What to Expect From Baylor's New-Look Offense in 2026

Jake Spavital revealed what his expectations are this season.

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The Baylor Bears lost 32 players from their 2025 roster, and added 29 players from the transfer portal, along with a recruiting class. The Bears' defense can only improve from what they were last year, but Baylor's offense was ranked No. 18 in total offense last year, having the No. 2 passer in college football.

While there are a lot of new faces in Waco for this upcoming season, the standard remains the same. Jake Spavital has had plenty of good offenses and he doesn't expect that to change this season. With the additions of DJ Lagway at quarterback, along with a new-look offensive line, Baylor hopes to pick up right where it left off.

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"Yeah, I tell them all the time that it's just, it may be new faces, but the standards stay the same," said Spavital on Saturday. "And I talk, I preach a lot about just really like identity and playing for each other, selfless play. And I think that's something that you have to kind of hammer home is making sure that this is a really close group and the continuity is there.

"And cuz when adversity starts to hit, they gotta trust each other. And I started preaching that a ton in 24 here. And I think when we got halfway through that season, you kind of saw it flip and how well they played together. And that's something that we're working on daily right now. Coach Aranda does a great job on hammering culture down with these guys and understanding the importance of being a great team player and a great teammate. And once they grasp that concept, the rest, if they're gonna play hard and play for each other, great things will happen for them."

New identity with DJ Lagway?

As far as what might be different this season, Spavital mentioned Lagway's arm strength. Robertson was mobile enough that he could use his legs to make defenses pay in 2025, but he struggled at times with downfield throws. But, this season, with Lagway at the helm, Spavital might utilize more downfield throws.

According to Pro Football Focus, Lagway completed 36.6% of his passes that were 20 or more yards down the field. He also threw four touchdowns to six interceptions.

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Lagway struggled with turnovers last season with Florida, but Spavital's offense has been friendly for quarterbacks, which should help Lagway limit mistakes.

"Yeah, possibly, you're gonna see all the plays that we ran last year," said Spavital. "Those are normally like your day one install and trying to get that going. But this is also an opportunity to challenge them and see what they're capable of doing. And like I was saying just a minute ago about DJ and his arm strength, there's not very many QBs, I've been fortunate to coach a lot of good QBs in the arm strength.

"He's one of the top ones I've had in terms of how he can stretch the field vertically. And you're gonna see a lot more probably kind of down the field post or like field throws that I haven't done much of lately. So you could see that element."