Thread where we can share any updates we come across this Spring.

Good to see @Dawson_penni and @cadenknighten back out on the field today.

Looking like a dangerous 1-2 punch with @MichaelTurnerj 👀 @CoachK_Hall pic.twitter.com/PwjCcvvsGK

— Parker Rehm (@parker_rehm) March 24, 2026

DJ Lagway → Baylor Bear

First look at spring practice.

Who’s buying the resurgence for the former Florida QB?

Dave Aranda’s life in Waco might depend on it.pic.twitter.com/nEBwA1pwvS

— Moore College Football (@Moore_CFB) March 24, 2026

Dawson looks 15-20lbs heavier. Let's go!

Pendy had Dave giggling like a school girl

I asked #Baylor HC Dave Aranda about the RB room without Bryson as Dawson gets set to lead and Dave noticed @Dawson_penni walking by and had HIM field the questions!

So here's his (pretty good off the rip) mini presser 😅 https://t.co/CvtKV5LdBv pic.twitter.com/KbPQWxOcZm

— Parker Rehm (@parker_rehm) March 25, 2026

Interesting comments from Dave at around the 14:00 mark about a shift in approach of spending more on defense and the defensive line than in the past...

Hear from Baylor head coach Dave Aranda, safety Michael Allen, safety Jacob Redding, tight end Matthew Klopfenstein and receiver Jadon Porter (with a surprise appearance from Dawson Pendergrass!) on the first day of spring practice: pic.twitter.com/cCYLsWJC8J

— Zach Smith (@ByZachSmith) March 25, 2026

Baylor head coach Dave Aranda said safety Devin Turner and linebacker Travion Barnes are both fully healthy and practicing.

Turner tore his ACL on the final day of spring drills last season, while Barnes played in four game before suffering a severe leg injury.

— Zach Smith (@ByZachSmith) March 25, 2026

boognish_bear said:

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No love lost in the QB room 90 miles up I-35

NEW: TCU Head Coach Sonny Dykes takes a SHOT at QB Josh Hoover, who left for Indiana…

“Josh started 31 games here as a quarterback, and (HE) turned the ball over 42 times.” 🤯 pic.twitter.com/wHFnv4gojK

— College Transfer Portal (@CollegeFBPortal) March 25, 2026

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This is going to make Dykes (and Kendal Briles) look really bad when Hoover is a star for Indiana next season.

hopefully this is just someone that made a collection of his worst throws

Third one is actually hilarious 😭

— College Transfer Portal (@CollegeFBPortal) March 25, 2026

Spring football…yawn.

yes those do look good

Bearknuckle said:

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those throws looked ugly. These look great.

Craftworking In-Progress… @DerekLagway is dialed into the details! Great work DJ‼️@BUFootball @GrayGrundhoefer @CoachRHolcomb @JakeSpavital @jbecktwelve @FiveStarGQB @PeteThamel @chris_hummer @jdpickell pic.twitter.com/EXIk6eBbCv

— J.P. Tillman (@TheQBTech) March 26, 2026

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Like a can of Pringles

: )

QB DJ Lagway spoke out on his time at Florida.

Lagway transferred to Baylor this offseason ahead of his junior season. pic.twitter.com/2Lfe8u1Gei

— Yahoo Sports (@YahooSports) March 25, 2026

....

Hope springs eternal

New DC Joe Klanderman shares his early thoughts on Baylor’s defense🐻👇

"We’re going to be really disruptive on the D-Line ... There’s some returners in the linebacker group that are really athletic ... Our safety room is really deep, and we’re going to ask those guys to do a… pic.twitter.com/jnbqp42LNv

— Baylor Bears on SicEm365 (@SicEm365) March 27, 2026

DJ Lagway is already building chemistry at Baylor

“Took some of the receivers, RBs, and TEs to Miami for spring break”

AND says @MichaelTurnerj is the funniest on the team 😂| @BUFootball #baylor #sicembears pic.twitter.com/aaD6gkMJ2D

— Victoria Samuels (@vicsamuels) March 29, 2026

DJ Lagway on Dave Aranda’s leadership 👀

“The way he leads… he leads by example... we got lifts at 7 AM he’s in the locker room with us... That was different.”

Early buy-in is real. #Baylor #sicembears @BUFootball pic.twitter.com/8Q7DZ9ID7b

— Victoria Samuels (@vicsamuels) March 29, 2026

The QBs and Spav.

Hear from Baylor quarterbacks DJ Lagway, Edward Griffin and Nate Bennett and offensive coordinator Jake Spavital after the third day of spring camp: pic.twitter.com/NB1FIGCwP0

— Zach Smith (@ByZachSmith) March 28, 2026

• Spav says he's installed more at this point in the Spring than ever before: seems like he must have pretty high confidence in this squad.
• He highlighted the new component of a true deep threat (thanks to DJ's arm) several times - that's pretty exciting to hear.
• Hearing that he's comfortable leaving Klop in for the whole game is huge. DJ-to-Klop is going to be a thing.
• The mention of 12-personnel brought back memories both good and bad of the Grimes era...I'd guess that Spav's 12p will look and operate differently from Grime's wide zone RVO though...i'm excited to see what 12p Dirt Raid looks like.

Bearknuckle said:

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those throws looked ugly. These look great.

Craftworking In-Progress… @DerekLagway is dialed into the details! Great work DJ‼️@BUFootball @GrayGrundhoefer @CoachRHolcomb @JakeSpavital @jbecktwelve @FiveStarGQB @PeteThamel @chris_hummer @jdpickell pic.twitter.com/EXIk6eBbCv

— J.P. Tillman (@TheQBTech) March 26, 2026

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That's a big base.

Per Bill Connelly's SP+ initial Spring rankings, the Bears sit at #51 overall, with #23 offense, #87 defense, and #2 ST.

Here's what he says about his preseason rankings:

Quote:

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I now base preseason projections on four primary factors, weighted by their predictiveness:
1. Returning production. The returning production numbers are based on rosters I have updated as much as possible to account for transfers and attrition. Combine last year's SP+ ratings and adjustments based on current returning production numbers, and you're pretty far down the projections road.
2. Recent history. Using a chunk of information from previous seasons gives us a good measure of overall program health, even in this era of wild swings in quality. It still stands to reason that a team that has played well for only one year is less likely to duplicate that effort than a team that has been good -- and has likely spent bigger on its roster -- for years on end (and vice versa).
3. Recent recruiting. This piece informs us of the caliber of a team's potential replacements (and/or new stars) in the lineup. It is determined by both the past few years of recruiting rankings and the quality of incoming transfers, though as you might have predicted while watching Indiana surge to the national title last season, this doesn't carry nearly the weight that it once did. A decade or so ago, this piece made up about 20-25% of the preseason formula. Now it's about 1-2%. That's pretty incredible, isn't it?
4. Coaching change effects. I referenced this in a recent piece. As it turns out, comparing last season's output to a 20-year SP+ baseline gives us a pretty good idea of what's going to happen when a team changes coaches (and/or coordinators). If you underachieved to an historic degree, like Oklahoma State did last season, a change is likely to bring with it significant improvement. (That's doubly true when the new coach brings loads of high-productivity transfers with him, as OSU's Eric Morris did.) And on the flip side, if you overachieved significantly against history, as Morris' North Texas team did in 2025, you're likely to take a pretty significant hit when the head coach leaves (along with most of his star talent). Adding this to the list of projection factors allows me to make SP+ a bit more nimble in an era when fortunes can change significantly with coaching changes.
With transfers increasing so dramatically each season, figuring out the right mix of the above factors is a bit of a moving target. But I'm pretty happy with the results below. I will update these numbers in August, but for now, let's establish the 2026 hierarchy.

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Our schedule per the SP+ preseason rankings:

AUB 26
PV --
LATech 100
CU 65
ASU 42
TCU 34
KU 57
UCF 62
ISU 64
BYU 18
TTU 7
UH 36

CorsicanaBear said:

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Our schedule per the SP+ preseason rankings:

AUB 26
PV --
LATech 100
CU 65
ASU 42
TCU 34
KU 57
UCF 62
ISU 64
BYU 18
TTU 7
UH 36

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First half of the season will set the program's trajectory for the future. Best case, when the Fraugs roll into Waco, we're at 5-0. Worst case, we stumble into the Revivalry at 2-3*. Post TCU...
2-4 Wholesale change coming - it's coaching search time, now.
3-3 Vibes are off, outlook not so good.
4-2 Ok, let's see where this goes.
5-1 Great, unless the loss was to TCU, then Dave better not lose more than 3 more games or he's still toast.
6-0 Legit conference contention and the future actually looks bright again, albeit with a tough finish looming.
___
*If we lose to either PV or LATech, Dave is most likely fired after that game, but I think these Bears losing either game is less likely than me winning the lottery. If somehow the seemingly impossible does occurs, the bright side would be that finally literally every single member of the fanbase will be in alignment lol (I don't think anything short of an 11-1 or 12-0 regular season can do that on the positive side).

Poetry in motion 🌀 pic.twitter.com/pNxc253jG2

— Baylor Football (@BUFootball) March 29, 2026

It's kind of funny to me when he talks about trying to fix the defense the head coach left behind

Baylor's defense is still in diapers, so to speak.

One of the worst defensive units in the Big 12 over the last two years, new DC Joe Klanderman is slowly helping the Bears find a new identity.

"You’ve got to crawl before you walk, so we’re crawling." https://t.co/lFU9adoXiJ pic.twitter.com/O7yGOKS9Q3

— Zach Smith (@ByZachSmith) March 30, 2026

DJ Lagway reflects on his time spent with OC/QB coach @JakeSpavital and how he’s starting to feel like himself again.

Spavital says he’s one of the top QB he’s ever coached with elite arm strength.

“A coach that wants to believe in me and see me succeed.”#Baylor #Sicem pic.twitter.com/UqYlqKqvwU

— Madison Palumbo (@MadisonTPalumbo) March 29, 2026

Gerry approved

The real question is who is Madison Palumbo?

Good Lord