By Foster Nicholas | Sports Editor, Braden Murray | Managing Editor
Flowing through a youth skills challenge and nine-period open practice, Baylor wrapped up spring football with the inaugural Baylor Blitz Saturday afternoon at McLane Stadium.
Head coach Dave Aranda’s Bears focused on giving back to the community. They hosted 300 third through eighth graders for drills with current athletes. The hour-and-a-half of football training included route running, quarterback toss and relay race stations.
“The guys really had fun and were looking forward to it,” Aranda said. “A lot of them didn’t want it to end, and the kids were having fun too. It was good to see.”
During the afternoon session, the green and gold opened their final spring practice with individual drills before moving to one-on-one competition between different groups. It marked the second time in program history that Baylor had opted against a spring game, but it’s something redshirt junior linebacker Kyler Jordan sees as the norm moving forward.
“I thought it was really good,” Jordan said. “The little [event] for the kids, I thought was really cool, and I hope they enjoyed it as much as we did.”
The Bears were without several key players for the majority of the spring. Tight ends Michael Trigg and Kelcey Johnson, linebackers Phoenix Jackson and Travion Barnes and safety Carl Williams IV are recovering from injury. Even without them, Aranda noticed growth, specifically on defense, but also across the board.
“Not having everyone as healthy as you’d like probably pulled us back a little bit,” Aranda said. “Our ability to cover improved, and I thought our attention to detail there and our confidence improved in covering people. I think our pass rush vastly improved.”
Redshirt sophomore running back Joseph Hagman made the play of the day, falling backward and leaping over a linebacker to make a contested catch during a seven-on-seven drill. On the defensive end, the team grabbed five interceptions between senior safety Devyn Bobby (2), redshirt sophomore linebacker Corey Kelly (2) and redshirt sophomore cornerback Calvin Simpson-Hunt (1).
“It was honestly a really great spring,” redshirt senior wide receiver Josh Cameron said. “I’m just really excited moving into the summer and then moving into the fall, of course. It’s just upward trajectory all around.”
While Aranda said the Bears checked most of the boxes with spring camp aside from the injury bug, he said the team will look to add a wide receiver, cornerback, nose guard and offensive line depth during the spring transfer window. However, navigating the portal in April has been more focused on retaining veterans.
“This particular transfer window has been primarily defense for us, and it hasn’t been intentional,” Aranda said. “We haven’t come out trying to play defensive. We very much wanted to be offensively minded in our approach, but it was one thing after the other, and so now that we’re on the other side of that, it gives us the ability to play a little bit more offense.”
In addition to a fresh crop of transfers, Aranda said he was impressed by the freshman class of wide receivers — Taz Williams Jr., Ashton Jones and Jacorey Watson — and all could see play time in the fall. On the defensive end, tackle Jackson Blackwell “looked like a vet” despite it being his first spring camp, and linebacker Kamauryn “K3” Morgan will contribute in pass rush situations and could work his way into “more first and second down things, too.”
The Bears will open the 2025 season against Auburn at a to-be-determined time on Aug. 29 at McLane Stadium.
