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Robert Griffin III's Heisman Trophy has Baylor poised for their best recruiting class in Art Briles five-year tenure in Waco.
The Baylor Bears will be looking to rebuild during the 2012 season after losing Robert Griffin III to the NFL. On Wednesday they inked 24 football recruits as part of National Signing-Day and has the No. 6 rated class in the Big 12 according to Rivals.com.
Baylor's class is made up of three four-star players in wide receiver Corey Coleman, defensive end Javonte Magee and linebacker Brian Nance. The Bears also came away with 18 three-star players as part of their class.
Texas has the No. 1 Big 12 class that is also rated as the second best in the nation just behind Alabama. The Longhorns are followed by Oklahoma and Texas Tech. TCU grabbed the No. 4 class and is followed closely by Oklahoma State to round out the top five.
Baylor finished just ahead of Kansas State, Kansas and Iowa State who are rated in the bottom three of the conference.
For the most up-to-the-date coverage on Baylor recruiting, check out Our Daily Bears while the SB Nation College Football Recruiting Hub will have wall-to-wall coverage of National Signing Day.
Since Art Briles took over at Baylor in 2008, the Bears football program has been on a rapid upward trajectory, highlighted by Robert Griffin III's Heisman Trophy last season.
Briles, a long-time high-school football coach in Texas with a vast network of in-state contacts, has been steadily improving the program's profile on the recruiting trail, going from outside of the top 50 in 2009 to No. 39 in 2010 and No. 46 in 2011.
Now, after the school's most successful season in over a generation, he's continuing that momentum on the recruiting trail, with his 2012 class rated No. 36 by Rivals in the days before National Signing Day on Feb. 1.
And while Baylor doesn't have a great tradition, they are located in the heart of one of the deepest recruiting hot-beds in the country along I-35 from Austin to Dallas, with 22 of their 23 commitments coming from the state of Texas.
The Bears have verbals from three four-stars: Corey Coleman, a 5'11 180 WR with 4.3 40 speed from Richardson, Javonte McGee, a 6'5 260 defensive lineman from San Antonio and Brian Nance, a 6'3 210 LB from Euless.
Briles beat out most of the Big 12 for McGee, the No. 65 rated player in the nation.
Their other 20 commits, which include two junior college players on the defensive side of the ball (LB Eddie Lackey and DT Joey Searcy) who should be ready to step in and play immediately, are all rated as 3-stars by Rivals.
With rumors swirling in the days before recruits can first sign their Letters of Intent, Baylor is still in the mix for three four-star recruits who could send their class ranking shooting up the board: WR Thomas Robinson, who still has a dozen schools on his list, QB Jeremiah Briscoe, who also made official visits to Lamar, Sam Houston State and Stephen F. Austin, and OT Thomas Hines, who is also looking at Oklahoma State and Houston.
Currently, the Bears have the 5th highest rated class in the Big 12, although that could change in what's sure to be a frenetic final 36 hours before National Signing Day.
For the most up-to-the-date coverage on Baylor recruiting, check out Our Daily Bears while the SB Nation College Football Recruiting Hub will have wall-to-wall coverage of National Signing Day.
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College Football Recruiting Rankings, 2012: Baylor's Haul Among Big 12's Best
Baylor began life in a post Robert Griffin world on National Signing Day by nearly cracking the national Top 25 recruiting rankings, according to SB Nation's final tally.
The SB Nation recruiting class ranking is an average of the four major recruiting services' rankings (Rivals, Scout, 24/7 and ESPN). Based on those numbers, the Bears' class of 24 total commitments fell shy of the Top 25, but not by much. Baylor finished as follows: No. 30 overall and No. 5 in the Big 12 on Scout.com, No. 43 overall and No. 6 in the Big 12 by Rivals.com, and No. 24 overall and No. 3 in the Big 12 by 24/7 Sports.
Regardless of rankings, Baylor achieved what it set out to do - reflect an uptick in quality players coming to Waco after the school's first bowl win in 19 years, and a 10-win season highlighted by a Heisman run. The Bears concentrated primarily on defense in the 2012 class, anchored by a very un-Baylor-like "get" of Javonte Magee Houston High School, San Antonio, Texas), a four-star defensive end rated by Scout as the 11th best prospect nationally at his position. A total of 13 commits were on the defensive side of the ball for the points-friendly Bears.
For a look at the complete Top 25 recruiting classes, click here.
For more on Baylor recruiting, be sure to check out Our Daily Bears and SB Nation Dallas, and for everything in the world of college football be sure to visit SB Nation's college football news hub.
Feb 02 10:44a by Steven Godfrey