In Praise of B.J. Baylor
Image courtesy of Oregon State Athletics
In the same spirit of Brad Pitt as Billy Bean asking us “How can you not be romantic about baseball,” I’d like to start this piece with a question, Beaver Fam. How can you not be in awe of Oregon State running backs?
Ken Simonton and Steven Jackson. Yvenson Bernard and Jacquizz Rodgers. Bill “Earthquake” Enyart. Jermar Jefferson. Ryan Nall. Artavis Pierce, Storm Woods, and Terron Ward and more. I suppose we have to include Jack Colletto’s name here too, even though the JackHammer lines up at every other position on the field as well. Oregon State may not be recognized as the true RBU by college football casuals or the national sickos, who no doubt think of places like Alabama and Georgia when seeing those three letters together, but there are few other fanbases who have been as blessed by the ball carrier as Beaver Nation has over the past few decades.
Simonton’s game-winning touchdown run in the 1998 Civil War remains one of the most iconic plays in Beaver football history and sparked a long overdue turn-around after nearly three decades of torture. Jackson’s punishing, pulverizing style made him a surefire NFL first-round draft pick and laid the foundation for a professional career where he pounded his way through opposing defenses for more yards than fellow college football RB icons like OJ Simpson, Earl Campbell, and Herschel Walker.
Running backs have provided some of the most iconic moments that will live forever in Beaver football lore. Yvenson Bernard demanding the chance to plunge up the middle to go for two and the win against Missouri; Jermar Jefferson rushing for a mile and a half to give Jonathan Smith his first win against the Ducks; and of course, Jacquizz Rodgers pinballing off every single USC defender foolish enough to stand in his way, and Pete Carroll shrugging his shoulders at Erin Andrews, unable to offer any analysis on how to tackle the Quizz Show other than “I don’t know.”
The title of ‘Oregon State Running Back’ constitutes a special position in a special place. This is in many ways an ode to all Oregon State running backs, but really, it’s an ode to just one running back. A running back who may not have rewritten the Oregon State record books, but a running back we should never, ever forget. Especially this week with the No. 7 Trojans sailing up to our shores for their potential final battle in Corvallis.
Benjamin Baylor—known better by his stage name B.J. Baylor—earned his curtain call from the Oregon State faithful after just one year with his name in lights on the proverbial Reser Stadium marquee.
Baylor has a lot in common with several of his Beaver ball-carrying brethren. He played his high school ball under the Friday Night Lights of Texas just like Quizz, Storm, and current wunderkind Damien Martinez. He ran all over a USC defense to pave the way to an iconic Oregon State victory, just like Simonton in 2000, and Quizz in 2008. And he also became the first Beaver since 2003 to lead the conference in rushing yards with his tally of 1,337 in 2021, the first Beaver since Jackson to do so.
It hasn’t even been a full year without B.J. on the field in orange and black. The current backfield is in the capable hands of Deshaun Fenwick, Colletto, and Martinez. Yet I can’t help but feel as though Baylor’s Oregon State career has already been lost to the pages of history. That he’ll be seen as the underrated and underappreciated back who dutifully toted the ball for the Beavs between Jefferson and whichever superstar runner who's got next. Perhaps this is because we only got one full season with B.J. as “the guy,” not allowing him the time or the reps to rack up the gaudy numbers and records belonging to other Beaver running backs. Perhaps it was the way he ran the ball, with a style much more muted than Jefferson’s and not quite as pugnacious as Jackson’s. Effective, of course, but not always flashy.
After watching his entire career, the harshest criticism I can imagine for B.J. is that he was just good at everything. He may not be the fastest, strongest, or the most terrifying ankle-breaking running back the Beavs have ever had, but I’d put him top three or four in each category.
He also possessed a mastery for all the things the boxscore likes to ignore. He knew how to pass block, he was a reliable receiver out of the backfield, he also had a nose for the goalline like a pitbull, which made him impossible to stop when the ball was in his hands, and an unignorable threat/decoy when it wasn’t. A favorite storyline of mine from the 2021 Beavers was seeing Baylor and Colletto celebrating each other's touchdowns together. Both would almost assuredly have seen higher touchdown metrics without the other involved, but the team wouldn’t have been nearly as good. We’re unlikely to ever see another short-yardage duo so devastating and also so delightful.
Watching Baylor’s highlights from last year, it’s hard to zero in on one play as his legacy-defining moment. His game-tying 27-yard touchdown run against UW could be considered a real corner turner, and his one-handed catch on a misguided direct snap on his game-tying touchdown in overtime against Colorado was the stuff of legends. For the most part, though, he was just good, really good all the time. He was constantly popping through the trenches for gains of eight that should have gone for three, or picking up 15 after a bad penalty to save a drive.
He made running the ball look so effortless. On several plays he made it look like the game was being played on ice and he was the only one with skates, like the game belonged to him and the defenders were nothing more than orange cones on a practice field.
I wish B.J. had stayed in Corvallis for one more season. Not because I don’t have faith in any of the ball carriers leading the way for the Beavs in 2022, but I wish it would have been harder for NFL teams to ignore his talent the way they did this spring. It’s hard to imagine Baylor going undrafted had he hung another 1,300 and 13 on the Pac 12 this season.
I don’t blame him at all for leaving when he did. He could have left for greener pastures and less crowded backfields after redshirting during the disastrous 2017 season, but he didn’t. He stayed. He waited patiently and in doing so he helped build the foundation for the success Beaver Nation is enjoying now.
He didn’t owe Oregon State another carry. The chance to play professionally is an impossible dream for most mortals and the threat of career-ending injury is always looming. I was just devastated when he went undrafted in April and that devastation continued when he was picked up as a UDFA by Green Bay (quick disclosure if you’re new here, I absolutely loathe the Green Bay Packers). The Packers cutting him after just the first preseason game (a game in which he balled!) is just the latest heinous crime to add to my endless list of grievances I have against the Cheese Heads.
The Atlanta Falcons signed Baylor to their practice squad on September 15. The news overjoyed me. I instantly saw images in my head of B.J. barrelling into the endzone and doing the Dirty Bird (against the Packers in this fantasy, of course) on his way to NFL stardom, the next practice squad player to fantasy league title-winner like Arian Foster and Danny Woodhead.
I know the odds of that happening are not good. There’s just no way and no scenario in which I’m not bullish on B.J. Baylor. How can you not believe in the Oregon State running back from Wharton, Texas? How can you not be in awe of Oregon State running backs?
How can you not still be in awe of B.J. Baylor?
