The Baylor Bears have been embroiled in scandal for months now but things escalated considerably when new allegations came to light earlier this week. As a result, there is a cloud of uncertainty surrounding the program with potential sanctions looming, but on the side of pure football, Baylor has a talented young coach in Matt Rhule that can make strides on the recruiting trail.
To that end, Rhule and his staff picked up an impressive win on the recruiting trail Wednesday evening in securing a verbal commitment from four-star 2018 running back Stanley Hackett.
The 6'3", 193-pound running back from Pasadena (Tex.) chooses Baylor over a list of impressive offers that includes UCLA, Texas Tech and others. Hackett currently ranks as a four-star recruit according to the 247Sports composite and that metric indicates that he would be come the No. 2 ranked prospect that has submitted a verbal commitment to the Bears for 2018.
Obviously, the Bears are not supposed to just stop recruiting in the midst of scandal, even if the timing of this commitment might seem odd on the outside. The scandal certainly takes precedent in the big picture, but from a football standpoint, this is a big pick-up for Matt Rhule and his staff.
