There’s a different feeling at Baylor as spring practice begins.
“Expectations are higher,” head coach Dave Aranda.
The Bears were licking their wounds time a year ago after a woeful 2023 season saw them win just three games and finish the year on a five-game losing streak.
But with a plethora of players returning in key positions and riding the wave of momentum from winning the final six games of the regular season and making it back to a bowl game, the energy in the building has been elevated.
“On some parts of our team, there are strong identities,” Aranda said. “We want to be able to lean into those identities. With the new year and the new people, there can be this wrinkle or that wrinkle, but the identity really isn’t changing.”
For all of 2023 and half of last season, Aranda expressed frustration that the good things he saw in practice weren’t carrying over to the actual games.
Coming out of the second bye week last season, the switch flipped, and everything he saw came to fruition, which, according to Aranda, is half the battle.
“Once you get to that part and you have guys that are coming back, you have the opportunity to raise the standard even more,” Aranda said. “The expectation, for sure, goes up when you have guys that are returning. And you welcome that. I’m excited to see where that goes.
“I think there is a confidence, and there’s guys that know that they can do it.”
Rebuilding the linebacker room
No group looks more different this spring than the linebackers.
Aranda remains hands-on with the linebackers, and redshirt junior Keaton Thomas, who led the team with 106 tackles last season, returns to lead the group on the field.
Other than that, Baylor hit the portal hard.
The Bears added Phoenix Jackson from Fresno State, Emar’rion Wilson from Oregon, ration Barns from Florida International and Matthew Fobbs-White from Tulane to add experienced depth to the linebacking corps.
“We’re going to need to right away,” Aranda said of the newcomers picking up his system. “I think today was a good example of it. The opportunities are there to do football all the time, and so we’re doing it.”
In addition to the incoming transfers, four-star freshman Kamauryn Morgan was on the field working with the linebackers on Saturday, and fellow four-star freshman Kaleb Burns will enroll in the fall.
“We’re going to have some freshmen that are going to show up here in the summer that we’re going to count on playing a fair amount, too,” Aranda said. “Our methods, we have to be able to get it to them easy, and we have to be able to invest time into them, because we need them to produce and to play and to be productive year one.”
They were the only newcomers on the field.
Outside linebackers coach Carson Hall, one of two full-time hires this offseason, will look to put his stamp on the group in his first season with the Bears.
“I think there is an attention to detail in coaching,” Aranda said. “I think there is a lot of experience in systems that are somewhat similar. About a year ago at this time, we were kind of putting together what we thought the defense could be. We’re so much further ahead now in terms of what we’re doing and how we’re playing it.”
An undeniable QB1
This year, Sawyer Robertson is unquestionably the starting quarterback for Baylor.
“There’s confidence with him, and there’s confidence in him,” Aranda said. “I just think that there’s such a belief in what he can do. When he talks, people listen. He’s a great leader as a mentor to that quarterback room.”
Robertson battled throughout spring practice last season but ultimately fell short of the starting job for the third time in his career.
He came in during the second game of the season last year and didn’t slow down over the rest of the, finishing the year with 3,071 yards and 28 touchdowns, while rushing for another four touchdowns.
“I know that he’s put in a lot of effort, a lot of time to make this be a great spring, so I know that he’ll get that,” Aranda said.
Redshirt freshman Nate Bennett returns after seeing time in three games last season and serving as Robertson’s primary backup.
The Bears also landed Auburn transfer Walker White, a former four-star recruit, in the transfer portal and signed three-star prospect Edward Griffin from Coppell, who Aranda said has impressed early in his Baylor tenure.
“Our quarterback room, I would put up as one of the strongest ones I’ve ever been around, in terms of people, intangibles and athletic ability,” Aranda said.
An evolving spring showcase
Spring practices are scheduled to end on April 26.
Aranda said there will not be a spring game in the traditional sense.
“I think we’re going to do what we did last year, and that was more of like a showcase,” Aranda said. “We had one-on-ones, and we had guys with people at the facility, and we had our players available.”
The spring game last season was moved from McLane Stadium to Allison Indoor and closed to everyone other than the player’s families.
While the Bears will hold some practices at McLane leading up to the season opener against Auburn on Friday, Aug. 29, the final spring showcase will remain at the Allison Indoor facility.