Football Set For '07 Season

The Baylor football program has made noticeable strides on the field over the past two seasons, winning a program-best three Big 12 Conference games in 2006 and posting the school's first five-win season since 1995 a year earlier. The 2007 Bears hope to take the next step in the program's development and earn the school's first bowl bid since 1994.
Baylor returns 40 lettermen, including 11 starters, from last year's squad that went 4-8 and suffered four of those losses by 10 points or less.
However, head coach Guy Morriss' squad will have work to do on offense, as the team is faced with replacing its starting quarterback and running back from a year ago, plus its top two receivers, as all four completed their eligibility last season. 
Battling for the quarterback job are three newcomers--fifth-year senior transfer Michael Machen, junior college transfer John David Weed, and junior walk-on transfer Ryan Roberts--in addition to redshirt freshman Tyler Beatty and sophomore Blake Szymanski, who started the final three games last season after starter Shawn Bell went down to injury.
Sophomore linebacker Joe Pawelek returns to lead the Baylor defense after earning first-team freshman all-america honors a year ago. Senior linebacker Nick Moore, the Bears' second-leading tackler in 2006, also returns.
Baylor's season opener at TCU will be televised nationally on College Sports Television (CSTV). Live audio broadcasts of all 12 games will once again be carried across Texas on the Baylor/ISP Radio Network, including flagship station 1660 AM in Waco, as well as via satellite radio on Sirius channel 161 and on the Internet at BaylorBears.com.