Baylor's Defensive Line Has One Major Goal Under New D-Line Coach Jacori Greer

The Bears are breaking in a new defensive line coach, along with new players.

Chris Jones-Imagn Images

Baylor made several moves to fortify its defensive line for this season. Not only did the Bears bring over Joe Klanderman to coordinate the defense, but Baylor also went out and hired Jacori Greer to coach the line.

Greer comes to Waco after spending 2025 with Coastal Carolina, where his team finished fourth in the conference in third down defense. Greer, a former defensive lineman at New Mexico, is still learning his players — which have a lot of new faces from last season. But the one thing that both Klanderman and Greer are coaching is to create more havoc.

"We better. No, we better," said Greer. "I think every day they're getting a little bit better. And honestly, our foundation, what Coach Aranda has said, is 1-0 every day. And so, if we continue to take the steps that we're taking, I really feel good about our group come the first game. And so, every single day it's havoc. We talk about it a lot. We talk about knockback and playing with our hands. But it's just doing those little things consistently over and over again."

Chris Jones-Imagn Images

Baylor had one of the worst run defenses last season. But there aren't too many returners from the 2025 Baylor defensive line, however, guys like Jackson Blackwell, Devonte Tezino, and Kyler Jordan have gone from being gap stoppers to being able to show just how versatile they can be.

"You got to ask them. I think they like it," Greer said. "You know, most D-linemen love when you tell them, hey, man, just get off the ball and go vertical. It's how you do it. And so, I think it's been a little bit of a transition just as far as the techniques. But I think they love what we do. And so, the Jackson Blackwells, the Tez, like these guys, man, that you may think is, man, he's a plugger. Now he's getting an opportunity to show that he's versatile. And so, it's been really fun."

Defensive line goals

While Baylor's defensive line struggled to contain the ball carrier last year, that's expected to change in 2026. Creating havoc plays is going to be the key under Klanderman, but those can come in many shapes and forms.

Sacks are just one way to create havoc. Greer spoke about his unit causing the quarterback to get off his spot, tackles for loss, and just being disruptive.

"Yeah, honestly, it's kind of what you said. It's havoc," said Greer. "You know, we talk about creating negative plays. And it may not be a sack. It may be getting the quarterback off the spot. It's being disruptive. Every single play we're out there. And so, if we can consistently do that against a good old line like we have, I feel really good about playing other teams in the 12th."