WACO – Baylor coach Matt Rhule had a plan for Xavier Newman until the junior from DeSoto called an audible.

With Newman already having played four games, Rhule hoped to keep him on the sideline for the rest of the season to preserve his redshirt season. Then things changed in Baylor’s 17-14 win over West Virginia.

Newman set the tone by texting Rhule on Wednesday night, saying: “I want to play.”

He said it long enough that Rhule yielded during the fourth quarter, albeit reluctantly.

“I would have preferred not to play him, but at the same time you only have so many chances to play on teams like this and I understand where he was coming from,” Rhule said. “We were struggling and he wanted to go.”

At 8-0, Baylor has four regular-season games remaining plus potentially the Big 12 title game as well as a bowl. Rhule said he might consider redshirting Newman next season while praising the lineman’s decision.

“He’ll go down as one of the special guys to me,” Rhule said.