Spring Football Spotlight: Led by Robertson & Spavital, Offense Eyes Greater Success

New Members: Subscribe to 3 Months of SicEm365 Premium for $5

Coming off a season in which Baylor's offense finished in the top 20 nationally in yards (440) and points per game (34.4), expectations are high in Waco as nine of the 11 starters from last year's squad are returning. 

Second-year offensive coordinator Jake Spavital, however, doesn't want his unit to get lost in the hype. With the season-opener against Auburn not scheduled for another five months, Spavital wants his offense to keep the focus internally and continue steadily improving.

"I try not to put too many expectations on ourselves; I'm always about the process of things," Spavital told the media last Thursday. "We're a different team than last year — new personnel, new leadership, new bodies everywhere. We've got to start back over again. You take the momentum from what they already know, but we've got to keep working on ourselves. When you start putting pressure on yourselves and expectations, they start pressing a little bit."

Without weekly opponent scouting reports to examine, the offseason allows the coaching staff to look within and see where the team needs to improve. Following the loss to LSU in the Texas Bowl on Dec. 31, Spavital did a deep-dive on his offense and discovered some fixable issues that limited what could have been an even more elite unit.

"We did a study on ourselves, and when we stalled out on drives, it was a lot of self-inflicted things like penalties, snap issues, miscommunications, busted routes, dropped balls or simple execution," Spavital said. "My challenge for them is that if we worry about cleaning those things up, we could end up being a lot better than we were."

For Baylor to make another leap as an offense in 2025, it starts with returning redshirt senior quarterback Sawyer Robertson. Last fall, Robertson threw for over 3,000 yards and totaled over 30 touchdowns both through the air and on the ground. 

Jack Mackenzie - SicEm365

Baylor’s offense was top-20 nationally in yards (440) and points per game (34.4) last season.

Instead of entering the spring in a competition for the starting job like the last two seasons, Robertson is the unquestioned "QB1" and is considered the leader of the team and the program. Robertson understands the extra weight placed upon his shoulders but plans to block out the "noise" and keep the same routines that led to his success last season.

"I'm trying to prepare and do everything the exact same," Robertson said. "There is a level to that, though, but I still have a ton of things that I need to work on and that I am working on and that I'm looking to work on. There's a level of that, but at the same time, I know I'm not where I want to be. I'm just keeping my head down, not listening to any of the noise and going to work."

Spavital added, "Sawyer knows it's his team, and he's doing a great job with it. He's taking that leadership role. Last year at this point, he was trying to win the quarterback competition. Now, he's put together a pretty solid year and knows what he needs to improve individually to evolve his game. Where you notice him the most is the leadership role that he has."

Robertson's leadership has already stood out to redshirt freshman Walker White, a former four-star prospect in the 2024 recruiting class who transferred to Baylor from Auburn this past offseason.

"I've been so thankful and blessed to learn under Sawyer," White said. "He's taught me a bunch already, and I just try to watch every detail that he does. When I came here, there were so many people who spoke highly of him and gave me the advice of, 'Watch what Sawyer does because he has it figured out.' I would definitely agree with that statement."

White continued, "Late nights, you see his truck here and he's watching film, or he's probably going to be doing something extra in the training room or catching another lift — he never stops. I've been excited to watch his routine. He's a very professional guy and knows the game well."

As for on-the-field play, Spavital noted that many quarterbacks take a "second-year leap" and raise their game to an even higher level when they gain more knowledge of an offensive system. Spavital, who's coached some great quarterbacks — Case Keenum, Geno Smith, Will Grier and Brandon Weeden — over the years, noted that the similarities between those players and Robertson are evident in "the intelligence side" of the game.

"The similarities with him are that he's starting to understand, 'Hey. We got a light-box. I can check a run. I can maybe get it to a pass on these. I got a soft leverage, let me take an easy take.' He's so far more advanced and comfortable in this system," Spavital said. "As a coach, I have to find ways to challenge him more. … I don't like to compare quarterbacks that I've had in the past because I think Sawyer is turning into his own man, and he's making a name for himself in the style of play that he has. It's fun to watch him develop right now."

Health-wise, Robertson is practicing daily but continues to nurse an ankle injury that impacted him over the back half of last season. Across the final four games, he had only eight rushing attempts. Robertson says the ankle is "feeling a lot better," but he mentioned that he isn't moving "a lot" in practice as it continues to heal.

"I'm glad it wasn't talked about a lot," Robertson jokingly said of his ankle. "It means I was throwing the ball where it needed to go, but it did [impact me]. I wasn't able to scramble as well. When the play would break down, that's where you saw it the most. On some of those longer runs that I had, I just wasn't able to do that. It affected me quite a bit, but I was able to grow in other parts of my game."

Jack Mackenzie - SicEm365.com

Sawyer Robertson (RSr.) enters the 2025 season as Baylor’s unquestioned starting quarterback.

While Robertson inches back closer to 100%, the rest of the quarterbacks on the roster — Nate Bennett, Edward Griffin and White — are getting plenty of opportunities this spring to showcase their skills, and head coach Dave Aranda called the quarterback room "one of the best he's ever been around" a couple of weeks ago.

Spavital shares the sentiment, saying, "I really love the quarterback room. It's to the point where I have to send them home and get them away from me because they're up here all the time, but it means a lot to me."

He added, "With the quarterbacks, we're so far more advanced than where we were at this point last year, which makes things a lot better. With the installs, we're on day three and we've already got probably 90% of the situational [plays] in the entire playbook in, which is pretty crazy to say. Last year at this point, I had four concepts in, and we were trying to get better at it. Year two is always so much better as a unit."

As the competition to be Robertson's back-up begins, Spavital raved about all three quarterbacks, speaking at length about each one's talent and natural attributes. 

Starting with Bennett, the redshirt freshman, Spavital said, "I love where Nate is. Nate's been with me for a year now, so he knows all the checks, and he's getting better at that. I'm really confident with Nate in the game because I've worked with him for a year, and I know what he's going to do. He can throw a really pretty ball, and he can get it out."

As for White, the former top-50 national prospect, Spavital noted, "Walker's done a great job as well. He's a very talented kid. He's big, he's strong, and he can throw the ball a mile, pretty much. He's been in a similar offense to what we've done. He knows how to communicate and operate it."

However, the most talked-about member of the quarterback room might be Griffin, the true freshman from Coppell. Griffin, an under-the-radar three-star prospect who threw for over 6,000 yards and 80 touchdowns in his high school career, has turned heads throughout the program, including Aranda and Spavital.

"Great quarterbacks are obsessed with the game, and he's obsessed with football," Spavital said of Griffin. "He wants to know everything, and for his age, and at this point, this is the most I've ever put on a quarterback. … There's a consistency with him that I appreciate. He's always going to show up. He's going to keep working. He's going to be up here on his off day, working out, watching tape, everything. He's just completely obsessed with the game. He's making everybody else better in our room."

Other Spring Football Content

• WATCH: Baylor Quarterbacks Slinging the Ball around at Spring Practice
• Presser: Sawyer Robertson Talks QB Room, Baylor Offense, Spring Practices
• Presser: Jake Spavital Talks Baylor Offense, Sawyer Robertson, Spring Practices
• Grayson & Colt Talk Spring Football: How Much More Can Sawyer Robertson Improve?
• Driven By Faith: Baylor Quarterback Sawyer Robertson Bracing For Important Offseason Ahead