Blake Shapen Ready to Take Command of Baylor’s Huddle
To say that quarterback Blake Shapen was on fire in the Baylor’s Bears Big 12 Championship victory over Oklahoma State last year would be an understatement.
In his second career start, due to an injury to Bears’ starter Gerry Bohanon, the then-freshman Shapen completed 17 consecutive passes during the first half, a Big 12 Championship Game record, as well as three touchdowns. The Bears defeated the Cowboys 21-16.
Now in the spring of 2022, the young gunslinger has come up with another big win: being named Baylor’s starting quarterback for the fall. He beat out last year’s starter, Bohanon, who is now going to play for USF, during spring practice and will be looking to continue his undefeated streak as a starter (2-0).
In a little over two and a half games, the Louisiana native passed for just south of 600 yards to go along with five touchdowns and, perhaps most impressively, zero interceptions.
Shapen’s proven ability to take care of the ball is something that head coach Dave Aranda has to be excited about as Baylor boasted one of the nation's best turnover margins last year (27-15, ranked No. 7 in the nation). He’s also been clutch.
During third-down passes in 2021, Shapen went 17 of 20 for 142 yards and three touchdowns. That’s a quarterback rating of 194.1. It does not get much better than that. Well, unless one looks even closer at Shapen’s third-down passes.
During plays when it was third down and 10 or more, Shapen’s accuracy proved to be incredible under pressure. Six of seven, 74 yards passing and a touchdown. That’s an even higher quarterback rating of 221.7. Remember, this past season was Shapen’s first chance to truly play. He redshirted in 2020.
Shapen has dynamic playmaking ability and huge long-term potential with plenty of eligibility remaining to continue to improve. Baylor will lose 1,600 yards of rushing offense as running back Abram Smith departs, so there will be an increased load on Shapen’s shoulders. He likely benefited from defenses focusing on Smith during his unforeseen starts.
Baylor offensive coordinator Jeff Grimes will inevitably retool the Bears' offense away from some of the designed quarterback power runs utilized last season for the bulkier Bohanon (6’3” and 221 pounds).
That’s not to say Shapen can’t move though. He’s quick and elusive, having shown some wheels on his 28-yard run against Kansas State last year, but he’s just a bit slighter in stature (6’0” and 195-pounds) than Bohanon was and Grimes can’t risk putting him in harm’s way too frequently.
Grimes’ offense will likely resemble the one he ran at BYU for Zach Wilson, who saw wild success in the system and was the second overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft (New York Jets).
Catching Shapen’s passes will be redshirt senior Gavin Holmes, the most experienced receiver left on Baylor’s roster after losing Tyquan Thornton and Drew Estrada to the NFL. He’s missed the last two seasons with ACL issues but has seen by far the most field action.
His familiarity could prove to be a security blanket for Shapen as he takes the reins. Holmes is already excited about the offense saying, "We're always learning…They're always throwing new stuff at us, it's never the same. There are always some new additions, new things we're working on. I think it's just a matter of getting those things down. There are always going to be new things for us to learn."
Shapen will also have a bevy of young route runners, such as freshmen Josh Cameron and sophomore Monaray Ball, who has seen the second-most snaps behind Holmes.
Shapen will have a slightly more challenging road ahead now that he’ll be the opponents’ main focus, but in Grimes’ system, the young playmaker could thrive early and often this season.
It will be one tall task to replicate last year’s 12-win, Big 12 championship season, but Shapen has already shone brightly on big stages and the Bears offense appears to be looking at a very bright future.
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