Baylor loses leading rusher to the transfer portal
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The portal combat going on right now is brutal. Some teams will benefit and have the resources to thrive in the competitive market for players. Others, not so much. So far, the Baylor Bears have seen 23 players transfer out, only one transfer in.
It was announced that Baylor running back Bryson Washington, the leading rusher for the Bears, would transfer out of the program. Another starter out the door.
Washington led the Bears with 788 yards, six touchdowns and averaged 5.12 yards per carry. In the 2025 season, Washington’s season-high was 135 yards and two touchdowns vs. Samford.
Bryson Washington putting together some good runs today for Baylor despite his lackluster statistical showing against SMU pic.twitter.com/p0cOuLJZn4
— Travis May (@FF_TravisM) September 6, 2025
Washington gained over 100 yards rushing in three of the first four games of the season. But over the final eight games of the 2025 season, Washington did not rush for over 100 yards. And of those eight, Washington did not score a rushing touchdown in the last five.
In the final game against the Houston Cougars, Washington rushed for just 16 yards on two carries.
In 2024, Washington was a 1,000-yard rusher and scored 12 TD’s. He was named Honorable Mention All-Big 12.
As a team, Baylor only scored 12 rushing touchdowns.
As of this writing, that leaves just two scholarship running backs on the roster: Caden Knighten and Michael Turner. So now there is a depth issue.
Baylor signed four-star running back Rylean Morris out of Honey Grove, TX during the early signing period in December. There are some talented running backs still in the portal as well, like LSU’s Caden Durham and Cincinnati’s Evan Pryor. The portal is an ever-changing dynamic that moves at the speed of greed.
Baylor returned 18 starters for the 2025 season. In Phil Steele’s 2025 College Football Preview Magazine, Steele picked the Baylor Bears to win the Big 12 Conference.
Baylor won four of their first six games to start the season, including a victory over a ranked SMU team. But the season fee apart, as the Bears lost five of their final six games to finish with a 5-7 record.
This is only the third day of the portal being open. Portal combat is the survival of the greediest. Baylor needs to brush up on their fighting skills and get more players into the program now.
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Tony comes to On SI with six years of experience writing about sports online. His work has been published on such sites as The Gridiron News, Mike Farrell Sports, YardBarker, Athlon Sports and College Football Backers. Tony is a U.S. Air Force veteran and is a member of the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA).
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