 "Photo: Karl Anderson")
Just as Baylor was making its way out of the Big 12 Conference cellar behind the playmaking ability of quarterback Robert Griffin, tragedy struck.
He suffered a season-ending knee injury against Northwestern State on Sept. 26, and the Bears’ have lost six of seven since.
With Texas Tech and Baylor squaring off at 5 p.m. Saturday at the Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Red Raider coach Mike Leach doesn’t have any compassion for the Bears’ struggles this year.
“I have no sympathy whatsoever,” he said. “I’ve played three guys (at quarterback).”
Make that four.
There’s Steven Sheffield, Seth Doege, Taylor Potts and the most recent addition: Nick.
That was the name stitched to the back of Potts’ jersey Saturday, when he threw for 388 yards and two touchdowns in a 41-13 win against Oklahoma.
After the game, Leach cleared up any questions regarding the name change. It’s in reference to former Kansas linebacker and 2005 Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year Nick Reid, who personified the quintessential tough football player — as Leach put it.
Based off Potts’ performance, Leach said the name is here to stay.
“We’ll stick with Nick for now,” he said. “Potts will be Nick, and we’ll just leave it at that and see how that goes for a while.”
What was more confusing than “Nick” on the jersey was how it got there in the first place.
During the postgame press conference, Leach said the name was his idea and it was Potts’ idea to have it on the jersey.
Potts was confused about it, saying none of it was his idea. Then he was notified of Leach’s comments and immediately took responsibility, tongue- in-cheek, of course.
“He didn’t have any say in it being his nickname,” Leach said during his weekly press conference on Monday. “He did have some say on it going on the back of his jersey and now that it’s there, he no longer has any say over that.”
Potts’ situation this year has been a microcosm of the entire season for the Red Raiders, which has been riddled with inconsistencies.
A concussion knocked him out of games against New Mexico, Kansas State and Nebraska. He returned after fans already had lost confidence in him and invested it in Sheffield, who seized the starting role with convincing victories in the aforementioned games. But then Sheffield had an injury of his own against the Huskers and was out for the next three weeks.
With Sheffield out, Potts started against Texas A&M only to throw two interceptions and be replaced by Doege in the second half. Doege got his first career start against Kansas a week later but couldn’t refrain from playing like a redshirt freshman.
Potts came in and led Tech to a win against the Jayhawks, but that still didn’t solidify him at quarterback.
Leach then shuffled Potts and Sheffield, who was coming off his foot injury, in a loss to Oklahoma State a week later.
But after what Potts showed against the Sooners, Batch came away impressed with the resilience it takes to absorb constant criticism only to tuck it away and be ready at a moment’s notice.
The disapproval got to the point where fans at Jones AT&T Stadium chanted, “No more Potts,” during a 52-30 loss to the Aggies.
“It takes a tough, tough, tough person to be able to withstand all that and come out of that on top,” Batch said. “That’s what he’s done. I don’t know how I would’ve responded in that situation. I don’t know how a lot of people would respond in that situation. He’s shown that he’s mentally tough, and he has a lot of heart.”
Potts and tackle Marlon Winn mentioned an inside joke called “surround sound,” that involves blocking out everything outside of football — good or bad. When asked about fans once chanting against him, Potts quickly said with a smirk, “surround sound.”
Potts admitted he learned a valuable lesson by watching Tech’s receivers perpetually rotate in and out — sort of like the quarterbacks started too — and realized he has to be just as dialed-in as they are no matter the adversity.
“If I’m not starting,” he said, “coach pulls me or whatever — It’s my responsibility to this team to stay focused and to stay with it and keep my head in the game and not just lose it.”
Now Nick turns his attention to the lowly Bears, who nearly beat Tech a season ago. The Red Raiders rallied from 14 down to escape Jones AT&T Stadium with a share of the Big 12 South Division title.
This year marks the first time in the 67-year history of the series that the game is played on a neutral site. However, that doesn’t mean fans aren’t paying attention.
Cowboys Stadium — the $1 billion brainchild of owner Jerry Jones — will have more than 65,000 in attendance as all reserved seats have been sold. This is the first year of a two-year contract that the game will be played in Arlington, meaning both Baylor and Tech lose a home game.
Leach said he had “little to none” input on the decision to move the series to a neutral site and acknowledged he’d rather play in Lubbock next season, but the end result is “kind of a wash really.”
Tech cornerback Jamar Wall has no problems playing there, and he said he fully expects Tech fans to try and make it a Jones AT&T Stadium atmosphere.
“I think we’ll still have a majority of the people there,” he said. “I honestly think we will have a lot of people there to support us. We have to come out and prepare. Even if it was an away game, we would do the exact same.”
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