Bears Open Fall Camp

Football 8/7/2005 12:00:00 AM

Aug. 7, 2005

2005 Baylor Fall Camp Roster
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Key 2005 Baylor Football Dates
Aug. 7 Team Reports
Aug. 20 Meet The Bears Day
Aug. 22 Fall Semester Classes Begin
Aug. 30 First Guy Morriss Press Conference
Sept. 3 BAYLOR at SMU, 7 p.m.
Sept. 10 Samford at BAYLOR, 6 p.m.

Fall Camp Practice Schedule
Aug. 8-9-10-11-12, at 4 p.m.
Aug. 13, 9:30 a.m. & 4:30 p.m.
Aug. 14, 4 p.m.
Aug. 15, 9:30 a.m. & 4:30 p.m.
Aug. 16, 9:30 a.m.
Aug. 17, 9:30 a.m. & 4:30 p.m.
Aug. 18, 9:30 a.m.
Aug. 19, 9:30 a.m. & 4:30 p.m.
Aug. 20, 9:15 a.m.
Aug. 21, Off
Aug. 22, First Day of Fall Classes, practice at 8 p.m.

Note: Practices are open to the media and public, however, those interested in attending any workout should confirm the Bears' daily schedule with either the football office or the athletic media relations office, as it is subject to change.

Bears Set For 104th Grid Campaign, Third Under Guy Morriss

Year three of the Guy Morriss Era at Baylor begins with the opening of fall camp on Aug. 8 in preparation for the Bears' Sept. 3 season-opener at former Southwest Conference rival SMU in Dallas. It will mark the second time these foes have met since the SWC disbanded with Baylor giving Morriss his first win on the Bears' sideline with a 10-7 victory over the Mustangs in 2003 at Waco.

The Bears, who will play only five home games for the first time since 1998 and must play away from Floyd Casey Stadium five times in their first seven games, meet Samford in their Sept. 10 home debut before closing non-conference action at Army on Sept. 17, a game which will be televised nationally on ESPN Classic. BU starts Big 12 play Oct. 1 at Texas A&M.

Baylor boasts a strong nucleus on both sides of the ball, returning 48 lettermen from last year's 3-8 team, including 23 on offense, 21 on defense and four specialists. Among the returnees are 13 starters (four offense, eight defense and one specialist) and another 21 players who have at least one career start to their credit.

"We're going to be better because our offensive line is going to be better, a lot better; we've got quarterbacks who have played and they are comfortable in the system and they're experienced," said Morriss, who was recently named one of the nation's most underrated coaches by SI.com's Stewart Mandel. "We're faster at wide receiver -- I mean we can put some serious speed on the field at wide receiver.

"We like what we see three-deep at tailback and I believe we might actually be better at linebacker than we were last year. In depth and athletic ability, top to bottom, this is the best group we've had."

2005 marks the 25th anniversary of Baylor's 1980 Southwest Conference title season. The team, which finished the season 10-2 overall, 8-0 in the SWC and ranked as high as 13th nationally, will be honored during an on-campus reunion around the Oct. 15 Nebraska game.

Bears Face Six Bowl Teams In 2005

After playing eight of 11 games a year ago against teams that went on to earn bowl invitations, Baylor will tackle six bowl squads in 2005. However, that's really nothing new for coach Guy Morriss' program, as 15 times in his first 23 games (including 13 of 16 Big 12 contests) along the Baylor sideline he's faced an opponent which wound up with a bowl bid at season's end.

The Bears' 2005 opponents combined for a 70-58 (.545) record a year ago and six earned bowl invites--Texas A&M, Iowa State, Oklahoma, Texas Tech, Texas and Oklahoma State.

All-told, six of BU's eight 2005 Big 12 games will be against teams that earned bowl bids last year. The Bears' eight Big 12 foes went 61-34 (.642) last year and accounted for six of the league's seven 2004 bowl bids.

Two of Baylor's three wins a year ago and six of its eight losses were at the hands of eventual bowl-bound teams. The Bears knocked off Cotton Bowl participant Texas A&M (35-34 in overtime) and New Orleans Bowl entrant North Texas (37-14) but dropped games to bowl-bound programs Texas (Rose champion), Iowa State (Independence champion), Texas Tech (Holiday champ), Oklahoma State (Alamo), Oklahoma (Orange) and UAB (Hawaii).

Baylor and Syracuse were the only programs to play eight eventual bowl teams in 2004 and the Bears' slate ranked as the nation's sixth-toughest according to the NCAA's annual strength of schedule survey.

Improvement Starting To Show For Bears

While Baylor's 2004 (3-8) and 2003 (3-9) records look nearly identical, it is quickly becoming evident that the Bears have made tremendous strides in Guy Morriss' first two seasons at the helm.

A review of 14 major NCAA statistical categories (six offense, five defense and three special teams) showed that the 2004 Bears improved their national standing in nine areas from the 2003 campaign and in eight instances that improvement resulted in a double-digit jump in the rankings.

In the year prior to Morriss' arrival, the Bears lost five games by at least 40 points, but his teams have combined for just four such defeats the past two years, and three of those came in his first season.

"I think the kids are comfortable in the system, and that's finally starting to show," Morriss said. "You can tell we are stronger. Overall, we're just in better shape as a program than when we got here. You can physically see it.

"We've got to learn how to keep our level of play at an emotional high, because there's still not going to be too many teams that we're going to match up with physically or athletically just yet," he added. "So you've got to be close to perfect technically and emotionally charged up. That's what I hope they're starting to understand."

Growing Up

After fielding the nation's second-youngest team a year ago (only SMU, at 76.1 percent, had a higher percentage of underclassmen on its 2004 roster than Baylor, whose roster was 71.1 percent underclassmen) third-year coach Guy Morriss' 2005 Baylor squad will arguably be the most-seasoned of his tenure in Waco.

Baylor's 105-man 2005 preseason camp roster includes 17 seniors, 30 juniors, 17 sophomores and 41 freshmen. The Bears' 2004 roster, by comparison, included some 96 underclassmen among the 135 players listed.

Lone Star Ties

The Bears' 105-man fall camp roster features 94 players who played their high school football in the Lone Star state. The other 11 players on the Baylor's camp roster hail from Louisiana (2), Oklahoma (2), California (1), Arizona (1), Nebraska (1), Missouri (1), Mississippi (1), Illinois (1) and Virginia (1).

Of the 72 players listed on Baylor's 2005 preseason depth chart, 66 are Texans, including 21 of the 24 projected starters (includes No. 1 place-kicker and punter) for the Bears.

Oh Brother

Baylor's 2005 roster features three sets of brothers: the Boatner's (junior Yancy and true freshman Thad), Jenkins (junior Quincy and redshirt freshman Desmond) and McDonald's (senior Lequalan and true freshman LeQuantum).

Six I-A Transfers On 2005 Baylor Depth Chart

Baylor's 2005 depth chart features six players who began their collegiate careers at other Division I-A programs but have since found their way to Waco. All six are former Texas high school preps.
Tulane transfer Will Blaylock missed nearly all of Baylor's spring drills with an ankle injury, but the junior is listed as the Bears' top center. Sophomore Jordan Adams stands No. 2 at tight end after joining the program from New Mexico.

On the defensive side of the ball, sophomore Nick Moore, who lettered at Georgia Tech as a true freshman in 2003, is No. 2 at linebacker behind senior Colin Allred and another Tulane transfer, sophomore Alton Widemon, is No. 3 at cornerback.

Junior Paul Howard, the Bears' No. 2 defensive end, began his collegiate career at Texas Tech and played there as a redshirt freshman, and No. 3 defensive tackle Klayton Shoals redshirted as a true freshman at Iowa State before joining the Baylor program.

Howard and Shoals both lettered for the Bears in 2004 while the other four were in the program but sat out due to NCAA transfer rules.

Sepulveda & Andrews Earn Preseason Honors

Baylor senior kick return specialist Willie Andrews and junior punter Daniel Sepulveda were named to the 2005 preseason All-Big 12 team selected by members of the media who cover the conference. Baylor was one of seven league schools to place at least two student-athletes on the preseason honor squad, joining Texas, Oklahoma, Texas Tech, Nebraska, Iowa State and Kansas, and both Bears are coming off 2004 campaigns which saw them earn first-team All-Big 12 honors from the conference's coaches.

A near consensus 2004 first-team All-Big 12 honoree as a return specialist, Andrews also garnered a first-team award from The Dallas Morning News for his standout defensive play. Andrews ranks as the school's all-time leader in total kick return yards (kickoff and punt returns) with 2,057 yards and is poised to own nearly every school return record before his career ends.

Sepulveda, the 2004 Ray Guy Award winner as the nation's top collegiate punter, has designs on becoming the trophy's first-ever two-time winner and only the sixth two-time All-American in school history over his final two seasons as a Bear. In its 2005 preseason annual, The Sporting News tabbed him as a preseason first-team All-American and rated him as the nation's No. 1 punter. Sepulveda was also selected to the 2005 Football Writers Association of America Preseason All-America Checklist, and earned second-team preseason All-America honors from Athlon Sports, Phil Steele's College Football Preview, Rivals.com and third-team recognition from CollegeSportsReport.com.

A consensus 2004 first-team All-Big 12 performer, Sepulveda ranked No. 2 in the Big 12 and No. 3 nationally in punting (46.0 ypp). His 44.3 ypp career average ranks No. 4 among active Division I-A punters and is the best-ever by a Bear. Sepulveda placed 41.9 percent of his punts (26 of 62) inside the opponent's 20-yard line a year ago and his net average of 42.5 ypp ranked No. 2 nationally.

The Bell Tolls

Shawn Bell etched his name in Baylor football lore by leading the Bears to an upset overtime victory over No. 16 Texas A&M a year ago and enters his junior campaign No. 1 on the depth chart at quarterback. Bell, who has made four of his five career starts against nationally ranked opponents, impressed the Baylor coaching staff with his leadership and decision-making during spring drills.

As a sophomore in 2004, Bell completed a team-high 60.2 percent of his passes (68-of-113) for 544 yards and no interceptions with six touchdowns. He ranked No. 8 among all 2004 Big 12 signal callers in pass efficiency rating with a 118.1 mark and started three games (Texas A&M, at Texas Tech, at Oklahoma State) before breaking his left hand (non-throwing) early in the Oklahoma State game and then missing the Oklahoma contest.

"(Bell) seems more mature and more comfortable back there," Morriss said. "Shawn has a better grasp of what we are trying to get done and he knows where he is supposed to go with the football. He knows the personnel that are supposed to be around him and he can get people adjusted.

"The thing that makes him good in our system is the respect he gets from the other 10 guys out there on the field," he added. "The guys respect him and they'll follow him as a quarterback and a leader, that's important."

In his 17-game Baylor career, Bell has thrown just one interception in 211 attempts with seven touchdown strikes to his credit. He enters the 2005 season having thrown 159 consecutive passes without an interception dating back to the second quarter of Baylor's 2003 game at then-No. 1 Oklahoma, a string that ranks first among active Big 12 quarterbacks and that is just 20 attempts shy of second-place on the Big 12's all-time list. The Academic All-America candidate posted a 4.00 grade-point average in the classroom for the spring 2005 semester.

One of three scholarship quarterbacks in the Baylor program, Bell will be challenged by sophomore Terrance Parks, who started the Bears' 2004 season finale against No. 2 Oklahoma, and true freshman Blake Szymanski, who threw for more than 4,000 yards at Wichita Falls (Texas) Rider High School.

Find The Target

Despite having three different starting quarterbacks in 2004, Baylor signal callers broke the school's single-season completion percentage record (.595) for the second consecutive season and threw more touchdowns (17) than interceptions (11) for the first time since the 1996 season. In addition, Baylor set a new school single-season standard for completions with 235.

The 2004 Bears also improved their total offense output (311.8 ypg) by some 30 yards over their 2003 mark (281.4 ypg) and their scoring average (20.4 ppg) was the program's highest since 1996.

Thunder & Lightning

Baylor's running back duo of junior Paul Mosley and sophomore Brandon Whitaker became known to teammates as Thunder and Lightning by the time spring practice had concluded in Waco. Throw in redshirt freshman Jacoby Jones and the Bears should have an explosive three-back attack.

"That's a good punch," Morriss said. "You've got a power guy (Mosley) that can hammer it up inside and a quick guy (Whitaker) that will slash you, cut back and hit the seams and go, as well as a good young back in Jacoby (Jones)."

An All-Big 12 candidate, Mosley rushed for 582 yards as a sophomore, scored a team-high four touchdowns and posted the highest per-carry mark (4.6 ypc) for a Baylor rushing leader since 1997. He was also the team's sixth-leading receiver with 14 receptions for 111 yards and one touchdown.

Whitaker, who lettered as a true freshman in 2003 but sat out the 2004 campaign as a medical redshirt while recovering from a knee injury, drew rave reviews from the Baylor coaches after a nine-tote, 115-yard, four-touchdown performance in the Bears' spring game. Jones ended his prep career at Bangs (Texas) High School as one of the Lone Star's most prolific prep runners ever with totals of 818 carries, 7,611 yards and 99 touchdowns.

Zeigler & Shelton Anchor Deep Receiving Corps

Despite the loss of Marques Roberts, BU's sixth-leading receiver all-time with 91 catches, the Bears' 2005 receiving corps, headlined by a pair of juniors in All-Big 12 candidate Dominique Zeigler and Trent Shelton, may well be the strength of Morriss' 2005 offense.

"We've got some serious speed at wide receiver," Morriss said. "As a group, they can stretch the field and put pressure on a secondary in a hurry."

An honorable mention All-Big 12 performer as a sophomore, Zeigler caught a team-high 55 passes for 536 yards and five touchdowns. His 55 receptions ranked as the sixth-best one-year total in school history as he recorded at least two catches in each of his 10 appearances.

Shelton hauled in 38 passes for 426 yards and four scores to rank third on the squad, while recording both the Bears' season-long rush (71 yards) and reception (55 yards). He heads into 2005 having caught at least one pass in 22 consecutive games, the longest such string for a Bear since Reggie Newhouse ended his career with a 34-game streak (2000-2002).

Bears' Defense Shows Improvement

In Bill Bradley's first season as the Bears' defensive coordinator, his defense produced four All-Big 12 performers and allowed an average of nearly 30 yards per game fewer (421.1 ypg) than it did in 2003 (450.0 ypg). The Bears' pass defense, which ranked 101st among all NCAA I-A programs in 2003 prior to Bradley's arrival, was rated No. 62 at the end of his first season in Waco.

Baylor returns eight starters on the defensive side of the ball for the 2005 season, including its entire first-team secondary, and seven of its top 10 tacklers from a year ago.

Maurice Lane: Tackle Machine

Senior free safety Maurice Lane should contend for All-Big 12 and All-America honors as well as the Thorpe Award in his final season at Baylor after leading the Bears in tackles for the second straight year as a junior. A member of the Thorpe Award's 2005 Preseason Watch List, Lane is listed as the nation's ninth-best free safety according to The Sporting News' preseason magazine.

A second-team 2004 All-Big 12 selection, Lane has started all 34 games he has played in at Baylor and already ranks among the school's all-time leaders in solo tackles. With 205 career solos, he stands No. 4 on BU's career list and needs just 95 more to join College and Pro Hall of Famer Mike Singletary as the only Bears to record 300 or more career solos. Lane, who has 281 career tackles, is just 23 stops shy of the school's all-time top 10 and 100 away from moving into the No. 2 position behind Singletary's career mark of 662 stops.

In 2004, he led the Bears and ranked No. 3 among all Big 12 performers (tops among league defensive backs) in tackles with 104 (9.5 tpg). Lane paced the Big 12 and ranked No. 3 nationally in solo tackles with 7.0 per game, as his 77 solos ranked as the eighth-best one-season total in school history. He ended the season with four straight double-figure tackle games, one of which was a season-high 16-tackle effort at Oklahoma State.

Baylor's All-Purpose Man

One of Baylor's most versatile players, senior outside safety Willie Andrews again figures to be a busy man in the secondary and on special teams for the 2005 Bears. On the field for 854 snaps as a junior, the 2005 All-America and All-Big 12 candidate has started 23 consecutive games in the secondary entering his final Green and Gold campaign.

Andrews led the 2004 Bears in sacks (three), ranked No. 2 in both tackles for loss (10) and quarterback hurries (seven) and was No. 3 in total tackles with 67. A near consensus 2004 first-team All-Big 12 honoree as a return specialist, he also garnered a first-team award from The Dallas Morning News for his standout defensive play. Andrews ranks as the school's all-time leader in total kick return yards (kickoff and punt returns) with 2,057 yards and is poised to own nearly every school return record before his career ends.

Special Special Teams

The strongest facet of Baylor's squad in Guy Morriss' two seasons on the sideline has arguably been its special teams play. After recording four scores in 2003, the Bears' 2004 special team units tallied two more scores and featured the 2004 Ray Guy Award winner in Daniel Sepulveda and consensus first-team All-Big 12 return specialist Willie Andrews.

The 2004 Bears, who ranked No. 5 nationally in net punting (40.6 ypp), No. 35 in kickoff returns (21.7 ypr) and No. 36 in punt returns (11.1 ypr), were the only Big 12 team to rank among the nation's top 36 in all three of those statistical categories a year ago. Perhaps even more impressive is the fact that in the year prior to Mark Nelson's arrival as Baylor's special teams coordinator the program ranked 91st nationally in punt returns, 115th in kickoff returns and 117th in net punting.

Sepulveda captured the Ray Guy Award as the nation's top collegiate punter after ranking No. 3 nationally with his 46.0 yard average and Andrews led the league and ranked 24th nationally in kickoff returns with his 24.7 yard mark.

A senior outside safety who will again contend for All-Big 12 and All-America honors, Andrews ranked No. 6 in the Big 12 and No. 65 nationally in 2004 with 107.6 all-purpose yards per game despite not taking a snap on the offensive side of the ball. He also led the Big 12 and ranked 24th nationally in kickoff returns (24.7 ypr) while standing No. 3 in the league and No. 43 nationally in punt returns (10.8 ypr).

Sepulveda Aims For Guy Award Repeat

Junior Daniel Sepulveda, who received the 2004 Ray Guy Award as the nation's top collegiate punter, has his sights set on becoming the trophy's first-ever two-time winner and only the sixth two-time All-American in school history over his final two seasons as a Bear. In its preseason annual, The Sporting News tabbed him as a preseason first-team All-American and rates him as the nation's No. 1 punter.

The former walk-on, who did not punt in high school, improved his net average from 37.4 ypp in 2003 to 42.5 ypp in 2004. Sepulveda's 2004 average of 46.0 ypp was the second-best single-season mark in school history and he boomed 24 punts 50 or more yards for the year.

Bears Again Lead Big 12 In Graduation Rates

For the fifth time in the Big 12 Conference's nine-year history, Baylor University posted the highest student-athlete graduation rate of any league institution, according to figures released by the NCAA last fall.

The Bears' most-recent graduation rates, for the freshman class of 1997-98, is 78 percent, a school record by four points over the previous high of 74 percent in 2000. That figure is also 8 points higher than Baylor's general student population and 16 points better than the NCAA Division I national average of 62 percent.

Baylor also graduated a Big 12-best 76 percent of its male student-athletes and a league-high 82 percent of its female student-athletes. The Baylor football program produced a Big 12-leading 88 percent graduation rate, marking the fifth time in the league's history it set the standard for classroom excellence.

Among Division I-A institutions, Baylor's overall graduation rate ranked as the nation's 10th-highest mark according to the most-recent NCAA figures.

In addition to leading the Big 12 in graduation rates five times, Baylor ranked second on three other occasions. All-told, 88 percent of Baylor student-athletes who exhausted their eligibility and entered school from 1988-89 through 1997-98 left with degree in hand according to the NCAA study.

Quick Hits

Sophomore cornerback Braelon Davis, who was listed No. 1 on the Bears' depth chart, injured his knee during spring practice and will likely miss the entire 2005 season after undergoing surgery to repair his torn ACL back in May. Named to the 2004 Sporting News All-Big 12 freshman team, Davis ranked No. 10 on the squad in tackles a year ago with 24 stops, however, he is not on the 105-man preseason camp roster ... Sophomore offensive tackle Nick Pace, who started all 12 games along the Bears' o-line in 2003 as a true freshman, returns after a medical redshirt year in 2004 and is listed No. 1 on the depth chart at right offensive tackle ... Three of Baylor's four returning offensive starters are in the offensive line--seniors Lequalan McDonald, Glen Oskin and Evan Stone. McDonald, No. 1 at right guard heading into the 2005 season, has started 23 consecutive games in the trenches for the Bears, while Oskin, listed No. 2 at left guard, made nine starts a year ago (17 for career) and Stone drew seven starts in his first season as a Bear and is the team's No. 2 left tackle ... Baylor's 35-34 OT win over No. 16 Texas A&M a year ago in Waco ended the Bears' 18-game non-winning series streak against the Aggies (the teams played to a 20-20 tie in 1990) and snapped a 22-game losing string against ranked (AP) opponents which dated to the 1998 season and a 33-30 win over No. 20 North Carolina State at Waco ... The Bears have lost 24 straight road games since opening the 2000 season with a 20-7 victory at North Texas and have never won a Big 12 road battle (0-36) ... Guy Morriss' Bears are 6-7 all-told at Floyd Casey Stadium, but stand 0-10 away from Waco in his tenure ... In two seasons under Morriss, nine Bears have earned all-conference honors from the league's coaches, one shy of Baylor's total for the 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2002 seasons combined ... The 2005 NFL Draft saw the Kansas City Chiefs select DE Khari Long in the sixth round, the highest a Bear had been selected since 1999 ... Long is one of 11 Bears currently on 2005 NFL rosters ... The 2005-06 academic year marks the 10th anniversary of Big 12 Conference competition.

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