WACO- It is indeed awesome for Baylor to be tied for the conference lead with five Big 12 titles this season (and second in the league in conference championships over the past six years). Not only does Baylor produces great athletes, but smart athletes that excel in the classroom, as well. According to Baylor’s statistics, three programs including; baseball, women’s golf and soccer led the Big 12 in Academic Progress Rate (APR) in the most recent report from the NCAA, and two more programs (men’s basketball and women’s tennis) finished second in the league.
Baylor had seven players from the Big 12 Conference that were drafted in the first round of this  NFL Draft recently, but none went higher than Jason Smith, who was made  the No. 2 overall pick in the draft by the St. Louis Rams. Smith, a talented young man has developed other names for himself off the field as well. His head coach at Baylor speaks very highly of him and especially of his all-American honors and how he matches the highest drafted Bears in the school’s history.
 Several articles state that Smith  demonstrates his loyalty to his friends and mentors as he brought to the draft head coach Art Briles, strength coach Kaz Kazadi and offensive line coach Randy Clements from Baylor, plus friend and former teammate Montez Murphy and his high school defensive line coach, Billy Thompson. He even found time to speak with kids at an NFL event urging them to listen to their parents, stay in school, and always do the right thing.                              (Photo credit: Baylor Web site)