2017 Baylor Bears football team

2017 Baylor Bears football
Conference	Big 12 Conference
Record	1–11 (1–8 Big 12)
Head coach	Matt Rhule (1st season)
Co-offensive coordinators	Glenn Thomas (1st season) Jeff Nixon (1st season)
Offensive scheme	Spread
Defensive coordinator	Phil Snow (1st season)
Base defense	3–3 stack [1]
Home stadium	McLane Stadium
Seasons ←  2016 2018  →

2017 Big 12 Conference football standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 3 Oklahoma y$^		8	–	1					12	–	2
No. 9 TCU y		7	–	2					11	–	3
No. 14 Oklahoma State		6	–	3					10	–	3
Texas		5	–	4					7	–	6
West Virginia		5	–	4					7	–	6
Kansas State		5	–	4					8	–	5
Iowa State		5	–	4					8	–	5
Texas Tech		3	–	6					6	–	7
Baylor		1	–	8					1	–	11
Kansas		0	–	9					1	–	11
Championship: Oklahoma 41, TCU 17
^ – College Football Playoff participant $ – Conference champion y – Championship game participant Rankings from AP Poll

The 2017 Baylor Bears football team represented Baylor University in the 2017 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Bears played their home games at the McLane Stadium in Waco, Texas and competed in the Big 12 Conference. They were led by first-year head coach Matt Rhule. They finished the season 1–11 (1–8 in-conference) to finish in ninth place in the Big 12.

Recruiting

Position key

Back	B		Center	C		Cornerback	CB		Defensive back	DB
Defensive end	DE		Defensive lineman	DL		Defensive tackle	DT		End	E
Fullback	FB		Guard	G		Halfback	HB		Kicker	K
Kickoff returner	KR		Offensive tackle	OT		Offensive lineman	OL		Linebacker	LB
Long snapper	LS		Punter	P		Punt returner	PR		Quarterback	QB
Running back	RB		Safety	S		Tight end	TE		Wide receiver	WR

Recruits

Baylor signed a total of 27 recruits.

College recruiting information (2017)
Name	Hometown	School	Height	Weight	Commit date
Jalen Pitre S	Stafford, Texas	Stafford HS	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	197 lb (89 kg)	Jul 24, 2015
	Recruit ratings: Scout:      Rivals:      247Sports:      ESPN:
Trevon Lewis S	Houston, Texas	Lamar HS	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	180 lb (82 kg)	Dec 28, 2016
	Recruit ratings: Scout:      Rivals:      247Sports:      ESPN:
Timarcus Davis CB	College Station, Texas	College Station HS	5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)	165 lb (75 kg)	Dec 31, 2016
	Recruit ratings: Scout:      Rivals:      247Sports:      ESPN:
Charlie Brewer QB	Austin, Texas	Lake Travis HS	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)	188 lb (85 kg)	Dec 31, 2016
	Recruit ratings: Scout:      Rivals:      247Sports:      ESPN:
James Lynch DT	Round Rock, Texas	Round Rock HS	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	282 lb (128 kg)	Jan 4, 2017
	Recruit ratings: Scout:      Rivals:      247Sports:      ESPN:
Abram Smith RB	Abilene, Texas	Abilene HS	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	196 lb (89 kg)	Jan 5, 2017
	Recruit ratings: Scout:      Rivals:      247Sports:      ESPN:
RJ Sneed WR	Cypress, Texas	Cypress Ranch HS	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	180 lb (82 kg)	Jan 7, 2017
	Recruit ratings: Scout:      Rivals:      247Sports:      ESPN:
Harrison Hand CB	Cherry Hill, New Jersey	Cherry Hill HS West	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	183 lb (83 kg)	Jan 7, 2017
	Recruit ratings: Scout:      Rivals:      247Sports:      ESPN:
Jason Moore OT	Frisco, Texas	Independence HS	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	275 lb (125 kg)	Jan 15, 2017
	Recruit ratings: Scout:      Rivals:      247Sports:      ESPN:
Eleasah Anderson OG	Houston, Texas	Alief Taylor HS	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	280 lb (130 kg)	Jan 15, 2017
	Recruit ratings: Scout:      Rivals:      247Sports:      ESPN:
Trestan Ebner WR	Henderson, Texas	Henderson HS	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	188 lb (85 kg)	Jan 15, 2017
	Recruit ratings: Scout:      Rivals:      247Sports:      ESPN:
Xavier Newman-Johnson OC	DeSoto, Texas	DeSoto HS	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	272 lb (123 kg)	Jan 15, 2017
	Recruit ratings: Scout:      Rivals:      247Sports:      ESPN:
Ashton Logan S	Temple, Texas	Temple HS	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)	203 lb (92 kg)	Jan 18, 2017
	Recruit ratings: Scout:      Rivals:      247Sports:      ESPN:
Terrel Bernard LB	La Porte, Texas	La Porte HS	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)	200 lb (91 kg)	Jan 18, 2017
	Recruit ratings: Scout:      Rivals:      247Sports:      ESPN:
Rob Saulin DE	Pennsville, New Jersey	Memorial HS	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	240 lb (110 kg)	Jan 22, 2017
	Recruit ratings: Scout:      Rivals:      247Sports:      ESPN:
Khahil Keith OT	Alpine, Alabama	Winterboro HS	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	293 lb (133 kg)	Jan 22, 2017
	Recruit ratings: Scout:      Rivals:      247Sports:      ESPN:
Cole Maxwell DE	Allen, Texas	Allen HS	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	225 lb (102 kg)	Jan 22, 2017
	Recruit ratings: Scout:      Rivals:      247Sports:      ESPN:
Henry Klinge OG	Southlake, Texas	Carroll HS	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	295 lb (134 kg)	Jan 22, 2017
	Recruit ratings: Scout:      Rivals:      247Sports:      ESPN:
Bryson Jackson LB	Mansfield, Texas	Lake Ridge HS	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	195 lb (88 kg)	Jan 22, 2017
	Recruit ratings: Scout:      Rivals:      247Sports:      ESPN:
Gavin Holmes WR	Justin, Texas	Northwest HS	5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)	178 lb (81 kg)	Jan 22, 2017
	Recruit ratings: Scout:      Rivals:      247Sports:      ESPN:
Chidi Ogbonnaya DE	Houston, Texas	Langham Creek HS	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	245 lb (111 kg)	Jan 26, 2017
	Recruit ratings: Scout:      Rivals:      247Sports:      ESPN:
Ryan Miller C	Southlake, Texas	Carroll HS	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	270 lb (120 kg)	Jan 29, 2017
	Recruit ratings: Scout:      Rivals:      247Sports:      ESPN:
Tyler Henderson TE	Kyle, Texas	Lehman HS	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	225 lb (102 kg)	Jan 29, 2017
	Recruit ratings: Scout:      Rivals:      247Sports:      ESPN:
Johnathan Lovett RB	Marlton, New Jersey	Cherokee HS	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	Jan 30, 2017
	Recruit ratings: Scout:      Rivals:      247Sports:      ESPN:
DeMarco Artis DE	Sanford, Florida	Seminole HS	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	220 lb (100 kg)	Jan 31, 2017
	Recruit ratings: Scout:      Rivals:      247Sports:      ESPN:
B.J. Thompson DE	England, Arkansas	England HS	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	210 lb (95 kg)	Feb 1, 2017
	Recruit ratings: Scout:      Rivals:      247Sports:      ESPN:
Justin Harris DE	Gonzales, Louisiana	East Ascension HS	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	250 lb (110 kg)	Feb 1, 2017
	Recruit ratings: Scout:      Rivals:      247Sports:      ESPN:
Overall recruit ranking:
Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, On3, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: "Baylor Football Commitments". Rivals. Retrieved February 7, 2017. "2017 Baylor Football Commits". Scout. Retrieved February 7, 2017. "ESPN". ESPN. Retrieved February 7, 2017. "Scout.com Team Recruiting Rankings". Scout. Retrieved February 7, 2017. "2017 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. Retrieved February 7, 2017.

Schedule

Baylor announced its 2017 football schedule on December 13, 2016. The 2017 schedule consisted of 6 home, 5 away and 1 neutral site game in the regular season. The Bears hosted Big 12 foes Iowa State, Oklahoma, Texas, and West Virginia, and will travel to Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma State, and TCU. Baylor played Texas Tech for the seventh season in a row in Arlington, Texas. ^[2]

The Bears hosted two of the three non-conference opponents, Liberty from the Big South Conference and UTSA from Conference USA and travel to Duke from the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Date	Time	Opponent	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 2	6:00 p.m.	Liberty *	McLane Stadium Waco, TX	FS2	L 45–48	45,784
September 9	6:00 p.m.	UTSA *	McLane Stadium Waco, TX	FSN	L 10–17	41,923
September 16	11:30 a.m.	at Duke *	Wallace Wade Stadium Durham, NC	ACCRSN	L 20–34	26,714
September 23	5:30 p.m.	No. 3 Oklahoma	McLane Stadium Waco, TX	FS1	L 41–49	43,573
September 30	2:30 p.m.	at Kansas State	Bill Snyder Family Football Stadium Manhattan, KS	ESPN2	L 20–33	52,293
October 14	2:30 p.m.	at No. 14 Oklahoma State	Boone Pickens Stadium Stillwater, OK	FS1	L 16–59	56,790
October 21	7:00 p.m.	No. 23 West Virginia	McLane Stadium Waco, TX	FS2	L 36–38	45,389
October 28	11:00 a.m.	Texas	McLane Stadium Waco, TX (rivalry)	ESPNU	L 7–38	45,656
November 4	11:00 a.m.	at Kansas	Memorial Stadium Lawrence, KS	FSN	W 38–9	21,797
November 11	11:00 a.m.	vs. Texas Tech	AT&T Stadium Arlington, TX (rivalry)	FSN	L 24–38	34,482
November 18	1:30 p.m.	Iowa State	McLane Stadium Waco, TX	FSN	L 13–23	40,653
November 24	11:30 a.m.	at No. 10 TCU	Amon G. Carter Stadium Fort Worth, TX (rivalry)	FS1	L 22–45	43,015
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to game All times are in Central time

Schedule source: ^[3]

Roster

2017 Baylor Bears football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class WR 6 Trevor White  Jr RB 7 John Lovett Fr QB 8 Zach Smith  So QB 12 Charlie Brewer Fr QB 12 Anu Solomon  Sr WR 13 Tony Nicholson  So WR 14 Chris Platt  Jr WR 15 Denzel Mims  So WR 16 Jared Atkinson  So QB 16 Preston Heard  So QB 17 Garret McGuire Fr WR 17 Pooh Stricklin  So WR 18 Gavin Holmes Fr QB 18 Zack Bennema  So WR 19 R.J. Sneed Fr WR 21 Blake Lynch  So RB 22 Terence Williams  Jr RB 23 Obim Okeke  So TE 24 Ishmail Wainright Sr RB 25 Trestan Ebner Fr RB 28 Abram Smith Fr RB 30 Wyatt Schrepfer  Jr RB 33 JaMycal Hasty  So WR 34 Marques Jones  So RB 35 Dwyer Bucey  So RB 40 Jonathan Hockman  Sr RB 44 Dru Dixon Fr FB 47 Kyle Boyd  So OL 52 Sam Tecklenburg  So OL 55 Xavier Newman-Johnson  Fr OL 56 Tyrae Simmons  Sr OL 57 Jason Moore  Fr OL 58 Ty Smith  Fr OL 61 Khalil Keith  Fr OL 62 Dalton Justice  So OL 63 Daniel Russell  Sr OL 64 Ryan Miller  Fr OL 65 Christian Beard  Jr OL 69 Josh Malin  Jr OL 71 Jim Threet  Fr OL 72 Blake Blackmar  Jr OL 75 Eleasah Anderson  Fr OL 76 Mo Porter  Sr OL 77 Patrick Lawrence  Jr OL 78 Henry Klinge III  Fr OL 79 Jake Fruhmorgen  Jr WR 80 Tyler Jaynes  Sr WR 81 Blake Murphy  Sr TE 82 Tyler Henderson  Fr WR 83 Russell Morrison  Fr WR 84 Jalen Hurd  Sr TE 85 Jordan Feuerbacher  Sr TE 86 Rob Saulin  Fr TE 87 Jayson Clements  Jr WR 88 Quan Jones  Sr	Defense Pos. # Name Class LB 1 Taylor Young  Sr S 2 Taion Sells  Sr S 3 Chris Miller So CB 4 Grayland Arnold So DE 5 Brian Nance  Sr DT 9 Ira Lewis  Jr CB 11 Jameson Houston  So S 12 Davion Hall  Sr CB 13 Raleigh Texada  Fr LB 15 Eric Ogor  So S 18 Chance Waz  Sr CB 19 Niko Harrell  So S 20 Rajah Preciado  So CB 22 Jordan Tolbert  So LB 24 Jalen Pitre Fr LB 26 Terrel Bernard Fr S 27 Verkedric Vaughns  Jr LB 28 Henry Black  So S 29 Jarrod Koym  Jr S 30 Tre'von Lewis Fr CB 31 Harrison Hand Fr LB 32 Lenoy Jones Jr.  So DE 33 DJ Artis Fr CB 35 Ezekiel Brown  Fr LB 36 Allen Anderson  Fr CB 37 Timarcus Davis Fr LB 38 Jordan Williams  So S 39 John Arthur Fr DL 40 Deonte Williams  Jr S 41 Connor Stanton Fr S 42 Jairon McVea  Fr DE 43 Jamie Jacobs  Jr LB 44 Clay Johnston  So LB 45 Bryson Jackson  Jr DE 48 BJ Thompson Fr LB 49 Chad Kelly  Fr LB 50 Ashton Logan Fr DE 52 Greg Roberts  Jr DL 54 Will Jones  Jr DE 55 James Lockhart  Jr DE 56 K.J. Smith  Sr LB 57 Iain Hunter  Sr LB 58 Michael McNair  Fr LB 59 Koby Bullard  So DT 73 Chidi Ogbonnaya  Fr DT 78 Cody George  So DE 90 Tyrone Hunt  So DE 91 Andrew Morris  Jr DT 92 Micheal Johnson  So DT 93 James Lynch  Fr DE 94 Xavier Jones  Sr DE 96 Cole Maxwell  Fr DE 98 Justin Harris  Fr DT 99 Bravvion Roy  So	Special teams Pos. # Name Class P/K 36 Drew Galitz  Jr K 89 Jay Sedwick Fr K 95 Peter Webster  So K/P 96 Connor Martin  So LS 41 Clint Kelly  Jr LS 46 Ross Matiscik  So LS 51 Chris Lutzel  So LS 67 Thor Rodoni  So	Head coach Matt Rhule Coordinators/assistant coaches Phil Snow – Defensive coordinator Jeff Nixon – Co-offensive coordinator / Running backs Fran Brown – Assistant head coach / defensive backs George DeLeone – Offensive line Joey McGuire – Tight ends Elijah Robinson – Defensive line Mike Siravo – Linebackers / recruiting coordniator Glenn Thomas – Quarterbacks Bob Bicknell – Wide receivers Shawn Bell – Analyst Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt Roster

References

1. Newton, David (September 29, 2021). "Carolina Panthers' top-ranked defense reflects 'old-man' strength of Phil Snow". ESPN . Retrieved December 5, 2023.
2. "2017 Football Schedule Released" (Press release). Baylor University Department of Athletics. December 13, 2016. Archived from the original on February 14, 2017. Retrieved February 14, 2017.
3. "2017 Baylor Bears Football Schedule". FB Schedules. Retrieved February 14, 2017.