As he wrapped up an interview session earlier this week, Baylor quarterback Robert Griffin flashed a grin and told a pack of sportswriters how much he appreciated them.

Think Griffin might be glad that football is back?

As Baylor shifts from fall camp to an actual game week, it seems that every player or member of the coaching staff is bouncing around with a bit more pep in their step.

Baylor players take the field at Floyd Casey Stadium before last season’s home opener against Connecticut.
Duane A. Laverty/Tribune-Herald

“Without a doubt, there is a renewed excitement,” Baylor coach Art Briles said. “As fun as fall camp is, it does kind of wear a little bit at the end. I think we’ve done a good job with the players of keeping them fresh, keeping the energy level up and not leaving everything on the practice field. We have a lot to prove on Saturday and the Saturdays ahead.”

When the Bears take the field Saturday in their season opener against Sam Houston State, it will have been nine months since any of them have played a football game. The wait was even longer for Griffin, who tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee in a Sept. 26 win over Northwestern State.

But now it’s almost over, and Griffin can see the big picture.

“I’ve always wondered why, but when you’re in something, it seems like it’s taking forever,” Griffin said. “But once you come to the end result, it seems like it flew by. During the offseason, it felt like, ‘Oh my God! We’ve got three months till the season, Coach Kaz (Kazadi) is out here killing us, moving all this weight. What is going on?’

“You get to fall camp and then at the end of fall camp, you’re like, ‘Man, that really flew by.’ I’m excited that right now it feels like it flew by.”

To build excitement and maximize their preparation time, the Bears actually shifted into their usual game-week routine at the end of last week.

“We started saying ‘game week’ last week, just to build that proper focus, get the right mentality and rhythm,” senior offensive tackle Danny Watkins said. “It’s definitely changed. I’m getting tired of crashing into G-Mason (Gary Mason Jr.) and (Terrance) Lloyd and Cuddy (Antonio Johnson) and all those guys. I’m ready to put the hurt on somebody else.”

Whereas fall camp generally centers on position battles and teaching schemes, the focus in game week naturally shifts to game-planning for an opponent. The Bears usually go through full-speed practices on Tuesday and Wednesday, followed by a lighter run-through Thursday, interspersed with plenty of film room sessions.

“In game week, we’re more focused on the details,” linebacker Antonio Johnson said. “We start getting our minds mentally ready for the game, get our bodies physically ready for the game. It’s a lot of little changes. There’s a lot more game-planning, looking at what the other team does, instead of our own offense and defense.”

Briles said he plans to release the players from practice earlier this week than he would in most game weeks, but he was confident the team would be fully prepared for the Bearkats.

“It’s all about the game, getting the players on the field and being productive once we get there,” he said.

The game field, after all, is the reason teams even conduct a fall camp to begin with. Several players became visibly animated talking about the idea of sprinting through the smoke and the Baylor Line and cracking their pads against a real-life opponent again.

“We’ve put a lot of work into this,” Watkins said, “and it’s like that new toy you got for Christmas. You spend all that time waiting for it and building it, and now it’s time to go play with it.”

bcherry@wacotrib.com

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