Baylor will enter the season ranked 23rd in the A.P. poll. Baylor is ranked 21st in the coaches poll.

The Bears are among four Big 12 teams ranked in the poll. Oklahoma is 3rd, TCU is 13th and Oklahoma State is 21st. Houston also checks in at 15th. Alabama, as expected, is ranked #1.

Although preseason rankings do not matter as much anymore in the playoff era, it’s nice the Bears are ranked.

Even the best student has one of those classes where they get to the end and start panicking, “If only I get this percent, I might still be able to salvage this class.” The percent often turns out to be ludicrous given the student’s prior performance, but as I learned, not everyone has to be fluent and it’s okay some of us were barely above passable in French.

Johnny Jefferson had one of those ludicrous endings last season. In the final two games of the season, Jefferson had 46% of his season in total in yards. If Jefferson had averaged per game what he averaged in his last two games, he’d have ended the season with 2,971 yards.

Jefferson isn’t going to have quite that crazy run throughout the season. He plays the same position as Shock Linwood, who still remains one of the bast running backs in the country. Jefferson displayed the skills that should lead him to have another 1,000 yard season before setting him up in 2017 to lead a monster group at running back.

I don’t know what Gene Chizik, the North Carolina defensive coordinator, did to Johnny Jefferson, but it must have been bad for Jefferson to do this:

If you forgot what he did to North Carolina, the internet did not:

Jefferson is an unbelievable talent. Ted Harrison previewed the wildbear potential he brings earlier. The Dallas Morning News even name him the Big 12’s 10th best quarterback. His final two seasons should be special.

The Amway Coaches Poll was recently released ranking the Baylor Bears #21 in the country.  Interestingly they have us one spot behind North Carolina University who I believe are still having night terrors about the wildbear.

Notably this poll has already sparked a surprising response from one sports writer who says Baylor is the most underrated team in the poll.  You can read the article here.

OU is the highest ranked Big 12 team at #3 followed by TCU at #14 and OK State at #19.

According to the Waco Tribune-Herald, former UT transfer Rami Hammad, a junior offensive lineman, was arrested yesterday on a charge of felony stalking related to his ex-girlfriend.  The incident that spawned the charge apparently occurred on July 7 and involved Hammad allegedly waiting outside his ex-girlfriend's class and then following her to the professor's office.  The article says the professor is actually the one that called the police:

...A Baylor professor called 911 and reported Hammad had waited for his ex-girlfriend before the professor’s class the woman was starting July 7, then continued to attempt to contact her, according to an affidavit for Hammad’s arrest.

The woman told Hammad, a 21-year-old junior from Irving, to leave before she went into the class, but he waited for her outside, according to the affidavit. Seeing him waiting, the woman was afraid to leave alone and asked for the professor’s help.

She and the professor left together, and Hammad followed them to the professor’s office, where he began knocking on the door for several minutes, according to the affidavit.

After unsuccessful calls to Baylor athletics, the professor and student decided to call police, saying they feared for their safety, according to the affidavit.

The article also describes a relationship between Hammad and his ex-girlfriend that is, at best, troubling.  The ex-girlfriend accuses Hammad of being extremely emotional, as well as manipulative, and describes the measures she took to avoid him after their apparent break-up.

Baylor has yet to release any kind of statement as of this writing about Hammad's status, so there's nothing to report about that.  Hammad was listed as the starting right guard following spring practice for the Bears, but I wouldn't be at all surprised to see that change in the fallout from this arrest, which is obviously a very serious matter.

We'll keep you posted on new developments as this situation progresses.

2017 Recruiting Class | National Rank: 107 | Commits: 2

Offense: None

Defense: CB: (1/?), NB: (1/?)

CB: Noah Daniels
NB: Jalen Pitre

2017 Wishlist:

RB: Toneil Carter

APB: Anthony McFarland Jr.

WR: Omar Manning (75% TCU, 25% TAMU)

WR: James Robinson

WR: Damion Miller

WR: Jhamon Ausbon (69% TAMU, 25% Auburn, 6% BU)

WR:CeeDee Lamb

ATH: Jamyest Williams

ATH: Eyob Bekele

OL: Walker Little

Former Commits:

QB: Kellen Mond

OL: Jayden Peevy

TE: Kedrick James

WR: Hezekiah Jones

DT: Marvin Wilson (47% LSU, 29% UT, 6% BU)

DT: Deiontae Watts

DE: K'Lavon Chaisson (son of former Baylor LB Kelvin Chaisson) (50% BU, 33% LSU, 17% TAMU)

DE: Robert Beal

LB: Anthony Hines (50% OU, 29% UT, 14% BU)

CB: Deangelo Gibbs

CB: Chevin Calloway (100% BU)

S: Jeffrey Okudah (57% tOSU, 14% BU)

S: Grant Delpit (86% LSU, 14% BU)

Former Commits

S: Donovan Stiner

Players Removed (who didn't commit to Baylor):

CB Adam Beck (Houston), OL Grayson Reed (TAMU), OL Tyrese Robinson (Oklahoma), WR Jaylon Jackson(Colorado), RB Eno Benjamin (Iowa), OL: Austin Deculus (LSU), WR: Hezekiah Jones (TAMU), QB: Kellen Mond (Auburn)

I know this list looks like it's just a bunch of the top recruits who have shown interest in Baylor, and that's exactly what it is. This list will change through the recruiting cycle. It's the list of recruits who could commit to Baylor and not make me surprised.

Updates:

CB Noah Daniels (7/20): Committed to Baylor today! After months of bad news, it looks like the sun shine is arriving! The 6'0 cornerback from League City, Texas is tall and fast. Just what Baylor needs going forward! The 3-star cornerback runs a 4.51 40-yard dash. That is *flame emoji*

After a lot of thought , I am proud to announce my Commitment ...#SicEm !!! ✅ https://t.co/mkIhZwTlvh pic.twitter.com/uxv8ybGPJl

— Noah Daniels (@NoahDB21) July 20, 2016

WR Hezekiah Jones (7/29): Announced his commitment to Texas A&M today via Twitter. If you want to see the video, be my guest.

Changelog:

8/1: Created the August Recruiting Notes thread

Baylor officials met with Big 12 members for two hours today. The Big 12 put out this statement after the meeting:

The Big 12 Board of Directors today was given an update by Baylor representatives on the university's investigation of sexual assaults on its campus. In response to the Board's request for information, Baylor interim president David Garland, regent's chairman Ronald Murff and David Harper, academic and student affairs committee chairman met with the Board for over two hours.

"The details provided today are a necessary step in helping the entire membership gain a better understanding of the past actions and how the university plans to deal with all the issues identified in the Pepper Hamilton findings." said Big 12 Board of Directors chairman and University of Oklahoma president David Boren. "We were assured of the university's commitment to keep the conference appraised going forward. My Board colleagues and I sincerely appreciate the leadership of interim president Garland during this period, and support his efforts for absolute compliance. We were pleased by the commitment made by their regent's chairman, Mr. Murff, to support appropriate institutional control going forward, and to assure full Title IX compliance."

Though not mentioned in the statement, one of the more important pieces of information shared today was that Baylor has apparently removed compliance issues completely from the purview of the Athletic Department.  This move, which was discussed previously, is probably the right thing to do in the interests of avoiding conflicts of interest and makes complete sense.  Overall, the Conference was apparently satisfied enough by Baylor's efforts to decide against issuing any sanctions at this time, although that is probably not surprising to anyone outside of Austin.

Over the past several days, the official Baylor Football Twitter account has been releasing the officially sanctioned guide Gameday Attire for each of the home games of the 2016 season. In the past, they've attempted to do coordinated attire with short notice, to extremely mixed results. The most successful efforts to date have been the Blackout of 2013 and the Stripe McLane effort for homecoming 2014. Other attempts have been thwarted by weather, for the most part, with others just being put out there with too short of notice. Not so this season. With over two months to go until the first game of the season, we now have a full season's worth of suggested attire. You've got plenty of time to get gear corresponding to the suggestions, so let's make it happen.

September 2: Split Green & Gold

Sept. 2 vs. Northwestern State is "First Responders Day." Make sure to check your section, so you know what to wear. pic.twitter.com/BXpuwqnJxn

— Baylor Football (@BUFootball) June 22, 2016

This first set is a split 50/50 on the stadium: West side wears Green, East wears gold. Easy.

September 10: Whiteout

What to wear, Game 2: We will white out @McLaneStadium on Sept. 10 vs. SMU. #SicEm pic.twitter.com/Vq4rpeBhRp

— Baylor Football (@BUFootball) June 23, 2016

Interesting. We've never attempted a whiteout before, though if done correctly it can look absolutely striking. SMU tried a whiteout last season, and one of the more iconic pictures of the 2015 season came from it.

September 24: Goldout

What to wear, Game 3: Be bold, wear gold to #SicOSU Sept. 24. pic.twitter.com/PJ9CLWvSXH

— Baylor Football (@BUFootball) June 24, 2016

We've tried this a couple of times (2013 WVU: sold out gold out) and it just wasn't communicated well enough to make it happen.

October 15: Stripeout

Homecoming Oct. 15 vs. Kansas will be the annual #StripeMcLane game. #SicEm pic.twitter.com/MRraKuidPT

— Baylor Football (@BUFootball) June 25, 2016

Go ahead and mark it down. For the foreseeable future, we'll be striping McLane for Homecoming. It looked great two years ago, but last year was an epic failure because MONSOON. It poured rain the entire game, the parade was canceled, and Seth broke his neck. I don't want to talk about it anymore.

November 5: Greenout

What to wear, Game 5: Nov. 5 vs. TCU, we will green out @McLaneStadium. #SicEm pic.twitter.com/8gqDGcr9Ol

— Baylor Football (@BUFootball) June 26, 2016

This one is really interesting to me. I'm not entirely convinced that it will be all that striking of an image, but then, I was skeptical of the BlackOUt in 2013 and was SO happy to be wrong about that one. I'll take a wait-and-see approach here.

November 19: Green, White, and Gold

Last, but not least... Check the map to see if your section is gold, white, or green for Senior Day Nov. 19 vs. KSU. pic.twitter.com/yEzH7ez5hc

— Baylor Football (@BUFootball) June 27, 2016

Senior Day is also an interesting one. The upper deck wears green. The 200 levels wear white, while the lower bowl wears gold. Not what I was expecting, but hey, I'm up for it. It could be really sharp.

With the release of the final Gameday attire this morning, we now know that there will NOT be a blackout this season as there has been the past three. I don't know what spurred that decision. The 2013 BlackOUt was by far the best of the three. While folks point out that none of the rest have lived up to that first experience, I'd respond by saying that both Blackout attempts in McLane stadium have been marred by rain. The OSU 2014 game was a monsoon topped only by Homecoming 2015, and the OU game of 2015 was similarly rainy. Inclement weather really hurts efforts to coordinate gameday attire.

What do you think of these particular Gameday Attire choices? What about apparel coordination in general? Let us know in the comments.

In the present reality, nothing immediately changes. The 'Hawks will most likely be mauled without remorse down in Waco this fall. But sooner rather than later will the Bears be joining the 'Hawks in the Big 12 cellar once again?

The pre-Briles Bears were the clear doormats of the old Big 12 South Division. Although, back when Kansas fielded a respectable gridiron product in Memorial Stadium (yes, children, there was such a time when post season bowling wasn't just a dream and the Kansas coach was wide enough to eclipse the autumn sun), the Bears were one of the few teams against which the Jayhawks could reliably rack up a conference win.

Following Mangino's exit from Lawrence and Briles' arrival in Waco, each respective program took off in starkly different trajectories. Since that point, the Bears and 'Hawks have faced each other six times on the field resulting in six Bears wins - and that's putting it gently. These contests haven't been wins so much as televised assaults in five of those six contests. In four of the six games the Bears posted 50+ on the Jayhawks. The last three years they've upped that total to 60 points. In Lawrence. In Waco. It hasn't mattered.

Briles had Baylor so close to the big time. 10+ wins in four of his last five seasons had his Bears flirting with National Title aspirations. While Baylor is in much better shape than when Briles took over in 2008, seven members of Baylor's 17th ranked recruiting class - highest in Bears' football history -€” are already rushing to the life boats on this sinking ship of  a program with more sure to follow their lead.

Briles has exposed himself as a chump, and former Baylor President Ken Starr has now firmly secured his place in U.S. history as one of the greatest ass-hats of the last 30 years. These two men have taken a fine, private, Baptist university and turned it into a national media pariah of Title IX lawsuits and hypocritical rhetoric.

Baylor's fall is reminiscent of another private, religious, Texas-located university falling while chasing the college football beast of title contention. In the 1980s the SMU Mustangs had title caliber teams. Instead of sexual assaults it was pay-for-play as Eric Dickerson, Craig James and the rest of the vaunted "Pony Express" were driving gold Trans Ams and cashing checks cut from boosters left and right. There was a great ESPN 30 for 30 documentary, Pony Exce$$, about SMU getting close to a National Title only to have their football team relegated to an afterthought due to the transgressions that made those title dreams possible.

Now, comparing ignored sexual assaults with pay-for-play isn't exactly fair to SMU, but the motivation for both schools' actions came from a similar place. In Pony Exce$$, it talks about how hard it was for schools like SMU, Baylor, and TCU to try and keep pace with the big boys of the old Southwest Conference, which was the domain of the annoying football zealots (much like the SEC is these days). When you don't have the unending stream of blue chip recruits coming into your program like Texas and Texas A&M had at the time and places like Alabama and Ohio State have now, a lower-tier program will bend their moral compass in an effort to maintain relevance.

It's a cautionary tale for any program, but especially for programs on the outside looking in on the elite of college football - places like Kansas. When one of these programs heals itself enough to put its big boy pants back on they have a difficult task of keeping them hiked up while not pantsing themselves by selling out their own integrity.

Kansas doesn't have to worry about any of this in 2016 for sure, and maybe even the next two seasons. They are that bad. But if David Beaty is the guy to turn things around in Lawrence, it would be in his interest to continually remind himself - today, tomorrow, and every day after that - as to why Briles finds himself on his couch this season.

Success in college football comes at the expense of other's misfortunes. It's the nature of any game. If KU hopes to build any success in the conference, they unfortunately benefit from Baylor coming back to the pack because of this scandal. Baylor, a program that Kansas was clearly better than in 2009, has wiped the field with the 'Hawks, home or away for the past six years.

Sorry Baylor fans. Don't take it personally. Kansas football fans have suffered long enough that they can't help but be fine with their Jayhawks turning vulture in the coming seasons - perhaps even to feast on the Baylor football carcass reeling from its self-inflicted wounds.

For those that are still wondering where I decided to be for college, my heart and soul is solid for Baylor. That's where I'd love to be #BU

— JaaayRedd (@JayRedd__) June 19, 2016

247Sports 4-star Safety Chris Miller (@Stunna_chris) will enroll/move in at Baylor Monday.

— Colt Barber (@Colt_247Sports) May 30, 2016

A few minutes ago, the Big 12 released a statement calling for a "full accounting" from Baylor of the circumstances surrounding the sexual assault allegations levied at our athletics program.  This is apparently the second request from the Big 12 Board, the first having come on May 24.  The statement, which is available on the Big 12's website, reads, in pertinent part:

Today, Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby sent a letter to Baylor University Interim President David Garland once again requesting all documents associated with the investigations of sexual assaults at Baylor. This request is for written materials as well as any information that has been conveyed orally to University leadership or to its Board of Regents including, but not limited to, the unedited written or verbal information from Pepper Hamilton, omitting only the names of any involved students. Internal documents pertinent to the investigation have also been requested.

Because this statement just came down, we've yet to see any official response from Baylor to the Board's requests.  I would note that this request is coming through Bowlsby from the Big 12's Board, so any statements you may have seen from Bowlsby prior about what the Big 12 can and cannot do with respect to Baylor may not reflect the Conference's thinking at this time.

When/if Baylor responds to this request, we will do our best to keep you informed.  I find it interesting that the Board specifically requested "internal documents pertinent to the investigation," since that is all stuff that definitely has not been released to the public and that Baylor would definitely not want to release to the public.  Baylor will probably be concerned about both the privacy of its students and the impact any release of internal documents could have on the various lawsuits in which Baylor is involved at this time (since that stuff could potentially be discoverable, if turned over to the Big 12).  That's a tricky line to walk, and I don't envy Baylor's attorneys right now trying to figure out how to do it.

John Werner of the Waco Tribune-Herald writes the notion of bringing Briles back is wrong:

But if Baylor ever planned to reinstate Briles after the scathing Pepper Hamilton findings, the national outcry would be deafening. It would provide critics with even more fuel that football trumps all at Baylor.

Briles oversaw a football program that the Pepper Hamilton report described as operating an “internal system of discipline separate from the university process.”

Whatever stock you place in Chip Brown news, Chip Brown mentioned yesterday that his sources expect Baylor will eventually release players from their LOI:

Six incoming freshmen football players have requested a release from their letters of intent with Baylor to enroll elsewhere. Baylor has 30 days to respond to those requests (on or about June 24), sources said. Grobe has been meeting with the players and their families to try to convince them to stay. But if those players still want their release when the 30 days expire, sources said those players will be granted their release, sources said.

Taurean Prince mentioned to Nate Taylor of the Indianapolis Star his love of Baylor and getting his degree:

With the Bears, Prince played power forward and small forward. He became a starter during his junior season and shot 39.5 percent on 3-pointers. But instead of declaring for the draft, Prince returned to Baylor for his senior season to finish his Bachelor’s degree in communications.

“I graduated on May 15,” he said. “That’s really a big stepping stone in my family. It was great and I knew I was going to be there all four years.”

Baylor closer Troy Montemayor was named to the American Baseball Coaches Association all-regional team, per the Waco Tribune-Herlad:

Baylor relief pitcher Troy Montemayor has been honored on the American Baseball Coaches Association all-region team.

We had an evening edition last night, you can read here.

Disclaimer: Before you proceed, just remember that none of the links are vetted and you may be reading something written by a 13-year-old, a so-called sports journalist or Clay Travis (is there really any difference between those options?). Some stories are from those unreliable, pesky pay sites, too. Read at your own peril.

The Baylor scandal is not good for the Big 12: And in other news, water is wet.

Does the NCAA get involved with the mess at Baylor? There might be a situation similar to USC with a reduction of scholarships and a bowl ban.

Some BU board members want Briles back: Yes, you read that correctly.

Baylor has launched a task force to clean up their athletic program: They probably should have done that 10 years ago when their basketball coach covered up a murder. Oh, wait.....

One Baylor fan started a blog: This poor deluded Baylor fan thinks the Bears need someone to fight for them because they have been mistreated.

The Bears need to let recruits out of their LOIs: Baylor needs to step up and do the right thing. One parent is has contacted Baylor but is still waiting for an answer.

Baylor and Art Briles want to quickly settle a federal lawsuit: One of the women has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit claiming Baylor was indifferent to her complaints when she reported the sexual assault.

One Baylor alumni group wants accountability: The alumni group, the Baylor Line Foundation, wants answers.

I'm sick of Bear Nation and I've started a petition to kick Baylor out of the Big 12: My petition is my own and does not reflect the opinions of Burnt Orange Nation authors or editors or the mother ship, SB Nation. Please feel free to sign if you feel the same way. The petition will be delivered to the Big 12 Associate Commissioner.

According to KWTX, Dolores Lozano, the ex-girlfriend of former Baylor football player Devin Chafin who alleges he physically assaulted her, asked Coach Jeff Lebby for a recommendation for the position of assistant director of athletic marketing at Baylor. KWTX reports the email was dated Aug. 7, 2015, over a year after the alleged assault occurred.

Lozano writes glowing words about both the Baylor athletic department and Lebby, stating she “would love to pursue a career at Baylor because I admire Baylor's convictions and mission to educate men and women for worldwide leadership and service by integrating academic excellence and Christian commitment within a caring community” and telling Lebby “You’re the best!”

Yesterday, former ESPN reporter Joe Schad posted on his Facebook page that Lozano said she was assaulted three times by Chafin and Coach Art Briles and Lebby both knew about the incidents.

Baylor graduate Dolores Lozano says former Baylor running back Devin Chafin assaulted her three times and multiple coaches, including former head coach Art Briles and current passing game coordinator/running backs coach Jeff Lebby and multiple other Baylor employees, had knowledge, but did not take sufficient action.

Lozano is planning to file a Title IX lawsuit against Baylor, claiming the coaches did not take appropriate action after hearing of the incidents.

Chafin refutes her claims, according to Schad.

Chafin told me: "The story has been falsely constructed. No one knows the entire story. This girl is not who she claims to be."

Chafin said he never discussed the situation with former head coach Art Briles, but did with current assistant Jeff Lebby.

In his statement to Schad, Chafin also mentioned Lozano had emailed Lebby for a job recommendation.

Click here for KWTX’s full story on Lozano’s email to Lebby.