WACO, Texas – The talk of National Signing Day didn’t revolve around who the Bears landed, but instead, it was about who they lost.
In the days leading up to Wednesday, Dec. 3, the Bears endured a string of setbacks as their top three 2026 commits flipped: defensive lineman Jamarion Carlton to Texas, defensive back Jamarion Vincent to Michigan and wide receiver Jordan Clay to Washington.
“Bottom line, we have to win more — that’s what it really comes down to,” head coach Dave Aranda said in his National Signing Day press conference of Baylor losing its top three commits. “For me, I’m way appreciative of them and of their families and the time that we’ve spent [together]. It’s way important for me that we handle it in such a way that if there’s ever a chance where they want to come back, the relationships are strong, so that’s open to where they can. I consider this home for them.”
With how disappointing a season the Bears had, Aranda doesn’t fault the former commits for looking elsewhere, but wanted to prioritize handling their decisions to decomit with class in case the opportunity ever arose down the line for them to come back to Waco.
“This is tough, and this is probably not going to be pleasant, but it’s very, very important how we handle it,” Aranda said. “Everyone’s watching. Everyone’s listening. Everyone’s paying attention. For us to be the people we say we are, we’ve got to be able to handle this the right way. I have to make it a point to recognize everyone who sacrificed to be able to get to this point, even though we didn’t get them, and to thank them. Because it’s a fight, and the circumstances we’re in right now are our own doing.”
While the Bears plummeted in overall rankings for the 2026 recruiting class from the mid-20s to No. 80 in the country, they still maintain an average rating of 88.31 per prospect, according to 247 Sports, which is good for around No. 25 nationally. Baylor had just 12 signees, with Colorado (11) being the only Big 12 school with fewer.
Aranda acknowledged how pleased he was about the players who remained committed despite it “being a hard year to stay with us,” and noted that four-star defensive lineman JaeLin Battle (Santa Fe, OK), four-star wide receiver London Smith (University HS), four-star running back Ryelan Morris (Honey Grove HS) and three-star linebacker Jamarion Phillips (South Oak Cliff HS) will all be hungry to make an impact and have an opportunity to play right away next year.
“Every day we wake up is a fight to get this thing flipped,” Aranda said. “Every day is a fight. I wish this turnout had been better. We were in some big fights there, and we didn’t come out on top of it. I’m way happy for the guys that we got and excited for the guys that want to be here and want to be able to make this place a winning program again, so we’re really trying to keep the focus on that.”
With the Bears losing their top three commits and two other three-star offensive linemen — Kole Seaton and Marcus Page — Aranda and Co. are now forced to pivot to hitting the transfer portal even harder than previously anticipated this offseason. The silver lining of the situation, however, is that Baylor now has a considerable chunk of change freed up to spend mostly on bolstering the trenches.
“We weren’t going into it thinking that way when we recruited them back in the summertime and last year,” Aranda said of having to repurpose Baylor’s money for the 2026 roster. “At the time when we were recruiting them, we were thinking this was going to be a great season, and we were going to be able to add and build. Now that we’re in this position, we have that money to use, and it’s very important for us to be able to build line of scrimmage play. We have to be able to get multiple guys on either side of the ball, and that opens up now.”
Aranda also noted that Baylor will rework transfer portal evaluations this offseason, after multiple years in a row in which the Bears missed on a ton of players, particularly on defense. This offseason’s emphasis will be on the physical traits of prospects, whether they have extensive or limited experience. To Aranda, it’s all about adding players, “we think can push on over to make plays.”
“What we’re trying to be able to do is find specific traits of what makes a really good O-lineman or D-lineman,” Aranda said. “These are things that you can measure analytically, and we’re trying to find that and be able to grade that trait. Then survey however many people we need to and find guys that meet that trait. We want to be able to hone in on that. It’s much more of a scientific approach than just a kind of buzz with the film. We’re not aiming to miss. We don’t have the luxury of missing.”
But before the two-week transfer portal window technically opens on Friday, Jan. 2, Aranda has other offseason priorities to address, including a holistic evaluation of the program, which will undoubtedly include some staff changes.
“We have to look at everything,” Aranda said. “Like how we’re eating, how we’re lifting, how defense is, how these team meetings go. We have to look at everything. … [We have to make] changes that are going to help us win, and so you cannot go through the season that we had, and then just say that, ‘Hey, we’re going to do it again, run it back and it’s going to be better.’ A lot of it is hard, introspective stuff, because you have to see the stuff that you weren’t seeing prior. We’re in that mode right now.”
When asked if he plans to still call plays on defense next year, Aranda noted, “Not right now. I’m not thinking that way. There are moves that have to be made, and we’re kind of in the process of getting that runway set to make those.”
While Baylor will surely have to add a ton of talent in the transfer portal to replace the plethora of departing seniors on both sides of the ball, it’s also essential to keep the players eligible to return happy, which is a difficult task in the modern era of college football, where players are constantly being shopped by their agents.
“It’s going to be a fight to do that; we definitely want to, and we’re set up with every resource that we have available to do that,” Aranda said. “But we’ve got some guys that really kind of had great seasons, despite the team effort. This is the time of being shopped by agents to other teams — all of that's going around.”
He added, “It’s very important, staff-wise, for us that there’s a great relationship with our coaches and our players. Because I think any moment that we are not conversing and having a relationship with our players is a moment their agents are talking to them about, “Hey, you could go here for this, or hey, you can leave this place and go there for that, or I could get you this.’ It’s a very much re-recruitment effort that starts right now.”
Signs suggested athletic director Mack Rhoades was ready to move on from Aranda, but his unexpected Nov. 12 self-imposed leave of absence, which eventually led to his resignation a week and a half later, changed the equation.
Part of the reason why Aranda was retained, according to Baylor President Linda A. Livingstone was because it’d be too chaotic to hire both a new athletic director and a head football coach in such a short timeframe.
When asked if Aranda had made any input on the athletic director search, Aranda said. “No. I trust, whether it’s our President Linda Livingstone — she’s amazing, and I have so much trust in her — or whether it’s Cody Hall or Jovan Overshown, all of this is in really good hands, so my hands are full right here with this.”
On a closing note, Aranda gave a message to the fanbase about why they should believe in this team in 2026, and his response highlighted the hunger that will surround the program heading into next fall to “get it flipped.”
“I’ve got full faith in our leadership here, and I’ve got full faith in the coaches and the players here, and there’s going to be excitement with what we’re going to build, because the guys are going to be incredibly hungry,” Aranda said.
He continued, “They’re going to want to be able to battle, and they’re going to want to be able to prove the doubters wrong, and that is going to be a really, really, really strong motivator. I’m excited for that. It’s going to be a little bit darker before we get to the light, but we’re going to get there, and I’m excited for that.”
