Baylor's Top 25 Most Important Players in 2026: Future Breakout Star Now Sees His Opportunity
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The 2026 college football season is the land of opportunity for the Baylor Bears. The theme of this list is going to be the plethora of opportunity that exists around the roster for newcomers to make an impact.
DJ Lagway has received plenty of attention after transferring from Florida to Baylor, but there are going to need to be players that emerge for him to throw the ball to.
One of those players is young and a little inexperienced, but has a ton of talent just waiting for an opportunity to shine in wide receiver Taz Williams, who we covered a few days ago on our countdown.
The receiver room should have plenty of opportunity, however, which brings us to the next player on our list, at No. 20, WR Jadon Porter.
Recapping 2025
Porter is one of the players on the roster who has some experience on campus, as he returns for his third season. Porter has played sparingly each of the last two years, as a reserve wide receiver, as a freshman before playing in 11 games, including his first career start a season ago.
His final total for the season was a modest nine catches for 85 yards with his lone touchdown coming in a 42-36 loss to TCU.
With the departures of Josh Cameron at receiver and Michael Trigg at tight end, the Bears have plenty of targets up for grabs in their new offense under offensive coordinator Jake Spavital.
Why is it Important for Him?
Porter is entering his junior year, which is a big season for a lot of different reasons. For college football purposes, Porter has reached the point in his career where it’s time to determine if he’s going to be a serviceable player or not.
Porter was called a future standout as a freshman by his wide receiver coach, but has yet to deliver on that promise.
From a professional standpoint, there are plenty of examples of receivers making significant jumps as college players, and parlaying that into a significant bump in their draft stock.
That’s for another day. For now, Baylor’s passing offense has a lot of production to replace in its offense, and Porter should be well-positioned as a comfortable receiver since he is a veteran. He understands what Dave Aranda is expecting of him and the team around him.
After a quiet sophomore season, he should be highly motivated to get his career on track now that he can see a path to getting on the field.
Prediction
Porter has some intriguing size and speed as a former four star recruit. He has the ability to make plays after the ball is in his hands as well as a former track star who had plenty of experience running the football when he was in high school.
That combination and versatility within the offense should allow Porter to carve out a role in the offense. How significant of a role will be determined by what should be a fierce competition in fall camp.
See our full top 25 players:
- No. 25: OL Isaiah Robinson
- No. 24: LB Kyland Reed
- No. 23: WR Taz Williams
- No. 22: S Daniel Cobbs
- No. 21: S Colby McCalister
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Jacob Westendorf is a contributing writer for Baylor Bears on SI. He is also a writer covering the Green Bay Packers for Packers on SI. Westendorf graduated from University of Wisconsin-Green Bay where he earned a degree in communication with an emphasis in journalism and mass media. He worked in newspapers in Green Bay and Rockford, Illinois. He also interned at Packer Report for Bill Huber while earning his degree. In 2018, he became a staff writer for PackerReport.com, and a regular contributor on Packer Report's "Pack A Day Podcast." In 2020, he founded the media company Game On Wisconsin. In 2023, he rejoined Packer Central, which is part of Sports Illustrated Media Group.