Three Biggest Questions for Baylor Football to Answer Before Week 1
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Fall camp is beginning across college football. Optimism is set to reign supreme. Coaches will tell you about everyone being in the best shape of their life. Players will tell you that they’ve never felt this good going into a season.
Ultimately, every team is going to believe it has a chance to compete at the highest level going into a season.
Throw some truth serum into players and coaches alike, however, they’d acknowledge there are going to be some questions that need to be answered before the regular season begins.
Baylor football is coming off a season where they finished in the bottom half of the conference standings, and revamped their roster in the offseason, most notably at the quarterback position, which is where our biggest questions surrounding the Bears are.
How Good is DJ Lagway?
With Sawyer Robertson off to the NFL, Baylor had a major question mark at quarterback entering the offseason. They were able to answer it emphatically with a big-time addition via the transfer portal.
DJ Lagway, a legacy recruit transferred from Florida to follow in his father’s footsteps, as a former member of the Baylor Bears.
Lagway is a former five-star recruit and oozes with potential, but so far that has not manifested itself on the field. Lagway struggled at Florida last season, throwing just two more touchdowns than interceptions.
He’s far from a finished product.
In fairness, the last two national championship quarterbacks Fernando Mendoza and Will Howard both were not finished products when they transferred to Indiana and Ohio State, respectively.
Baylor should not be asking Lagway to be a national championship-winning quarterback. That’s an unrealistic expectation. Can they ask him to live up to his talent level? That’s not an unfair expectation.
If Lagway can live up to his billing, Baylor will have an answer at the game’s most important position. There’s nothing else a coach or team can ask for.
If he struggles again, the Bears could be in significant trouble with significant turnover coming for the Bears at the end of the 2026 season.
Who is Catching Passes?
It does not matter who is playing quarterback if there are not players around him who are capable of making plays. DJ Lagway cannot throw passes and be expected to catch them as well.
The wide receiver room at Baylor is barren in terms of proven playmakers. They did some work in the transfer portal, most notably with the addition of do-it-all slot receiver Gavin Freeman from Oklahoma State.
Josh Cameron and Michael Trigg were the top two pass catchers for the Bears last season, and both are off to the NFL.
Louis Brown, Jadon Porter, Taz Williams, and Dre’lon Miller all have plenty of talent, but plenty of question marks as well.
Fall camp is going to be where some of the receivers are going to have to separate themselves from the pack in order to become trusted contributors in Jake Spavital’s offense.
What About the Defense?
For all the talk that has surrounded Baylor’s offense, there are plenty of questions on defense as well. Baylor’s defense was atrocious against the run last year, finishing near the bottom of the rankings in that category.
Travion Barnes and Hosea Wheeler are back from injury, and entering via the transfer portal, respectively. They should help add something to Baylor’s defense.
Apart from that, they need more players to emerge as key contributors. Dave Aranda’s calling card was defense when he was hired to be the team’s head coach.
If he is going to keep his job beyond 2026, he’ll need to get his defense back to the standard he set for himself.
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Jacob Westendorf is a contributing writer for Baylor Bears on SI. He is also a writer covering the Green Bay Packers for Packers on SI. Westendorf graduated from University of Wisconsin-Green Bay where he earned a degree in communication with an emphasis in journalism and mass media. He worked in newspapers in Green Bay and Rockford, Illinois. He also interned at Packer Report for Bill Huber while earning his degree. In 2018, he became a staff writer for PackerReport.com, and a regular contributor on Packer Report's "Pack A Day Podcast." In 2020, he founded the media company Game On Wisconsin. In 2023, he rejoined Packer Central, which is part of Sports Illustrated Media Group.