Former Panther Baldwin loving life with Aztecs
■ The former Siloam Springs standout has dreams of playing professional football.
Tad Davis hasn’t coached Parker Baldwin since the spring of 2014 when Baldwin — then a junior in high school — was in the midst of winning the Class 6A 200 meters state championship with the Siloam Springs track team.
Davis and Baldwin have remained close since then however, checking up on one another with text messages and phone calls. Every year for the last several years the two have made it a point to get together before Baldwin reports back to San Diego State University, where he plays college football for the Aztecs.
And each time they meet, Davis has always had some words of wisdom for his former pupil.
Before Baldwin’s freshman season with the Aztecs in 2015, the message was a simple one.
It’s about all winning and winning championships. Of course I want to get as many postseason accolades as I can, but I want to win championships first and foremost. I know what I’m capable of and I know what I can do.
“Just find a way on the field,” Davis said.
Baldwin found a way. He wound up playing all 14 of the Aztecs’ games his freshman year and was named the team’s freshman of the year at the team’s season-ending banquet. He finished the year with 14 tackles (eight solo), a forced fumble and an interception.
The next season, 2016, Davis’ challenge to Baldwin got a little tougher.
“Find a way to make them play you,” he said.
Sure enough, Baldwin did just that. He played in all 14 games again as a sophomore in 2016 for San Diego State and started the last nine games, recording 66 tackles (37 solo), three tackles for loss, two interceptions, a forced fumble and fumble recovery and seven pass breakups.
The solid sophomore year gave Baldwin some accolades heading into his junior year, but his old coach still had some advice for him.
“Then the conversation became, ‘make sure you’re working harder every day than the people around you,’” Davis said.
Baldwin started the first eight games for the Aztecs before battling a knee injury late in the year. He finished the season with 75 total tackles (37 solo), an interception and two pass breakups in 13 games played.
The year didn’t necessarily end the way Baldwin would have wanted, but he had proven he belonged at the college level.
“I’ve been blessed with athletic ability,” Baldwin said. “(Coming into college) I was worried I wouldn’t be able to match up, but it’s been crazy. I haven’t been scared of anybody. I took it as challenge. Come to find out I’m just as athletic and capable as any of these guys.”
Heading into his senior season at San Diego State, Baldwin — who stands 6-foot-2 and weights 215 pounds — is expected to be a key piece of the Aztecs’ defense once again in 2018. Baldwin plays the ‘Aztec’ position, which is a strong safety/linebacker hybrid spot on the field.
And both Baldwin, and his former coach, believe his senior season is not the end on the football field — it’s the start of the next chapter for the former Siloam Springs standout.
“I really believe he can play at the next level,” Davis said. “The guys he’s been playing in the defensive backfield with, there’s no reason why he can’t. He just needs a shot. That’s all he needs. If they crack the door open for him, he’ll kick it down.”
In a phone interview with the Herald-Leader this past week, Baldwin said he’s often asked if reality has set in that he’s about to begin his senior season at San Diego State.
“It is coming to a close,” Baldwin said. “But the end is only the beginning. I hope to play in the NFL and play as long as I can.”
The Aztecs open the season at No. 13 Stanford at 8 p.m. on Friday in Stanford, Calif. Last season, the Aztecs upset then No. 19 Stanford 20-17 in front of 43,040 fans at San Diego Stadium, a crowd which included Davis and his wife, who joined in the postgame celebration of fans that stormed the field.
“It was the best game he could have been to that’s for sure,” said Baldwin, who had five tackles that night.
The victory over the Cardinal was the third in a streak of six straight wins for San Diego State to open the 2017 season as the Aztecs finished 10-3 overall and 6-2 in the Mountain West Conference.
Overall in Baldwin’s three seasons San Diego State has gone 31-10 overall and 20-4 in Mountain West Conference games, including a pair of first place finishes in the West Division and MWC championships in 2015 and 2016.
The Aztecs have played in three bowls as well: the Hawaii Bowl in 2015, the Las Vegas Bowl in 2016 and the Armed Forces Bowl in 2017.
Baldwin is hoping for another successful season in 2018 and isn’t paying much attention to the praise he’s receiving on the outside, which includes being listed as one of the top 50 players in the MWC Conference by Mountain West Wire (mwwire.com).
“My mom (Stephanie Truitt) keeps me updated with all that stuff and I check it, but honestly it means nothing to me,” Baldwin said. “It’s about all winning and winning championships. Of course I want to get as many postseason accolades as I can, but I want to win championships first and foremost. I know what I’m capable of and I know what I can do. That’s the motto I’m living by. I’m just trying to ignore all the outside noise and do what i’m supposed to do. That’s what I’ve been doing this offseason.”
Baldwin has spent nearly the entire offseason in San Diego, working out and training for this year.
That hasn’t been lost on Davis, who coached Baldwin in football and track in junior high and Baldwin’s first two years of high school at Siloam Springs.
“He’s done an incredible job of just maturing and learning how to study the game and pass that on to other players,” Davis said. “He’s become a leader.”
Davis remembers Baldwin as the kid who routinely jumped offsides every game as an eighthgrader and fumbled the season’s opening kickoff his sophomore season against Watson Chapel at Razorback Stadium.
But by the time Baldwin’s junior season rolled around he began to establish himself as one of the area’s better athletes. In the Panthers’ season opener at Razorback Stadium in 2013, Baldwin returned a blocked punt for a touchdown as Siloam Springs rallied to tie Shiloh Christian.
Baldwin went on to have a solid junior season for the Panthers in football and in the spring he brought home a state championship in the 200 meters. Davis resigned that spring as a coach to go into the private sector, but he never quit following his former protege.
As a senior Baldwin helped the Panthers win five games, including a home playoff game against Texarkana and big road wins at Alma and Russellville. He caught 35 passes for 758 yards his senior year.
“I got to coach him for a long time,” Davis said. “The unique thing was, his senior year I got to be a fan. I got to really enjoy watching him play and go see him compete at a Division I level and see him thrive. It was really incredible to get to experience.”
Davis said he plans on watching Baldwin play in person once again this season.
Baldwin gets back home when he can, but he has grown to enjoy the West Coast.
“Honestly I love where I live right now and I love Siloam too,” he said. “It’s a cool change. Siloam taught me a lot. It’s the reason I am where I am today. It’s where I was raised. I give a lot of respect to my hometown.”