Baylor quarterback Seth Russell had a solid performance in a Friday night scrimmage in McLane Stadium. The expected successor to Bryce Petty threw for 345 yards and four touchdowns as the defending Big 12 champs played before 5,610 fans Friday night.
Baylor played through a 90-minute scrimmage. Baylor’s first and second team offensive units put together 600 yards and scored five times on 113 plays. Russell threw touchdown passes to three different receivers on plays of at least 54 yards. Corey Coleman scored on a 65-yard play, KD Cannon scored a 54-yard touchdown and Lynx Hawthorne broke a short play open for a 64-yard touchdown. Despite the big plays, Russell’s performance (18-for-27 with 345 yards, 4 TDs, 1 int.) was deemed “just OK” by Briles.
“He would probably tell you the same thing, but I thought Seth was just OK,” Briles said. “It’s good that he’s not where he’s going to be. We expect a whole lot, he expects a whole lot. But you still have to go through a whole lot to get where you want to get to, and he hasn’t been through a whole lot yet. I think he did an admirable job. It wouldn’t classify it as great, but it was productive with a lot of room for improvement.”
One of the highlights of the evening came from 410-pound tight end LaQuan McGowan. McGowan was the offensive lineman that scored a touchdown in the Cotton Bowl for Baylor against Michigan State. On Friday night, McGowan hauled in a 21-yard pass.
“He’s just a big kid that’s got some talent,” Briles said. “We’ve got to make sure he keeps burning hot and keeps figuring out ways to help our football team.”
Other individual highlights from Baylor’s scrimmage included Johnny Jefferson rushing for a team-high 113 yards and linebackers Kendall Ehrlich and Grant Campbell leading the defense with 12 tackles and Brance Nance recording four sacks for a loss of 22 yards. Highly rated freshman quarterback Jarrett Stidham saw some playing time, completing seven of 18 pass attempts for 52 yards.