In 2021, AJ Steward coached Baylor to an all-conference season. BJ Baylor, that is, who earned First Team All-Pac-12 and Honorable Mention All-America accolades for Oregon State in a season in which he rushed for a conference-best 1,337 yards.
In 2023, Steward will be charged with coaching all of Baylor's running backs to season like that one.
Steward will be Baylor's running backs coach and assistant head coach after spending the past two seasons in a similar role at Oregon State, sources confirmed to FootballScoop on Tuesday.
Steward replaces Justin "Juice" Johnson, who took the wide receivers job at Texas Tech earlier this month. Johnson replaced Emmett Jones, who took the wide receivers job at Oklahoma.
That series of Big 12-on-Big 12 crime brought Steward back to his home conference. The St. Louis native played tight end at Kansas from 2007-11 and moved into coaching at Rice in 2012. He was promoted to running backs coach in 2014 and has since coached backs for BYU and Arizona.
After losing Baylor following the 2021 campaign, freshman Damien Martinez stepped in with 982 yards and seven touchdowns on 6.1 yards per carry. A similar dynamic played out at Baylor, where freshman Richard Reese led the team with 972 yards and 14 touchdowns.
Baylor will look for a bounce-back 2023 after following 2021's Big 12 and Sugar Bowl championships with a 6-7 season.
As always, stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.