Baylor Brew 8/24: Almost Showtime

Bears Volleyball, Football Ready To Get Underway

Author

Baylor Brew Crew
August 24, 2023

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🐻 The Official Daily Newsletter For Baylor Athletics

Good morning Bears. The prep work has been done. Showtime is almost here.

Tomorrow, it’s the volleyball squad.
Next week, Baylor football and cross country officially return.

All the early wake-ups, the long workouts, the drills… all that extra work. It’s time for the Bears to show out.

We’ve got all the details and more in today’s Brew.

🏈 Shapen Up
🏐 Almost Showtime
🔥 Gear Up
🐻 And much, much more!

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📈 STOCK UP

 🔺 Shapen Up. In less than 10 days, all the work will be put on display.

Leading the way for the Bears once again will be redshirt junior QB Blake Shapen, who this week was named to the 2023 Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award Watch List.
 
The award annually recognizes the top senior or upperclassman quarterback set to graduate with their class. Shapen is one of 48 quarterbacks named to the watch list.
 
Shapen, a 2022 All-Big 12 Honorable Mention selection, threw for 2,790 yards with 18 touchdowns last season in his first full year as the BU starter. He completed 63.3% of his passes, the fifth-best total in a single season in program history and also ranked ninth on BU's all-time leaderboard for passing yards in a season.

His 137.7 efficiency rating as a passer was just shy of cracking the top-12 in school history. Off the field, Shapen was tabbed a first-team Academic All-Big 12 member.

🔺 Almost Showtime. Tomorrow. It’s what we’ve all been waiting for.

At 4:30 tomorrow, the Baylor volleyball squad is officially back and we can’t be more pumped.

Coming off another 20+ win season, the Bears are young, hungry and ready to make some noise.

First up? The Big Ten/Big 12 Challenge.

🔺 Gear Up! Yesterday, we gave you a sneak peek into the brand new gear collection for the Baylor faithful.

Today - we unleash it all!

Baylor Athletics is warmly welcoming both dedicated fans and newcomers alike to the heart of Texas this fall. In anticipation of a football season featuring eight home games and exciting new Conference matchups, the University has collaborated with the Baylor Bookstore to unveil this limited collection celebrating Baylor Game Days in Bear Country.

Many items from The Collection will also be available this weekend at “Meet The Bears” on Saturday at McLane.

🐻 SATURDAY, SATURDAY, SATURDAY

Don’t forget Baylor fans, you don’t want to miss this year’s Meet the Bears event — this SATURDAY!

That’s right, meet some of your favorite Bears, get autographs, take pictures, play games, and much more!

Be there! We promise, you don’t want to miss it!

🏈 COUNTDOWN TO KICKOFF: 9 DAYS

One last run.

That’s what is on the mind of #9 TJ Franklin, a fifth-year senior and defensive captain for the Bears.

Ever since he stepped on campus, Franklin has been a force for Baylor, playing in 45 games, all at defensive end, over the past four seasons.

The Temple, Texas native has racked up 95 tackles, including 13.5 for a loss. He has eight sacks in his career, including a career-high four in 2021. He also has nine QB hurries and six pass breakups in his four years.

What’s in store for his last run? He talked about that last week after practice.

📝 ICYMI

Be Our Guest, Be Our Guest. The best of the best are coming to Waco.

aAfter being held after the team championship each spring, the singles and doubles championships will play out as their own events during the fall semester for the first time in 2024. With Baylor already playing host to the team championships in May 2025, the Bears will now welcome the nation's top players to Waco twice in the 2024-25 academic year.

Between the men's and women's programs, three Bears have hoisted an NCAA singles champion trophy, with Benedikt Dorsch being Baylor's first individual tennis champion in 2004, followed by Zuzana Zemenova and Benjamin Becker sweeping the titles in 2005.

The 2024 individual championships are set for Nov. 19-24, 2024, while the team tournaments will be held May 15-24, 2025.

🤔 SIC ’EM TRIVIA

Home Sweet Home. Who’s bringing the #10 balloon to the party?

In nine days, Baylor will open up its 10th season of football at McLane Stadium, which opened on August 31, 2014 in a 45-0 rout of SMU.

Over the past nine seasons, the Bears have played 54 games in the friendly confines. How many of those games has Baylor won?

Think you got it?

Scroll on down to the bottom of this email for the answer!

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📅 COMING SOON

Friday, August 25

🏐 Volleyball vs. Wisconsin (at Minnesota) @ 4:00pm CT | Live Stats

Saturday, August 26

🐻 Meet the Bears @ 2:00 pm CT - McLane Stadium | Information

⚽ Soccer at Texas A&M @ 7:00pm CT

🏐 Volleyball at Minnesota @ 7:00pm CT | Live Stats

Saturday, September 2

🏈 Football vs. Texas State @ 6:00pm CT on ESPN+ | Tickets

🎉 TRIVIA ANSWER

Answer: 36.

Baylor is 36-18 at McLane since it opened in 2014, including a perfect 6-0 in the opening season (2014) and 7-0 in 2021.

During Coach Aranda’s tenure, the Bears are 12-5 at home, including the perfect season of 7-0 in 2021.

🐻 Enjoy your Thursday, y’all!