Baylor Adapting After Loss Of WR Tevin Reese
WACO, Texas (AP) - Undefeated Baylor has to deal with a big loss.
Speedy receiver Tevin Reese, who was averaging 25 yards a catch and had eight touchdowns, will miss the rest of the regular season for the fourth-ranked Bears after surgery on his dislocated right wrist.
"I'm eager to see how it changes from a schematic standpoint and a philosophical standpoint," coach Art Briles said Monday. "We're going to have to kind of change how we think and how we feel without Tevin because he's the fastest receiver in America. ... We'll have to compensate in a variety of ways."
The Bears (8-0, 5-0 Big 12), up to fifth in the BCS standings behind one-loss Stanford, play Texas Tech (7-3, 4-3) on Saturday at the Dallas Cowboys' stadium.
Reese hurt his wrist after coming down awkwardly on an incompletion late in the first half of Baylor's 41-12 victory over Oklahoma on Thursday night.
Running backs Lache Seastrunk (groin) and Glasco Martin (knee) also got banged up in the first half of the Oklahoma game. Briles described both running backs as day to day.
Baylor still has Antwan Goodley, the junior who leads the Big 12 averaging 122 yards receiving a game along with 10 touchdowns. Juniors Levi Norwood and Clay Fuller were the only other Bears to have catches against Oklahoma.
Reese was averaging 118 yards per game -- it is still 103 yards per game without a catch against the Sooners. The senior started his career at Baylor catching passes for two seasons from Heisman Trophy winner Robert Griffin III, and tight end Jerod Monk is the only current Bear who has played in more career games than Reese's 47.
"The thing that y'all see is how plays on Saturday. We see how he works Sunday through Saturday," Briles said. "That's been critical for us with him, with those young receivers, when he shows how to prepare and how it helps you perform because he is a tireless practice player."
Briles and quarterback Bryce Petty both talked about how intelligent Reese is with his knowledge of the offense, knowing where he and other players were supposed to be on the field.
"You can't replace a guy like Tevin Reese, on or off the field. Leadership-wise, experience-wise, he was more than just a great wideout, that's for sure," Petty said. "We've been fortunate enough not to have the injury bug hit us too hard, we kind of had a couple of injuries this past week, but we'll be ready."
When Seastrunk and Martin got hurt against Oklahoma, redshirt freshman Shock Linwood responded with 182 yards rushing on 23 carries against the Sooners. He was named Monday the Big 12 offensive player of the week.
Linwood is averaging 89.3 yards rushing per game, second in the Big 12 behind Seastrunk's 111 per game.
"Shock's performance was non-surprising to all of y'all that have watched us playing this year," Briles said. "The thing that has helped is we've been able to play these guys, some good Saturday quality playing time in meaningful games prior to last Thursday night, and it helped the other night in Shock's case. ... He plays with a tremendous amount of passion and confidence and delivers."
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