There is a tell-tale moment in every Baylor football game — usually within the first few possessions — that senior Jimmy Bryson watches for.
No words are needed, but the body language — slumped shoulders, lowered heads or just a slower walk as opposing defenders make their way from the field to the sideline — is a dead giveaway, an early sign of surrender.
“It’s what we call ‘hope killers,'” said Bryson, the 6-foot-4, 285-pound anchor of Baylor’s massive group of earth-moving offensive linemen. “When you can drive someone from point A to point B against their will, and they start to realize there’s nothing they can do about it, that’s when you start to look for their body language to change.
“There’s a pride to putting the team on our shoulders. We have some amazing athletes, but for us, there’s no other group we want to be in charge of affecting the game than us up front. To impose your will on the defense is a pretty good feeling.”
To this point in the season, as top-ranked Baylor (12-0) enters Thursday night’s BlueCross Bowl rematch with rival McCallie (10-2) for the Division II-AAA state championship, no group of offensive linemen in the state of Tennessee has moved more opponents against their will — or driven more opponents into the realm of hopelessness — more convincingly than Baylor.