How former Ohio State national champion Calvin Simpson‑Hunt could transform Baylor’s secondary in 2025
Despite being a Texas native, former four-star cornerback Calvin Simpson-Hunt chose to head to Ohio to play for the Buckeyes in the 2023 recruiting class. The Waxahachie (TX) product was ranked as a top-70 player when he picked Ohio State, but after two seasons, Simpson-Hunt made his way to Baylor for the 2025 season.
It was a big pickup for Dave Aranda and the Bears. Baylor had the 94th-ranked passing defense in 2024, giving up over 234 yards through the air per game. Entering 2025, Simpson-Hunt and the Bears have one goal in mind: finding a way to record three takeaways per game.
In a recent media availability, projected starting CB Tevin Williams told reporters that the team feels that if they can take the ball away at least three times -- Baylor will win all of its games.
"For every practice and really every game, our goal is to take three [turnovers]," Williams told reporters. "And if you can get more than that, that's awesome. But if you get three, you're pretty much going to win the game. So that's kind of been our focus for every practice going into it."
Williams isn't the only returner who started games for Baylor. The Bears get Caden Jenkins back, along with Devyn Bobby and Carl Williams, among others. But getting a former national champion, like Simpson-Hunt, is big for a program that is trying to get over the hump.
Defensive back LeVar Thornton was asked about Simpson-Hunt, and Thornton said he's one of the fastest corners on the team.
"Yeah, Calvin's like, he's swole, but like just cause he's swole don't mean he's like super quick," Thornton said. "Cause like, he's like super, super fast, probably the fastest corner in the room. And what I pick up on is like the way he is off the field.
"Like you don't really hear anything about him off the field. You know, he's always quiet off the field. And I'd say that's probably what he got from Ohio State is that championship caliber with just like being content of how he is and just being who he is off the field."
According to Thornton, the former Buckeye has picked things up quickly and is right along schedule.
"Yeah, Calvin just came in like day one and just fit it in," Thornton said of the former Buckeye. "Like we, just welcomed him in and he just accepted it and just picked up on the play super quick all through spring. And just ever since then, he's just been rolling. It's like, it clicked for him super fast."
Simpson-Hunt redshirted his freshman year with Ohio State. Last year, he played in nine games in reserve and recorded two total tackles. Despite not seeing a ton of playing time, Simpson-Hunt says he knows what it takes to get to the next level -- playing on the Ohio State defense.
"I say what I bring is really just like the foresight or like just the path really," Simpson-Hunt said. "Cause I've been there before and I've seen what that room had and what this room has too. So I can see what it really takes -- really to get to that point or just to reach high and reach our goals that we're trying to make in the room."
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