Mississippi State football: Everything to know about Blake Shapen
By Ethan Lee
Blake Shapen Baylor Bears stats and career at Baylor
With the addition of Blake Shapen, the Mississippi State Bulldogs are getting a quarterback who spent the better part of the past three seasons leading the Baylor Bears offense. While Shapen had an up-and-down career in Waco, the young QB did show flashes of potential that new Bulldogs head coach Jeff Lebby can unlock.
Shapen saw limited action in 2021, but he was instrumental in helping the Baylor Bears beat the Texas Tech Red Raiders and then was thrilling as the Bears took down the Oklahoma State Cowboys in the Big 12 championship game. In that contest, Shapen threw for 180 yards and three touchdowns, completing 82.1 percent of his passes along the way.
2022 was a solid season for Shapen, but it wasn’t special. Some of that might be attributed to the system he was playing in, but he threw for 2790 yards and 18 touchdowns against 10 interceptions. Just not spectacular.
2023 was more of the same when Shapen was healthy. He got dinged up early in the season, but the Baylor QB threw for 2188 yards and 13 touchdowns against just three picks.
So, some improvement, but he only got to play in eight games in 2023.
Now Lebby is getting a quarterback who played in an offense that never allowed him to demonstrate his full potential.
In total, Shapen’s up-and-down Baylor career featured the young quarterback throwing for 5,574 passing yards with 36 touchdowns and 13 picks. He’s pretty accurate and his ability to scoot out of trouble when needed should enable Shapen to succeed in Lebby’s fast-paced veer-and-shoot offense in Starkville.
It’ll at least give Shapen a chance to revive his college career and finish on a high note after the Baylor Bears floundered as a team this past season.