Big 12 is Full of Experienced D-Linemen: Baylor Bears Have one of Them in Hosea Wheeler
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The old saying goes, "Good judgement comes from experience; experience comes from bad judgement." Without a doubt, a veteran defensive lineman is worth their weight in experience. With the size of Baylor's acquisition from the transfer portal, defensive lineman named Hosea Wheeler for instance (officially 6'3" tall and 306 lbs), there's a wealth of experience this gentleman could be able to impart to his teammates.
Good judgment is wanting Hosea Wheeler on your team, joining together as a unit, and using his experience to its fullest potential. Whereas "bad judgment" is being an offensive player holding the football and trying to gain yardage against Hosea Wheeler because he's 6'3" tall and 306 pounds, and he doesn't want to let you gain any yardage.
In Experienced Company.
With this list of the Top Ten "Most Experienced Defensive Linemen", the Big 12 is represented by six players and teams; Fatafehi Vailea II (Oklahoma State), A.J. Holmes Jr (Texas Tech), Hosea Wheeler (Baylor), Keanu Tanuvasa (BYU), C.J. Fite (Arizona State), and Santana Hopper (Colorado).
After a poor season from #Baylor's 2025 defensive line, Dave Aranda certainly paved the path for improvement in 2026.
— Baylor Bears On SI (@BaylorBearsOnSI) August 25, 2026
Hosea Wheeler is among the top Big 12 linemen in terms of experience. https://t.co/REAXA67EE6
The Big 10 has two representatives in Ta'ita'i Uiagalelei (Washington) and Bear Alexander (Oregon). The SEC and Sun Belt each have one player representing them, Sterling Webb (Missouri) and Latrell Bullard (Georgia Southern), respectively.
Ranging from as many as 1,771 snaps at the top of the list with Oklahoma State's Vailea II, to the 1,274 snaps by Georgia Southern's Bullard rounding out the top ten, and Baylor's own Hosea Wheeler with the fourth most total snaps by an active defensive lineman with 1,511.
Wheeler, who played last season with the Indiana Hoosiers, helping them to go undefeated and win the National Championship, has also been in the news recently regarding his eligibility for this season.
On the schedule for Baylor this season are Colorado (4th game of the year), Arizona State (5th game of the year), BYU (10th game of the year), and Texas Tech (11th game of the year). The Bears will be meeting and competing against experienced teams throughout the entire season.
With an equally experienced player such as Hosea Wheeler on Baylor's side though, it certainly helps provide a sense of balance to the game of chess on a see-saw that is the game of football sometimes.
The Hot Seat a Little Warm?
Hopefully Coach Dave Aranda will be able to utilize Hosea Wheeler to his fullest potential. After a rough '25 season of defensively trying to stop the run game, Wheeler's experience could help to mitigate and alleviate the issues Baylor had with containing and deterring mobile quarterbacks from running amok.
A lot of this season is riding on moves made over the past off-season through the transfer portal and Coach Aranda's recruitments will prove him to be either truly brilliant or just incredibly inconsistent. Only time will tell.
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Brad is a writer and contributes to the Baylor Bears on SI, with aspirations to share his own unique thoughts and perspectives with fans. Whether through the facts and figures of the past or the untold potential and triumphs of the future, sports have always been a large influence on Brad's storytelling and life overall. His inspiration to write began while watching sports when he first noticed the highs and lows of each game, each quarter, each play; there's a story in each of them worth telling, and he wanted to tell them.
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