Blake Shapen injury update: HC and teammates confident he will be ready for Baylor's next game

Blake Shapen and the Baylor Bears' 2022 season was off to a solid start. Shapen ensured that the program had no regrets about entrusting him with a starting role. In five games, he has thrown eleven touchdown passes, rushed for two touchdowns, and been picked a mere three times in five matches.

However, in Baylor's Week 5 matchup against West Virginia University, he seemed to have sustained a head injury. As such, he was limited to a mere 14 completions in 22 pass attempts, both season lows for the shot caller.

Reports around the NCAA suggest that Shapen is likely to be available for Baylor's upcoming game against Kansas University, which comes up on Saturday, October 22. During Baylor’s Coach’s Show on Wednesday, Bears’ head coach Dave Aranda gave an update on the QB1’s status heading into the game against Kansas on Saturday.

“Blake is back with us this week,” Aranda told John Morris, the voice of the Bears. “He looks really good, feels really good. It’s really a positive to just see his growth, just as a leader.”

His coach and teammates have expressed optimism, and Shapen is as tough as nails. He has never missed a game due to injury during his amateur football career.

Verdict: Expect Blake Shapen to start at center for the Bears in tomorrow's matchup against Kansas.

Blake Shapen's Player Profile

Blake Shapen is a twenty-one-year-old, six-foot-tall, 183-pound, mobile quarterback who plays for the Baylor Bears. He plays both baseball and football for Baylor University. Shapen was a lightly recruited prospect coming out of Evangel Christian Academy, located in Shreveport, Louisiana where he passed for 2,049 yards with 24 touchdowns and five interceptions and rushed for 324 yards with five touchdowns.

As a player, his strengths lie in his quarterback IQ, deceptive turn of pace while rushing, and his ability to find wide receivers with dead-shot accuracy. Blake Shapen is playing in his second year in the NCAA, and scouts will monitor his development throughout the season.

Shapen had a few college scholarship offers to choose from before he picked Baylor. Part of the reason he chose Baylor was largely thanks to them allowing him to play baseball and basketball.

Blake Shapen enrolled in Baylor in 2020, when he redshirted his true freshman season. He entered his redshirt freshman season as the backup to starting quarterback Gerry Bohanon, a true Baylor star. Shapen bided his time and got a chance to start at center when Bohanon suffered a hamstring injury.

Shapen then led Baylor to a win in the 2021 Big 12 Championship Game, where he was named MVP. Thanks to his late-season success and incredible spring training camp performance, Shapen was handed the starting QB spot for the 2022 season.

Blake Shapen is in his second season with the Baylor Bears, and the quarterback is putting up amateur career highs across the board.

In his first season with the Bears, in which he was the backup QB to Gerry Bohanon, he finished the season with a quarterback passer's rating of 149.5, throwing five touchdown passes and no interceptions.

Now, his second season with the Bears has been even better, as the Shreveport, Louisiana native has amassed a QB passer's rating of 162.1 while throwing for eleven touchdowns and three interceptions.