Baylor Ranked in Top 10 of Preseason Coaches Poll
The hype train has been chugging down the tracks since the clock hit triple zeros at the Super Dome on New Year's Day. After capping off their winningest season ever with a Sugar Bowl victory, the Baylor Bears knew they would be a team with a lot of expectations heading into 2022.
The hype won't stop now, as the Bears landed the No. 10 spot in the preseason Coaches Poll Monday.
Now the Bears only expect to return five starters on offense but return seven starters from a suffocating defense that led the program to new heights a year ago.
Undoubtedly the biggest returner for the Bears is coach Dave Aranda, who was approached for more than a few top-tier head coaching jobs around college football last winter but decided to stay at Baylor.
He also kept Offensive Coordinator Jeff Grimes and Defensive Coordinator Ron Roberts in the building, allowing the Bears to pick up where they left off more or less.
The Bears are sandwiched between Big 12 rivals Oklahoma (No. 9) and Oklahoma State (No. 11) but are still the favorites to capture the conference title for the second straight year.
The top-10 ranking isn't the only notoriety the Bears are getting, as they had five preseason All-Big 12 selections as well.
One man absent from those lists is the Bears' new quarterback, Blake Shapen, who beat out Gerry Bohanon for the job in spring practice. Shapen notably started for the Bears down the stretch last year, beating Texas Tech in his first start before lighting up Oklahoma State for three touchdowns in the Big 12 Championship Game.
Shapen will lead an inexperienced group in the running back and wide receiver rooms, but the guys in front of him have seen plenty of action. The Bears return four of their five starters on the offensive line from 2021, including Big 12 Offensive Lineman of the Year Connor Galvin.
2022 is really the first year the Bears have had any hype going into the season, as this is the first time they have been ranked in the preseason top 25 since 2016 and within the preseason top 10 since the year before.
The Bears open up the 2022 season against Albany at McLane Stadium on September 3.
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Covering Baylor for Inside The Bears and the Locked on Baylor podcast. You can follow me for more Baylor content at @realcamstuart on Twitter. Originally from Rockland, Massachusetts and a Baylor alum, so I might mix the occasional bias and/or Boston sports tweet in there every once in a while.