One young Baylor D-lineman has worked his way up to a potential starter

A season ago, Baylor football was 60th in the nation, by Pro Football Focus, for run defense with a 79.0 run defense grade. Statistically, the Bears were ranked 72nd in the country giving up 152 yards per game on the ground. But Baylor is looking to take both of those numbers up in 2025.

Dave Aranda's squad added a couple of transfers -- Adonis Friloux from Tulane and Samu Taumanupepe from Texas A&M. While adding a couple of big bodies to the mix is never a bad thing, it was revealed that there is a young gun who is impressing during fall camp.

Redshirt sophomore DK Kalu has made his way up to the top of the depth chart, according to Devonte Tezino. In a recent media availability, Tezino said that Latu, Jackie Marshall, and Cooper Lanz are all running with the '1s'.

And by Friloux's account, there is also freshman Jackson Blackwell who is also standing out.

"I would say the young guys, they are tremendously talented and have very good technique," said Friloux. "I would say D.K., he's been running with the ones. He's been doing as good as any other nose that we have.

"We got Jackson Blackwell. He's another young guy. He's been doing a lot of good things, too, and learning the playbook and doing a lot of good techniques. So I would say coming from Tulane, that's a big difference that I've seen with the young guys. They came a lot more equipped and have a lot of good things to bring to the game than we had at Tulane. I would say that."

Lanz, the veteran of the group, was also asked about Latu. He said it's not shocking what he's bringing to the table -- they saw the signs last year.

"Yeah, like what Tez said, not really, you know, DK being a young guy last year, we saw what he could do, really athletic, fast, physical guy. So not really surprised by how much he's improved this offseason. So really happy to see that he's balling out there," Lanz said.

Baylor fans will have a chance to see Latu in action on Friday, August 29 at home against Auburn.

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