Football - Varsity

Team Info

No team photos are posted for this team.

Coach: Phillip Massey

Varsity Assistants: Bubba Burr, Cos Dematteo, Micah Hughes, Julian Kaufman, Victor McClure, Dave Reynolds, Tom Watson, Eric Westmoreland

Baylor fields football teams at the varsity, JV/freshman, eighth grade, and seventh grade levels. The varsity team competes in the TSSAA, Division II Large and the eighth grade team competes in the TVAC. Baylor sixth graders are organized into two teams and compete in a local recreation league.

Facilities

Built in 1971, Heywood Stadium, named for former coach "Humpy" Heywood, has been home to some of the most storied football teams in Tennessee sports history, including the 1973 State and National Champions, and state runners-up in '72 and '77. The surrounding mountains and the nearby Tennessee River make "Heywood" an inspiring setting for high school football on a cool September evening.

Fast Facts on Baylor Football

• At least five noted college football coaches sent their sons to Baylor: Tennessee's Robert Neyland, Alabama's Frank Thomas and Red Drew, Ole Miss' Johnny Vaught, and Arkansas' Frank Broyles.
• At least two Baylor players became college head football coaches. Herman Hickman was head coach of Yale from 1948-51, while Russ Faulkinberry was head coach at Southwestern Louisiana from 1961-73.
• Baylor football teams have played opponents featuring such future pro stars as Fran Tarkenton, Paul Hornung, and Reggie White.
  James B. Rike, the highly successful Baylor coach of the pre-World War II era, was an outstanding player at Ohio Wesleyan for a young and relatively unknown coach named Branch Rickey. Rickey went on to gain nationwide recognition in 1947 when, as president of the Brooklyn Dodgers, he broke the major league baseball color barrier by playing Jackie Robinson.
• A former Baylor player once won the prestigious Outland Trophy, which is given to the outstanding interior lineman in college foootball. Army's Joe Steffy, a 1944 Baylor graduate, won the award in 1947, the second year it was given. While at West Point, he was a teammate of Heisman Trophy winners Glenn Davis and Doc Blanchard.
• And speaking of the Heisman, Baylor's outstanding halfback Eddie Prokop finished fifth in the voting for the Heisman Trophy in 1943 while starring for Georgia Tech.