March 29, 2007

Heavy rains in Central Texas cut short the Baylor football team's Thursday afternoon full-pad workout on the Floyd Casey Stadium turf.

"We got about 18 plays of 9 on 7 filmed before the rains hit," said Baylor coach Guy Morriss. "It's not the rain, but the lightning that really forced us off the field. Texas in the spring you are going to have lightning. So, we just try to do the best we can right now. That's all we can do."

While most of the attention during spring practice has been focused on the Bears' quarterback race, another battle is underway to replace Baylor's top two wide receivers a year ago in Dominique Zeigler (54 receptions for 741 yards and 3 touchdowns) and Trent Shelton (53 receptions for 802 yards and 8 touchdowns).

Juniors Mikail Baker, Thomas White and Queito Teasley, along with sophomore Ernest Smith, are locked in a four-way fight to claim the top spots on the Baylor depth chart.

"We've been pleased with all of them," Morriss said. "We are wearing those guys out since we don't have all the troops in here yet."

Teasley, who was moved from the offensive side of the ball to the defensive backfield midway through the 2006 campaign, has returned to wide receiver this spring and drew praise from Morriss.

"I think it is a move he wanted to make and his relationship with Kasey (Dunn) has been pretty good," Morriss said. "He's come up with some big plays in every practice. I won't say he's arrived yet, but we've seen more production out of him this spring probably since he's been here."

Thursday's practice was the Bears' seventh of the spring and Morriss has been pleased with his team's progress thus far.

"As a team, we feel good about it (our progress this spring)," Morriss said. "The defense is ahead of the offense right now I think from a physical and intensity standpoint. We're kind of in the evolution, the second part of this offense. The big stuff everyone knows, but now it's the details and a few more technique wrinkles that we are learning. You can see the kids are still thinking a little bit, but I think everyone has a good grasp of what we are trying to get done."

Baylor will take Friday off then complete with a Saturday morning practice inside Floyd Casey Stadium to conclude its second week of spring drills. Baylor's annual Green & Gold game is set for 1 p.m. on April 14 at Floyd Casey Stadium.