Baylor football: Will the Phoenix rise?
Coming into the 2025-2026 season, if I had to use one word to describe the current expectations surrounding the Baylor Bears, it would be underrated. Many forget that the Bears finished last season on a six-game tear and are returning a ton of production from last year's team. Although the Bears have a ton of returning production, another area where the Bears excelled this offseason was in the transfer portal, bringing in 23 new players.
Among those 23 players is senior Phoenix Jackson, a linebacker who transferred from Fresno State University. Although Jackson was an unrated recruit coming out of high school, he made his mark while at Fresno State and improved year after year. For the 2024-2025 season, Jackson finished with 49 tackles, 4.0 sacks, 1 forced fumble, and 2 interceptions. While many may be quick to discount Jackson due to his transferring from a non-power conference, it is important to remember that last year, Fresno State had games against serious competitors such as Michigan, UCLA, and Arizona State.
We are not the only ones to highlight the potential of Phoenix Jackson. In a recent article published by ESPN, college football reporter Adam Rittenberg highlighted some of the biggest sleepers going into the 2025-2026 season, in which Jackson was listed. When discussing Jackson, Rittenberg had the following to say:
"Baylor added an experienced and productive player in Jackson, who appeared in 34 games at Fresno State and faced Power 4 opponents such as Michigan, UCLA, and Arizona State. He showed the ability to rush the passer and drop into coverage, earning Fresno State's top coverage grade from Pro Football Focus in 2024. Jackson had a total of three interceptions during the past two seasons and 99 tackles."
Headman Dave Aranda has also had some pretty high praise for the new transfer, noting that "He's very talented. As spring went on, just the flashes that he would do, so disruptive. There were times where he was unblockable, and then the ability to cover people out of the backfield and cover tight ends and mismatches and all those things he was able to handle."
Jackson certainly has the talent and skill to be a major disruptor for the Bears this upcoming season and be a staple on a veteran-led Bears defense.
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Josh started covering Baylor athletics in July 2025. Prior to Baylor Bears on SI, he worked as an intern for TheMichiganInsider at 247Sports. Josh graduated from the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor, with a bachelor’s degree in economics, where his passion for collegiate athletics continued to grow after attending his first game in The Big House. Combining his analytical background and his affinity for collegiate sports, Josh enjoys providing his unique perspective on the shifting dynamic equilibrium of the collegiate athletics landscape. When not watching sports, Josh enjoys cooking a nice meal, running, and traveling to new places with his friends and family.