By Jeffrey Cohen | Sports Writer
Head coach Dave Aranda joined Baylor as a defensive mind. He was coming off a 2019 national championship with LSU, where he coached 18 eventual NFL players.
Last season ended as a disappointment for the Bears’ defense. The unit allowed the second-most points per game in the Big 12 and ranked last in team sacks.
“I didn’t want to overload that side of the ball,” Aranda said. “We didn’t do enough. We should have done a whole lot more on the line of scrimmage.”
Aranda hopes to right those wrongs over the offseason with the addition of new defensive coordinator Joe Klanderman and plenty of player turnover.
“Last year, the majority of the money of our team was spent on the receiver room, almost way too much, to be honest,” Aranda said. “That money is now spent on defense. And I felt it freeing to be in a position where I could just say, ‘Joe, we’re going to get you everything you need.’”
Baylor lost multiple leaders from last season’s defense, including linebacker Keaton Thomas, the team’s leading tackler, and safety DJ Coleman, who finished with 6.5 sacks and three takeaways.
The Bears, in turn, hit the transfer portal and landed key players like defensive lineman Hosea Wheeler and JACK Garrick Ponder. They are also bringing in multiple impact freshmen, including defensive lineman Jae’Lin Battle and safety Jordan Davis.
“We got almost 15 new guys between transfers and freshmen,” redshirt senior safety Michael Allen said. “You’re not going to come together unless you’re intentional about it.”
As spring ball begins, the defense is eager to change the narrative and prove that it can be one of the top groups in the Big 12.
“[With] the combination of how last season went and having all those new guys here, there’s certainly a heightened sense of urgency because we know that the time is not on our side,” Allen said.
Change begins with the culture. The Bears in 2025 could be characterized as inconsistent, particularly through the course of a game. They now aim to address how they will succeed for all 60 minutes and throughout the season.
“It’s like, ‘OK, what’s going to be our calling card? How is Baylor going to win?’” Allen said. “Tough, smart and dependable are the three things that we’re focusing on this semester leading into what the team needs to be.”
Having to tackle the challenge of adding new faces, Aranda and his coaching staff wanted to dig deeper when they started forming the culture. He wanted any player’s “facade” to come down, so the team would not face more obstacles to forming a tightly-knit group.
“We were intentional with the one-on-ones,” Aranda said. “We’re trying to see who they really are, get you to be comfortable with who you really are, and let’s come together that way.”
Changing the energy of the team, especially the defense, became a focal point for Aranda. He recognized that once things started to take a wrong turn last year, his team went cold. They lost their energy and that spiraled as games progressed.
“[For] mental toughness, he shows a few clips of last year, for example, the Arizona game,” redshirt junior safety Jacob Redding said. “It was one play, and then you just felt the energy go away on the sideline. That’s the opposite of what we want to be.”
The spring started with building connections between players. Aranda and his staff had players talk to each other about who they are and who they play for. He plans for these connections, along with the grind of practices, to shape the defense and the whole team once the season begins.
“That gave us the ability to push them a little bit harder today because of the relationships that we’ve really tried to invest in,” Aranda said. “This is where they’re really forged, when you go through hard stuff and do it together.”
