Baylor Football: Conversation with 5-Star Quarterback Jarrett Stidham

Ever since Robert Griffin III walked the Baylor campus, the Bears have had tremendous quarterbacks.  After Griffin took the program to unprecedented heights in 2011, winning the Heisman Trophy and leading the Bears to a 10-3 record, Nick Florence and Bryce Petty have been even more productive.

The Bears might have found the next quarterback in that line of signal-callers.  Jarrett Stidham, the third-ranked dual-threat quarterback, according to 247Sports, announced his commitment to Baylor back on December 19, when Baylor was preparing for its Cotton Bowl matchup against Michigan State.

This decision comes after he decommitted from Texas Tech in December via Twitter, thanking Tech while saying he was leaving "for various reasons."

While the move is demoralizing for head coach Kliff Kingsbury and the Red Raiders, the Bears add a terrific piece to their recruiting class.  The addition of Stidham gives Baylor the 40th-ranked recruiting class by 247Sports.

Stidham starred at Stephenville (Texas) High School this year, throwing for 2,934 yards and 35 touchdowns while rushing for 969 yards and 15 more scores.  He possesses a unique package of athleticism, speed and throwing ability that has scouts drooling.

His talent has never been in question, as he wowed scouts at Elite 11, which is one of the most prestigious high school showcases in the country and attended by several of the premier prep players in the nation.  Gary Laney of NOLA.com wrote that he thought Stidham was the most impressive quarterback at the camp.

"The Texas Tech commit was consistently solid in both days of the competition, and many think he had the best performance of the all-star crew," Laney wrote.  "Better than his fellow Texan [Kyler] Murray, and better than anybody else."

Credit: 247Sports

Shortly after Stidham's awesome Elite 11 performance, Kingsbury told Stidham that he could "change the program."  For a high schooler to earn this kind of praise from Kingsbury, who is revered as a quarterback guru, Stidham has all the tools to succeed at the next level.

His skills and incredible high school career earned him an invitation to the prestigious Under Armour All-America Game, which is held in St. Petersburg, Florida, and features some of the best high school players from around the country.  Stidham had sterling remarks about his time in the game, calling it a "once-in-a-lifetime experience."

"It was crazy, it was awesome," he said in a phone interview.  "Being around the best players in the country and getting to know them off the field and then getting to play with them, it was pretty cool."

He said he got to meet a lot of different people while in Florida, including Alabama quarterback recruit Blake Barnett, who Stidham said became a close friend.

After deciding against Texas Tech, Stidham was contacted by a host of big-time schools, including Baylor, Oregon, TCU, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Florida, but he narrowed it down to Oregon and Baylor. 

Stidham chose Baylor over Oregon for several reasons, but the most decisive one might have been its location.  Waco is only about 90 miles away from Stephenville, and Stidham said that factor was very important in his final decision.

"It came down to Baylor and Oregon, and Baylor is just close to home, and I couldn't really see myself going that far away from my friends and family," Stidham said.

LM Otero/Associated Press

He said that Baylor head coach Art Briles personally recruited him, but the majority of the recruiting was done by assistant coaches Philip Montgomery and Art's son, Kendal.  Montgomery, who was Baylor's offensive coordinator, left in favor of the head coaching job at Tulsa, leaving the younger Briles as the new offensive coordinator and quarterback coach.  Stidham was very complimentary of the 32-year-old Briles.

"He's a great dude," he said.  "He's real young, so he can relate a little better."

Stidham was also swayed by the opportunity to play in Baylor's wide-open spread offense.  The Bears have led the nation in total offense in each of the past two years, and Stidham is ecstatic to play in that type of system.

"I think it'll be good for me.  They like to get the ball out of the quarterback's hand pretty fast at times with laterals, their screen game and that type of stuff, but they also like to take shots down the field," he said.  "They have a lot of intermediate stuff that I like, and me being able to run the ball a little bit, I think that's going to add another element to the offense that we can use."

He also said that the offense he will be running at Baylor will have some similarities with the offense he ran in high school at Stephenville.

"There are some [similarities], some of the concepts route-wise are the same," he said.  "Most spread offenses in some way are kind of the same; there are just a few quirks here and there that make them all different."

Credit: 247Sports

Stidham chose to graduate from high school early and will enroll at Baylor in January so he can participate in spring practice and start working on his sports marketing degree.  Enrolling early will give him a chance to learn the nuances of the offense and get more comfortable with his coaches, his teammates and the campus.

Another factor that made Baylor enticing to Stidham was its quarterback situation.  Petty played his final collegiate game in the Cotton Bowl, and even though Seth Russell played exceptionally well in his opportunities while Petty was injured, the coaches have said they will give Stidham a shot to compete for the starting job.

"As soon as I step on campus next Monday, it's a full-on competition between me and Seth and the other quarterback they have, Chris [Johnson], so it's going to be a battle between us guys, and the best one is going to be the one that plays," he said.

Stidham was also adamant that he is not planning to redshirt at this point and wants to compete for the starting job immediately. 

What definitely won't be in question is who the Baylor quarterback will be throwing to.  The roster is loaded with explosive playmakers.  Antwan Goodley and Levi Norwood graduate, but Corey Coleman, KD Cannon and Jay Lee will all be back next year.  It is for this reason that Stidham thinks Baylor can continue to get even better.

"We've got a good class coming in this year even though we aren't taking as many guys," he said.  "But I know next year, we already have some of the top players in the country committed.  We have some really, really good guys coming, and we're just looking to keep building."

About next year's class, it's already shaping into one of the best in the nation.  Baylor already has commitments from five players in the 2016 class.  All five are at least 4-star recruits, and the class is ranked sixth in the nation, per 247Sports.

If Stidham's confidence and next year's recruiting class is any indication, the future is extremely bright for Baylor.  Its demoralizing bowl loss to Michigan State will only inspire the team more, and it won't be a surprise if the Bears work their way into the College Football Playoff sooner rather than later.

All quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.