Baylor Offers Marshall’s Chasen Hines + Sophomore Guard Is First Local 2018 Prospect

The tracking of East Texas' 2018 recruiting class began Wednesday evening, right when Baylor presented Marshall right guard Chasen Hines a college football scholarship opportunity.

The sophomore is the very first among all local sophomore football players to own an FBS offer.

Hines (6-3, 310), who announced the news through his personal Twitter account, helped pave the way for teammates Cameron Haller and and Chavis Mills to both eclipse 1,000 rushing yards in a 13-game season that ended in the Class 5A Division II regional semifinals. Haller, a junior athlete, racked up 1,815 yards on the ground while Mills, a senior running back, went for 1,216 yards.

Marshall's offense produced 5,401 yards of offense in total and averaged 38.5 points per game on the way to a share of the District 15-5A championship and an 11-2 final record.

Baylor produced similar numbers on the collegiate level while pursuing national championship dreams in 2015. It climbed as high as No. 2 in the Associated Press Poll before injuries ate away at the team.

The Bears, under head coach Art Briles, skated into a Nov. 14 meeting at Oklahoma with an 8-0 record. Unfortunately, starting quarterback Seth Russell had been injured two weeks beforehand.

Oklahoma took away Baylor's unbeaten status, and backup quarterback Jarrett Stidham was lost for the season the next week against Oklahoma State -- a win.

Down to their third-string signal caller, the Bears dropped late season games to TCU and Texas to finish regular season play at 9-3. The campaign ended with a win against North Carolina in the Belk Bowl.

Briles has been extremely successful in Waco. His current program was below .500 all-time when he took the job in 2008.

Baylor is 99-65 with Briles, despite two straight 4-8 years to begin the tenure. It has put together four seasons with 10 or more wins and produced its first-ever Heisman Trophy winner, Robert Griffin III, in 2011.

Hines is free to verbally commit to any school that offers him at any time. However, like all high school football prospects currently in their sophomore year, he will only become eligible to sign with a program in February of 2018.

2018 East Texas Football Players With Division I FBS Offers

• Chasen Hines, Marshall, OL, 6-3, 310 — offer from Baylor (1)