One Baylor Football Position Battle That Has Already Taken an Interesting Turn

With Joe Klanderman bringing some of his guys with him, this battle is somewhat shocking.

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Once Dave Aranda made the move to hire Joe Klanderman to take over as the defensive coordinator, there were bound to be some players who followed him. And that they did. The Bears landed some talent from a good Kansas State defense.

In 2026, players like Coby McCalister, Ryan Davis, Jayden Rowe, and Daniel Cobbs are all expected to contribute to Baylor's defense. A few of them likely have the leg up coming from Klanderman's roots.

However, there are a few former Bears who stuck around during the big transition and they aren't going to go down without a fight.

Bo Onu and Daniel Cobbs at Star

Last season, Bo Onu came in as a true freshman and played 11 games in total. He recorded nine tackles and was a reserve playing the Star position. 6-foot, 210-pound safety is back in 2026 and Klanderman has seen the transformation.

"And Bo Onu played a little bit here last year as a true freshman, which is a tall order. And to see the leaps and bounds that he's going to make from year one to year two on the grass is really cool," Klanderman said.

There was a question on if Colby McCalister was also playing Star, but he's not. He's playing safety, which means Daniel Cobbs is taking on Onu to see who starts against Auburn at Star.

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The Star is like a Rover, where it's a hybrid position. You can attack and support the run game, but you can also drop back into coverage.

And while Onu played limited snaps last season, Cobbs played a lot under Klanderman, seeing 415 total snaps. But as of now, Klanderman said the race is neck and neck between Onu and Cobbs.

"Yeah, that's a really good race right now," said Klanderman. "And like the D-line, I think you could put either one of those guys out there in clutch situation, and you'd feel totally comfortable with them. I think both of them have their moments. And really, to be honest, neither one of them have had poor moments. So it's going to be a neck-and-neck competition.

Plan on seeing both a lot

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It might be a close battle, and a closer one than many anticipated with Cobbs coming from Kansas State, but both of them will play.

Klanderman believes in keeping bodies fresh and rotating. He would rather rotate, give guys experience, and keep players fresh for the back part of the season. He explained that even though one of those players will be listed as a starter, the other will play as valuable of reps this year.

"There's somebody that's going to be listed as a starter on the media guide," said Klanderman. "That doesn't mean anything to me, and it doesn't mean anything to them. If you're playing 35 snaps and somebody else is playing 35 snaps, those are 35 valuable snaps, whether it's the first snap of the game or the last snap of the game. So there's going to be a lot of battles like that, and I think that one's very close."