New Baylor DC Joe Klanderman Shares Early Takeaways From Spring Ball

The Bears' defense will look different this season.

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After having one of the worst defenses in college football, Baylor head coach Dave Aranda had to do some self-scouting and opted to hire Kansas State defensive coordinator Joe Klanerman to take over. Matt Powledge was the Bears' defensive coordinator, but it was Aranda who called the plays. Now, Klanderman comes to Waco to take over those duties after coaching the KSU defense for the past six seasons.

With a change at defensive coordinator, there are going to be some changes with the scheme. But it can't get much worse for Baylor. The Bears had the 122nd-ranked scoring defense last season and Baylor had to win most games by putting up 38-plus points.

On Friday, Klanderman spoke with the media and he said they've already started implementing scheme changes for the upcoming season, but it's also time to start working on other areas, such as being in the right position to make a tackle.

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"You gotta crawl before you walk, and so we're crawling," Klanderman said. "But I think the big things right now, before we get into a whole bunch of schematic things, is we're trying to teach these guys to run to the ball. Trying to get these guys playing harder. We're trying to get these guys off blocks.

"We're trying to get these guys in better pursuit angles on tackling. So that's kind of where we're at right now. We've put a decent amount of scheme in, probably more than we can handle right now. I'm trying to see who that overwhelms and who handles that. I'm trying to get a gauge for the guys in that.

"So first day was okay. Today's a little sloppier, not in a bad way. I thought the effort was great, but it's a work in progress, to be sure."

Baylor is already buying into the new defense

While Aranda was retained and will continue to be the head coach, he has been the coach of the defense since he arrived in Waco. Sometimes it might be difficult for those players to adjust to a new coach, but according to Klanderman, the buy-in has been great.

As it should be. Kansas State has been a respected defense for years now and Klanderman has been the main man leading the charge. With his arrival at Baylor, the Bears should certainly see progress on that side of the football with both Aranda and Klanderman being there.

"The buy-in's been awesome," said Klanderman. "The buy-in's been as good as I could have hoped. And we've got players that are carrying the message now, got guys that really want it and work hard. A lot of guys that do a lot of extra things, unprompted, it's awesome. So it's going great, we gotta keep it there."