Aug. 24, 2007
The Baylor football team continued to polish its offensive and defensive game plans for next Saturday's game at No. 22 TCU with a two-hour full-pad workout Friday afternoon on the grass practice fields at Floyd Casey Stadium.
"I think there will be some adrenaline will start kicking in and there is a prize at the end of the week, so I know that they will be looking forward to playing a game," said Baylor head coach Guy Morriss. "We are going to back off a little more time and we probably won't hit very much next week. We'll try to make sure we have our legs back under us and polish up mentally.
"Everything is pretty much in (for TCU) now, we've been repping for the last week to 10 days for TCU and it's coming together," he added. "We'll just polish it up next week. Heck, if they don't know it by then, they probably aren't going to get it. My primary goals are to not get anyone hurt, get their legs under them, keep them mentally fresh and see if we can't come out of the gate with a strong start."
Morriss also announced following Friday's workout that fifth-year senior offensive guard Chad Smith as left the team for personal reasons and will forgo his final Green & Gold season to enter the workforce. A native of Allen, Texas, Chad Smith was listed No. 2 at right guard on the latest depth chart. He started every game a year ago and his 16 career starts rank second among active Bears behind Jason Smith's 20 career starts.
"Chad (Smith) has decided that he is going to move on with his life," Morriss said. "He's going to go home and try to go to work. He's graduated and is not pursing any kind of master's degree. Chad is really beat up. His knee puffed up on him yesterday and I just think he's just got a tired body.
"It's a decision he has to make," he added. "I know that he talked with his family last night and they prayed about it. He came in today and told me is just going to try and go to work."
With Chad Smith's departure, fifth-year senior Ricky Hasoon will back up sophomore James Barnard at right guard, but the Bears will be very thin at the tackles.
Baylor will return to practice Saturday at 9:30 a.m. on the grass practice fields. All practices are closed to the public.
Notes: Sophomore offensive tackle Thad Boatner (right knee strain) and freshman linebacker Chris Francis (left knee strain) missed Friday's practice, while redshirt freshman running back Jay Finley (shoulder) returned after missing a portion of Thursday's workout with a shoulder injury ... Baylor assistant head coach/special teams coordinator/wide receivers coach Kasey Dunn is a member of the University of Idaho's first athletic Hall of Fame class and will be inducted on Sept. 7 ... Dunn was a three-time All-American wide receiver for the Vandals and still holds the school's career records for receptions (268) and receiving yards (3,847), while ranking No. 2 in touchdown receptions (25) ... Kickoff for Baylor's season-opener at No. 22 TCU is set for 5 p.m. on Sept. 1 at Amon G. Carter Stadium in Fort Worth and the game will be televised nationally on CSTV with Tom Hart and former Nebraska All-American and Butkus Award winner Trev Alberts calling the action.
