Ben

Sims

Sims (6'4/250) will miss a second straight game, as he has not seen any action since a loss to TCU on Halloween. The redshirt sophomore caught two touchdown passes in that game, and for the season he is responsible for seven receptions and three touchdowns.

Lovett (6'0/212) and Thornton (6'3/180) did not make the trip to Ames for Saturday’s game, as they’ve been declared out due to injuries suffered during last weekend’s loss to TCU. The absence of Lovett means that even more will be asked of Craig Williams and Trestan Ebner in the run game. In addition to Lovett and Thornton, Baylor will also be without TE Ben Sims, C Jackson Kimble and CB Byron Hanspard Saturday night.

Sims scored the first two touchdowns of the game for the Bears; both on passes from Charlie Brewer inside of the red zone. They also came with Baylor trailing by multiple scores -- the first when it was 30-0, the next when it was 33-7 -- but they still count in the box score. The 6-foot-4, 250-pound tight end has been efficient thus far, turning seven catches into three touchdowns. His next chance to score comes next Saturday against the Cyclones of Iowa State.

Sims (6'4/252) “can run” and “is more of a threat to get down the seam and make plays in the passing game.” Olson said HC Matt Rhule thinks Sims can be a “special player” but Sims will be battling for playing time with Christoph Henle. It sounds like Rhule is comfortable with this tight end duo so it will be interesting to see how targets are divvied up. There’s potential for one of them to make some noise in CFF circles.