Five Burning Questions Baylor Football is Facing Heading Into Spring

After adding top transfer QB DJ Lagway, Hopes are starting to rise for Baylor. But there are always spots to fill and questions to be asked, so here are a few of the major questions that will likely impact the Bears' season.

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Spring is right around the corner and Baylor will begin practice on March 24. The Bears will wrap things up on April 18, when Baylor hosts its Fan Fest, which will be an open practice to the public.

With high hopes in Waco for this season, we determine some questions Baylor will face entering spring.

Does Baylor's success this year solely depend on Lagway?

I'd say yes for a short answer. We saw last year that Sawyer Robertson was basically having to carry this team to victory almost every game. With the hope of new staff and bringing in some decent transfers on defense, like four-star transfer defensive lineman Hosea Wheeler, who played a major role on one of the best defensive units we have ever seen with Indiana this year.

We hope Lagway doesn't have to throw 300 yards a game and three touchdowns to win, but it would definitely help if he did. Lagway got his tight end teammate Tony Livingston, and some other solid receivers that should make an impact.

Who will be the main running back after Bryson Washington's departure?

Now, here's a spot on the team that I don't know who is going to start, but they could definitely have a really good one-two punch in the back field. With Washington transferring earlier this year, the Bears look for a new starter at running back.

Last year, as a freshman, Caden Knighten had over 100 carries and added 469 yards and a touchdown. Any freshman who is averaging 4.5 yards a carry should be up for a breakout sophomore year. I also really like Junior Dawson Pendergras, who was the second leading rusher in 2024, but missed this past year due to foot surgery. Pendergrass had over 600 yards and six touchdowns in 2024. If he can return strong and have an impact early with Caden being a strong backup, you should see improvement on the ground.

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Will this be Dave Aranda's last year?

I'd say after the year they had, they have to win at least seven or eight games for it not be his last. Aranda is 22-28 since taking over in 2021, and has been on the hot seat to rebuild this Baylor football team. This team struggled tremendously on defense last year and was in the bottom 40 teams in points allowed per game. Surely the defense has improved with some great staff hirings, like cornerback coach Mikael Bradford, who coached for an elite TCU defensive unit.

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Can the defense be impactful this year??

If they can't improve this year, with the talent they've gotten in the portal, might be time to just wipe the entire staff and start fresh. But I really like some of these additions. Going deep into three-star defensive tackles and rotating them with Wheeler should make a fierce defensive line this year. They also added an edge rusher, Ryan Davis, from Kansas State who had some good production as a sophomore last year.

The pass defense should be impactful as well, adding significant help in the secondary. Defensive Coordinator Joe Klanderman plans to utilize defensive talents such as transfer Safety from Kansas State, Daniel Cobb, and Devon Jordan from Oklahoma to elevate the pass coverage.

Will the Bears Improve their record from last year?

I go back and forth between should they improve or will they, because with the schedule Baylor has this year, it's gonna be pretty hard to improve. They have road games against BYU, Houston, and a Week 1 matchup against Auburn in Atlanta. Although the schedule is mixed with competition, the end-of-year stretch looks daunting with BYU, Texas Tech, and Houston all in the last three weeks of the year.

It could go two ways, either it's good test games for an on fire good start to the year, or those last three games could take them out of bowl eligibility, similar to what happened last year. I think Baylor needs to be confident going into the year, don't worry about what happened last year. Let your new quarterback go out and shine, and give him a defense where he doesn't have to be Superman every game. If they can do that, the offense should be similar to last year, and Baylor can hope for what they wanted last year with a great offense.