2023 Big XII 2023 Pre-Season Preview, Part One

[Giambro]

Hello and welcome to this first press release of the Big XII Pre-Season Preview, we will see a round up of the 14 (Fourteen? why? Is it Big XIV now?) teams that compose this great conference. Hope this article finds all of you well, now lets get to the first three teams.

Baylor, Coach Vivid

With mostly B ovr in their whole offense Coach Vivid has a solid unit in there with QB Travis Knebel being the star. The receiving group is ok, it seems like WR Tyler Prochnow could be the highlight but being this his first season at the college level after being redshirted he needs to show he deserves to be WR1. TE Tank Lind will surely be a big body that Knebel could use to secure some yards in crucial plays. The O-line is built to facilitate the pass game rather than the run game it seems so it will be interesting to see how they can complement little Knebel´s ability to be a swiss knife.

 

The run game was a huge part in Baylor success winning his second straight Big XII Conference Championship, this year the scrambler QB will count on the two punch game of FB Adrian Pederson accompanied with RB´s Shareece Hinojosa and/or Giovanni Stills.

 

On the defensive side of the field Baylor appears to be a great passing game stopper with the combination of CBs Skye Lattimore and Toru Alvarez and Ss Jordan Thomas Garrett Smith that Vivid sure would hope covers the lack of outstanding talent in the Linebacker room. The Defensive Line is promising with two versatile RS JRs DT Mike Gallman and DE Darrell Sadler.

 

Baylor can still project a great future with this program with one of the best recruiting classes in the conference while still competing for the top of the Big XII. It is a different team from the one we saw last year, let's see how Coach Vivid manages to get the best from these guys.

 

Kansas, Coach: bundy

This right here is a pretty interesting roster. Bundy had a great recruiting work last year and got ten 4 star recruits, most of them will be redshirted though, so this year we may see a mostly mature team on the field, let's see how the roster is composed.

 

The highlight of the offense is SR TE Alex Atkins who I project to be a prospect for the 2024 NFL Draft, AA can and will help the team in every aspect of the game, I think he could also play DT and eat some guards and centers, he seems that good.

 

The receiving group, outside of Nate Lucas, does not seem promising at all. The thing is also that the QB room is full of wannabe running backs… Not a single one surpasses the C rating in throw power nor accuracy.

 

So let's focus on the run game with a very well constructed run game focused offensive line. The 4 man game of OT Zach Rogers, OT Zac Griffin, OG Jose Moustakas and OG Anderson Durant seems promising, they will help the scramblers scrambling and will build up a great relation with FB Marcell Maysonet and RB Cody Casspi.

 

The other half of the roster is weird… Coach bundy decided to redshirt two potential starters at the cornerback and defensive tackle position (maybe Double A will fill in that role) opening the room for rumors. Was there a fight? Will Adrian Morris and Tim Keller seek for the transfer portal next season? We will see, hope Coach bundy has some words to clarify this.

 

With that out of the I will highlight the defensive line of Kansas, a very well rounded one, with some great pass rushers in DE Randal Holmes, DE Chris Barreto and several fine run stoppers. They will be accompanied by an average group of LBs and a backfield that will sure miss redshirted Tim Keller.

 

Kansas does seem like a promising team, hope bundy knows where this team is heading and I wish for the best to his program.

 

Ohlahoma, Coach: DStack

We finish this first Big XII preview with Oklahoma who shows a very interesting pass focused offense, Coach DStack has the talent in WRs Tim McRae and Jonathon David, in TE Ed Kemp, in OLine… But lacks a skilled QB who can facilitate to these guys, there sure will be a fight for the starting job there between Anthony Jones who has the sense but lacks the skill and Alex Kerin who seems above average but being already a SR and competing against a 4 star RS SO his days at the college level seem over.

 

The RB room is above average and it seems it will give Coach DStacks some reliable yardage throughout the entire season. SRs Eric Hall and Alex Neary are joined by RS SOs Keibert Watson and Ji-Man Nwosu. A deep group that will surely manage to get through injuries and a lack of any true FB in the roster.

 

Here in the defense of the Oklahoma Sooners we have a more interesting group, this is a talented one. The front line has two great pass rushers in DEs Omarius Beasley and Matt Odor that will join DT Edinson Bailey in a sure three-man line. The backline has a great pass coverage game also, CB Chaz Zeitler will join forces with Ss Mike Barr and Steven Aguilar to cover up the backfield. The Linebackers are above average and it will be interesting to see how they mix up with the other groups.

 

I like Coach DStacks roster, his last recruiting class was not one to highlight but with some success this season he could end up channeling his program to a greener looking future.

[Vivid]

Great work here!!

[tsweezy]

Lol Baylor has little Knebel, does that mean Vontae is big Knebel?

[Giambro]

He is short, that is why. Nothing to do with Vontae.