• Big dreams, bigger talent: No. 4-ranked Baylor football set to open 2015 season

    Baylor Football 2015

    One week from today, Baylor football will kick off the 2015 season at SMU (6 p.m., ESPN). Coming off back-to-back Big 12 titles, the Bears will begin the year ranked No. 4 in the nation — the program’s best-ever preseason ranking.

    Why so high? For starters, Baylor returns 17 of 22 starters from last year’s squad that just missed the inaugural College Football Playoff.

    Among those returning players are some of the best athletes in the nation. LostLettermen.com named wide receiver Corey Coleman, who can out-run and out-jump any defender, and 6-foot-9, 275-pound defensive end Shawn Oakman the two “most freakish” players in college football, while FOX Sports ranked Oakman No. 1 and LaQuan McGowan, the Bears’ 6-foot-7, 410-pound tight end, at No. 11 in its list of the game’s biggest “freaks.” (CBS Sports & Sports Illustrated also profiled McGowan on his own; the SI story, in particular, dives deep into McGowan’s back story.)

    FOX Sports says 3 of the top 5 players in the Big 12 wear green and gold; Athlon Sports went a step further, finding that 7 of the Big 12’s top 25 players come from Baylor. Those numbers include six preseason All-Americans (Andrew Billings, KD Cannon, Coleman, Spencer Drango, Kyle Fuller and Oakman) and 10 preseason All-Big 12 first-team selections (those six, plus Tre’Von Armstead, Shock Linwood, Orion Stewart and Taylor Young).

    [PRESEASON PREVIEWS: ESPN || Sports Illustrated || Athlon Sports || Dallas Morning News || BaylorBears.com]

    Nine players made preseason watch lists for 11 different national individual awards: Billings (Bednarik, Nagurski, Outland, Rotary Lombardi), Beau Blackshear (Outland), Cannon (Biletnikoff), Coleman (Biletnikoff, Campbell Tyler Rose), Drango (Outland, Rotary Lombardi, Wuerffel), Fuller (Rimington, Rotary Lombardi), Linwood (Maxwell, Doak Walker), Oakman (Walter Camp, Bednarik, Nagurski, Rotary Lombardi) and Seth Russell (Maxwell, Campbell Tyler Rose).

    Such talent means increased interest in Baylor football, as seen in preseason ticket sales. The program set a record with more than 28,000 season tickets sold, which does not include the 9,000+ seats reserved for students. Home games against Iowa State (Homecoming), Oklahoma and Texas have already sold out, but a few seats at McLane Stadium are still available for games versus Lamar, Rice and West Virginia. Tickets are also on sale now for the Texas Farm Bureau Insurance Shootout against Texas Tech at AT&T Stadium in Dallas.

    A few seats even remain for next Friday’s opener at SMU. And if you can’t make it there, stay tuned for details on a #WatchBU gathering near you.

    Sic ’em, Baylor football!