Still not cleared after concussion, QB Anu Solomon 'medically withdraws' from Baylor
Anu Solomon began the season as Baylor’s starting quarterback. Now he’s not even a student at the school.
Bears coach Matt Rhule announced Tuesday that Solomon, a graduate transfer from Arizona, has decided to medically withdraw from the university. Solomon has been dealing with concussion-like symptoms for several weeks. Rhule said Tuesday he hasn’t been cleared by the team doctors and has been falling behind academically.
“Anu has missed too much school so he’s medically withdrawn from school so he didn’t take all F’s in the graduate school,” Rhule said. “He’s having a hard time keeping up academically, so he’s not in school anymore.”
Solomon hasn’t played since Week 2 against UTSA when he left the game with a concussion. He started that game, as well as the opener against Liberty, and completed 24-of-55 passes for 399 yards, four touchdowns and two interceptions. He also had 106 yards rushing.
Solomon was the starting quarterback to open the season for Arizona in 2014, 2015 and 2016, but dealt with a variety of injuries during his time with the Wildcats. He led Arizona to the Pac-12 title game as a redshirt freshman in 2014 and threw for 3,793 yards and 28 touchdowns. Overall at Arizona, he threw for 6,922 yards, 49 touchdowns and 16 interceptions. He was limited to just five games in 2016 and decided to pursue a graduate transfer after the season.
After landing at Baylor, Solomon initially beat out sophomore Zach Smith for the starting role. When Solomon was injured, Smith stepped into the starting lineup and has played in every game since. However, Smith injured his shoulder over the weekend in the loss to Texas, so Rhule said freshman Charlie Brewer will probably start at QB on Saturday at Kansas. Brewer has played in four games this season, but his action against the Longhorns was his most significant. In the 38-7 loss, Brewer completed 17-of-27 passes for 181 yards.
In addition to the injury to Smith, Rhule said wide receiver Pooh Stricklin and linebacker Clay Johnston are likely out for the rest of the year. Johnston leads the team with 54 tackles and nine tackles for loss while Stricklin has totaled 23 catches for 299 yards. Both have foot injuries, Rhule said.
Baylor is so beat up physically, Rhule said, that he opted not to have practice on Monday to give his players an extra day of recovery.
“We were too beat up to practice yesterday, so we didn’t practice yesterday, just to give them an extra day to recoup,” Rhule said.
Baylor and Kansas are the only two Big 12 teams without a win in conference play. The Bears are 0-8 overall in Rhule’s first season while Kansas is 1-7 with its only win coming over FCS Southeast Missouri State.
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Sam Cooper is a writer for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!
