After former Baylor QB Gerry Bohanon ushered the Bears to their greatest season ever in 2021 where they secured a program-high 12 wins, recorded their first-ever Big 12 Championship title game victory, had first and only New Years 6 bowl win in the CFP era, and notched 5 wins over Top 25 opponents for their most top-25 wins in a season since at least 1974, the Bears’ coaching staff opted to start backup QB Blake Shapen in Bohanon’s place for the 2022 season. As the starter, Bohanon completed completed 173 of 225 passing attempts (76.8%) for 2,200 yards and 18 TDs as well as 76 carries for 323 yards and 9 TDs without an interception for the first six games of the season. However, after Bohanon went out of the Kansas State game with a hamstring injury, Shapen—the sophomore baseball standout from Louisiana—jumped into action and gave Baylor fans renewed excitement in a signal caller. Leading the Bears to back-to-back conference victories and the program’s third-ever Big 12 Championship, Shapen was named MVP for his performance in the 2021 conference title game. Over the course of six games two seasons ago with three of them being in garbage time, Shapen completed 62 of 86 passing attempts (72% completion rate) for 596 yards and 5 TDs. He also added 21 carries for 59 yards. In the Big 12 title game against Oklahoma State alone, he notched a collegiate-high 17 consecutive completions for 180 yards and 3 scores. Unfortunately, Shapen’s success was quite limited in his first season as the Baylor starter as the team finished with a 6-7 record and four consecutive losses to close 2022. Shapen completed 222 of 345 passing attempts (64%) for 2,602 yards with 16 TDs and 10 interceptions and added 71 carries for 104 yards and 2 TDs. With many of the Bears’ games ending in what felt like offensive collapse and following the transfer of backup redshirt freshman QB Kyron Drones, many fans were desperate for a new QB at the helm. Head Coach Dave Aranda and his offensive staff seemed to land the perfect signal caller in Dripping Springs star Austin Novosad—even going so far as to forego recruiting a QB before his senior year—but Novosad flipped on the Bears the morning of 2022’s Early Signing Day to play for Oregon instead. Having Shapen as the lone scholarship QB on the Baylor roster was less than ideal and it seemed like it took forever for the Bears to find a transfer QB from the portal. Thankfully, the day for a new Baylor QB finally arrived as Mississippi State transfer Sawyer Robertson announced he’ll be moving to Waco for the upcoming season! Robertson was a former 4-star prospect out of Lubbock who threw for 12,148 yards and 146 TDs on 1,359 passing attempts throughout his career at Coronado High School. He ranks 8th all time in completions, 10th in TDs, and 13th in yards in the state of Texas. TCU was also recruiting Robertson as they’ll lose Heisman runner up QB Max Duggan, but the former chose Baylor after an official visit to Waco this past weekend. There are few positions the Bears needed help in more than QB (the secondary needs a major overhaul as well) and Robertson’s commitment is thrilling for all who love the green and gold!
