the Bears to an 11-2 record and their first ever Big 12 title. Injuries slowed Petty down a bit in his senior year early on, but he still managed to threw for 3,855 yards and 29 touchdowns in 2014 as Baylor posted another 11-2 record and defended their conference title.
Now it falls to Russell to continue the trend by keeping the offense from suffering any kind of fallback due to turnover at quarterback. That’s a serious legacy that he’s inheriting. Since Griffin’s Heisman run in 2011, Baylor has finished no lower than No. 2 in the nation in total offense and has ranked No. 1 in all of college football each of the last two seasons. The Bears’ scoring offense during that same time has ranked no lower than No. 4 in the nation and has been tops in the country in back-to-back years.
The success of the Baylor program hinges on the offense being explosive and racking up yards and points. It’s a formula that often gets criticized because of its lack of attention to the often-porous defense of the Bears, but it’s a formula that has worked for Briles and company as he has built a football power in Waco in a very short time. Now, the burden of continuing that formula falls on Russell.
Fortunately, he’ll have plenty of complementary weapons at his disposal to find quick success in 2015. Three of the top four pass-catchers from last season return for Baylor, highlighted by a pair of 1,000-yard receivers in Corey Coleman, the team’s leading receiver in 2014 and Russell’s biggest advocate on the offense, and KD Cannon, a freshman All-American last season. Add in the return of Shock Linwood, who should be a front-runner for the Doak Campbell Award next season, in the backfield and you have more than enough firepower returning to make the Baylor offense dangerous.
On top of that, the Bears will get more big play wideouts into the mix with redshirt freshmen Chris Platt and Ishmael Zamora, key pieces of Baylor’s stellar 2014 receiver recruiting class. Platt has blazing speed as a three-time Texas state high school track champion in the quarter mile and will be dangerous out of the slot. Zamora, at 6-foot-4, is a big-bodied receiver with the athleticism to go up and win jump balls down the field, which should make him fast friends with Russell.
With his impressive skill set, experience in this system, and the loaded offensive personnel around him, there’s plenty of reason to be excited about Russell at quarterback in 2015. If he plays to form this fall, Baylor will make yet another seamless quarterback transition and make another run at a Big 12 title and possible spot in the College Football Playoff.
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