To be retained for a fifth year after an unfathomable 3-9 season for Baylor football in 2023, head coach Dave Aranda had to share and convince Athletic Director Mack Rhoades of his new vision that included significant changes to how the program was run.
Some of those changes included Aranda becoming the defensive play-caller and hiring a new offensive coordinator, but another key difference was reworking Baylor’s NIL principles for both transfer portal players as well as junior college and high school recruits.
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The Bears brought in 16 players from the transfer portal this offseason.
As for the transfer portal haul, the Bears brought in 15 new faces over a multitude of positions including Toledo quarterback Dequan Finn (5Sr.), Texas State wide receiver Ashtyn Hawkins (5Sr.), Texas Southern defensive tackle Elinus Noel III (Sr.) and four offensive linemen.
One of the most important additions didn’t come from the transfer portal. Rather, it came from the junior college ranks at the linebacker position.
“The players we got are talented, and they’re football guys,” Aranda said. “Keaton Thomas is a football dude. We have guys that just love ball and understand it, spend time with it and it matters [to them]. They are pissed off when it doesn’t go right. They are winners.”
This offseason, Aranda announced Baylor would change how it conducted NIL payouts, noting that the better players would be paid more, as opposed to the old system where everyone on the roster made the same amount. In December, Aranda took the blame for not adjusting quickly to the new world of college football, including the transfer portal and NIL.
“Coach Aranda was hesitant [about NIL],” senior wide receiver Ketron Jackson told 365Sports on Wednesday. “Before NIL, it was normal football, and Coach Aranda liked that. He didn’t want to bring the money into it and have the egos where guys say, ‘How much money are you getting?’”
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Four-star South Oak Cliff EDGE Kamauryn Morgan committed to Baylor in early July.
“There’s some of that where you wish there was a roadmap,” Aranda said. “But honestly, even if there was, I’d only refer to it so often – I’d want to find it out for myself, and you’d want to go through it yourself.
You want to build it and make it your own, so I think the true journey in that question that you gave me is finding out who I was.”
With an increased NIL budget, the Bears have been on a tear on the recruiting trail recently, most notably landing four-star EDGE Kamauryn Morgan and four-star wide receiver Taz Williams. Baylor is tied for first in the Big 12 with four four-star commitments.
“We’re paying players,” Aranda said candidly with a smile. “The last two seasons hurt us in recruiting. As you would expect, a lot of [other teams] use it against us. When guys come in and visit, they love the environment, they love the coaches, they love our players, they love our approach and they want to be able to see the winning.
To get them to see the changes we’ve made and this is the energy and edge we’re building, it takes everything from everybody right now, and that’s what’s happening in recruiting.”
