Emphasis on Speed Helps Provide Baylor Football the Edge to Win in 2026
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In today's Baylor football media availability, head coach Dave Aranda spoke about team speed, team unity, and the defense, among a few other topics. Ever stoic and professional, Aranda fielded questions for around eighteen minutes of varying degree.
A key focus and factor kept recurring in the head coach's answers though. In this article, a few notable quotes will be referenced from Coach Aranda.
First Test of the Season
When asked about the upcoming game with Auburn and new head coach Alex Golesh's history with USF and running a faster and up-tempo offense, Aranda noted that, "Auburn's a really good team," and that he respected coach Golesh for his prior accomplishments. "Our offense can give quick tempo as well," Aranda went on to say, adding that increased speed has, "been an emphasis since the start of camp."
Leadership on the Defensive Side.
Later praising Travion Barnes' return to the team after his season-ending injury last year, "He makes stuff look so simple," Aranda stated, emphasizing Barnes' ability to "go fast in every which way" and "find the ball" as well as his leadership and instincts.
Speed seems to be the leading factor in much of Aranda's focus. Perhaps he's trying to increase the team speed to keep away from the heat of the hot-seat he'll inevitably find himself sitting on if "just make the players faster" doesn't work.
How Many are That Fast!?
Speaking with pride and mostly unprompted in an answer to a question about "What to expect team chemistry to look like this season?" Aranda proclaimed, "There's all these guys that are running over 21 miles an hour, like 60-some guys, compared to, like, 18 from last year. And so you talk about, like, the buy-in and kind of what guys are achieving. You look at all the power clean numbers from last year to this year, it's almost tripled."
While no current top speed numbers are available, the emphasis and importance can not be denied and has certainly been placed on the players being faster.
The game against Auburn last season saw the defense allow more than 300 yards rushing with 136 to quarterback Jackson Arnold. The defense would end the season allowing more than 200 yards a game to the opponents' rushing attack and the Baylor defense also had among the fewest sacks out of all Power 4 Conferences.
This year's new look and alleged newly gained speed increase should help to turn those numbers around this season.
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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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