Baylor loses fourth defensive back to the portal
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One step forward, one step back for the Baylor Bears football program as the topsy-turvy transfer portal world continues to spin. After landing transfer commitments from Stilton McKelvey on Sunday, Kamren Washington on Monday night, Nate Kibble on Tuesday afternoon and Asher Hale on Tuesday evening, the Bears lost cornerback Caldra Williford moments after the Hale news.
RELATED: Baylor transfer portal tracker: Every player coming in and out of the program in 2026
Williford, a redshirt junior from St. Louis, notched 16 tackles, five pass breakups and one tackle for loss during the 2025 season. His best statistical performance was six tackles versus TCU on October 18th and had two pass breakups each versus Oklahoma State and UCF. Baylor was not the first college stop for Williford as he began his career at Murray State in 2022 and 2023, where he played in 11 games.
Williford moved to Tennessee Tech for the 2024 season, during that season, Williford finished with 34 tackles, one sack, two tackles for loss, one forced fumble, two interceptions and breaking up eight passes.
Expectations were high for Williford coming into 2025, but he struggled in coverage and saw his snaps go down as the season rolled on. Williford is the 20th Baylor player to enter the transfer portal since it officially opened on January 2nd. He is the fourth Baylor defensive back to enter, joining Cameren Jenkins, KJ Makins and DJ Coleman (Florida). Attrition has hit the Baylor defense hard with 12 players from the 2025 roster transferring out.
At cornerback, the Bears have Kyler Beaty, Leo Almanza Jr, Reggie Bush II, LeVar Thornton Jr, Calvin Simpson-Hunt and MJ Artmore Jr returning from the 2025 roster along with McKelvey currently committed from the portal and Jamarion Richardson from the high school level.
Williford currently sits as the 606th-ranked overall player and 72nd-ranked cornerback in the on3 transfer portal rankings with a rating of 87. Williford received offers from Minnesota, Ohio, Central Michigan, Kansas, Iowa State, Michigan State, Oregon, West Virginia, Missouri and Murray State out of high school. Due to being from Missouri and receiving an offer from them in high school, they are a possible destination for his final year of college. The transfer portal will stay open until January 16th.
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Allen began covering college sports as an intern for InsidetheGators.com for the Florida Gators 2021 football season. He has been a freelance sportswriter for the past four years at newspapers such as the Ocala Gazette, Ocala Star-Banner and GatorBait Media. As a lifelong sports fan, Allen's dream is to cover sports every day.