Back in Sawyer Robertson’s hometown, the lights turned on.
A childhood Texas Tech fan and son of a Red Raider baseball player, Robertson put up video-game numbers at nearby Lubbock Coronado High School and became a four-star recruit. It was a match made in heaven — but the scholarship offer never came.
Robertson instead went to Mississippi State, later transferring to Baylor. In his first trip back to Jones A&T Stadium, he torched the Red Raiders, throwing for 274 yards and five touchdowns in a 59-35 victory against the team he’d once called his own.
“It was just another game,” Robertson said after the best statistical performance of his career. “[We] can get better.”
Robertson’s ascension to the top flight of collegiate signal-callers has changed the equation in Waco. Alongside new offensive coordinator Jake Spavital, he dragged the Bears’ scoring offense from outside the top 100 to No. 19 in the nation and finished fifth nationally in QBR.
“He knows it’s his team, and he’s doing a great job of it,” Spavital said. “Where you notice him the most is just the leadership role that he has, and he’s doing a great job of motivating the young guys and being around and helping the other quarterbacks out and letting them pick his brain.”
Robertson transferred to Baylor in Jan. 2023, following the passing of legendary Mississippi State head coach Mike Leach. With SEC record-setting passer Will Rogers entrenched as the starter, Robertson only attempted 11 passes in two seasons in Starkville.
After arriving in Waco, he lost another quarterback competition — this time to redshirt sophomore Blake Shapen, who was coming off a solid 2022 campaign. But Shapen battled injuries throughout the season, giving Robertson ample time under center.
He struggled.
Hampered by an ankle injury of his own — and playing in an offense tailored to someone else’s strengths — Robertson threw more interceptions (four) than touchdowns (two) across six games. When Shapen left for Mississippi State the following offseason, Baylor brought in an offensive coordinator with a similar Air Raid background to Robertson, but still brought in a big-name transfer, Toledo’s Dequan Finn, to be the presumptive starter.
Finn won the job, marking the third signal-caller to beat out Robertson in fall camp, but the battle stretched until a week before the season. Robertson was pushing, and it wouldn’t be long before he would seize the starting job.
With Finn sidelined after taking a beating in Week 2 against Utah, Robertson started Baylor’s blackout game against Air Force. The Bears controlled the ball for fewer than six minutes in the first half, drawing dread and comparisons to the too-fresh memory of the teams’ last matchup: a 30-15 Armed Forces Bowl loss to the Falcons in TCU’s Amon G. Carter Stadium in 2022.
But in the second half, the Bears woke up from hibernation. Robertson finished 18-of-24 passing for 248 yards and a rushing touchdown, while redshirt freshman halfback Bryson Washington crossed the century mark for the first time in his career. Baylor breezed to a 31-3 victory, and Robertson’s spot at the helm of the offense was all but secured.
“I thought Sawyer came in and performed really well,” head coach Dave Aranda said after the win. “I thought that there was poise with him … that calm in the pocket, that pocket presence was good to see.”
From that point on, Robertson floored the pedal, completing 62.2% of his passes for 3,071 yards and 32 total touchdowns. He closed the season with a 445-yard performance against LSU in the Kinder’s Texas Bowl, turning the page on a gripping chapter of plot twists.
Just a year after losing another camp battle, Robertson is entering his redshirt senior season as a dark-horse Heisman candidate. He’s tried his best to downplay the hype.
“I’m trying to stay away from all this stuff,” Robertson said. “It is cool, but a lot of that has to do with what happened last year. So, got to go do it again this year.”
While the calendar changes, Robertson’s supporting cast will remain largely the same. Spavital returns alongside nine offensive starters, including four offensive linemen, the top two receivers (Josh Cameron and Ashtyn Hawkins), tight end Michael Trigg and record-setting running back Washington.
Continuity along the offensive line provides an ideal environment for Washington. The redshirt sophomore is poised for a massive 2025 after breaking the program’s freshman rushing record with 1,028 yards last season.
“I feel great,” Washington said. “Every day, we’re 1% better. … [Behind this offensive line], the Red Sea just opens.”
Washington will step into a larger role this season after junior Dawson Pendergrass, the team’s top change-of-pace back, suffered a season-ending foot injury in fall camp.
“I feel good about our depth behind him,” Aranda said. “We’ve got some young players that are now going to be pressed into playing a little bit earlier than maybe they were thinking.”
Some of those touches will go to redshirt freshman Joseph Dodds and freshmen four-stars Caden Knighten and Michael Turner. But another chunk will go back to the passing game, where redshirt seniors Cameron, Hawkins and Michael Trigg are expected to lead a transfer-heavy group.
“The word that we have for offense this year is [precise],” Cameron said. “That’s kind of the next step for our offense, is not just being satisfied, but being precise. Being hungry to get the exact mark.”
The defense remains a question mark. Aranda took over play-calling duties in 2024, leading to mixed results. The Bears finished No. 81 nationally in scoring defense, 11th-best in the Big 12 and a 35-spot improvement from the previous year, when the unit finished last in the conference.
The defensive line has struggled to replace Siaki Ika’s production ever since the First Team All-Big 12 nose tackle was drafted in 2023. Enter Samu Taumanupepe, a 6-foot-3, 376-pound nose tackle from Texas A&M who underwent back surgery in the spring. He’s expected to play a big role alongside Jackie Marshall and Cooper Lanz.
“I had a back surgery in the spring,” Taumanupepe said. “All glory to God [that] I’m back today. At first, I didn’t think I was going to play football this year, but now I’m back.”
Star Keaton Thomas (114 tackles, 7 tackles for loss) is back at linebacker, along with a fleet of transfers headlined by Emar’rion Winston, Matthew Fobbs-White, Phoenix Jackson and Travion Barnes. Thomas, a redshirt junior, earned All-Big 12 honors in 2024 and landed on the preseason watch list for the Bednarik Award, given to the top linebacker in the nation.
Six secondary transfers buttress a back-end that struggled to contain big plays. Ohio State’s Calvin Simpson-Hunt and Oregon’s Tyler Turner should both challenge for playing time in a group that returns most of its production. But Northwestern transfer Devin Turner, an All-Big Ten Honorable Mention safety who nabbed three interceptions in 2024, will miss the season with a knee injury sustained on the last play of fall camp.
“For every practice — and really every game — our goal is to take three [turnovers],” redshirt senior cornerback Tevin Williams III said. “If you get three, you’re pretty much going to win the game. So that’s kind of been our focus for every practice going into it.”
Baylor has been picked by several experts, including On3’s JD Pickell and some voters in the Big 12 Student Media Poll, to make the Big 12 championship game and push for the program’s first berth in the College Football Playoff.
A tough nonconference slate will eventually give way to a manageable Big 12 schedule, but in a conference of parity, chaos and tiebreakers are inevitable. The floor is quicksand, but Robertson — and the high-octane offense he captains — have the Bears dreaming of reaching new heights.
“I was ready to roll last year [and] still obviously ready to roll this year,” Robertson said. “It’ll be fun to see what God has in store for this season.”