Baylor Preview: The Key Players to Watch on the Bear Offense

Oklahoma State heads on the road to face Baylor this weekend in Waco. To preview the game, I wanted to take a look at two key players on each side of the ball for the Bears. For this post, I will focus on the offense and I will come back later in the week to touch on the Baylor defense.

With BU starting quarterback Charlie Brewer currently under concussion protocol, I decided to leave him out of the players to watch as there’s a chance he may not play on Saturday.

Matt Rhule said QB Charlie Brewer is still in concussion protocol. He’s progressing nicely and they hope he’ll be available for Saturday if he can pass the final, mandatory cognitive test. Brewer has practiced the last two days since there’s no contact. #Baylor

— Craig Smoak (@CraigSmoak) October 31, 2018

With that said, let’s get to this week’s key players.

Jalen Hurd | WR | 6-4, 217 | R-Sr.

Jalen Hurd had rushed for 2,635 yards and 20 touchdowns in his three seasons at the University of Tennessee. However, the former five-star recruit decided he didn’t see himself as a Volunteer running back any longer and decided to transfer to Baylor and switch to wide receiver. When asked about why he made the switch to receiver he noted injuries at his former position as the primary driver.

“My body was not really feeling that well at running back,” he said. “I had a lot of injuries at Tennessee, and the switch has been great for me to rest my body. I’ll be able to play a lot longer, I think, at this position.” [247Sports]

After redshirting last year to comply with NCAA transfer rules, the Hendersonville, Tennessee product has finally gotten a chance to show what he can do in his new offensive role, and he’s made the most of it.

Through eight games, he leads the team in receiving yards with 660 and is second in receiving touchdowns with 3. Additionally, he ranks fourth for the Bears in terms of rushing yards with 132 on 27 attempts and has found the end zone 3 times on the ground, showing he still has “it” at his former position.

Hurd was an Eddie George-type running back in terms of size, listed at 6-4, 240 pounds, but he’s slimmed down significantly since transferring to Baylor, as he now weighs in at 217. He was listed as one of NFL.com‘s most “freakish” athletes for 2018 due to his insane athleticism.

“Hurd squatted more than 500 pounds, ran the 40-yard dash consistently in the 4.4-second range, posted a 40-inch vertical jump and ran 20-yard shuttles of 3.8 and 3.9 seconds. For some context, as cited by Hayes, the best vertical jump at this year’s NFL Combine was 41.5 inches and the recent best at the combine in the 20-yard shuttle was 3.81.” [FanSided]

This athleticism has definitely been put on display this season both as a receiver.

And, as a running back.

Denzel Mims | WR | 6-3, 208 | Jr.

For the second key player, I’m going with another Baylor wideout. Mims was a preseason All-Big 12 selection at wide receiver after racking up 1,087 yards and 8 touchdowns in 2017. Assuming Baylor makes a bowl game, the junior receiver is on pace to be right around those numbers again in 2018. He has amazing speed for his size, standing at 6-3, 208 pounds, and is very tough to bring down in the open field.

His length gives him a very wide catch radius and he has great balance and body control to make plays like this.

Mims didn’t have a very impressive performance a year ago in Stillwater, recording only 2 catches for 20 yards. However, he was battling illness coming into that game, and should be fully healthy and ready to go this weekend. The Cowboy secondary will have their work cut out for them this Saturday in Waco with these two and the rest of the Baylor receivers.