Aranda Details Baylor’s Roster-Building Overhaul, Lessons Learned Entering Pivotal Season

FRISCO, Texas – What has become something of a tradition at Big 12 Media Days over the past few offseasons is head coach Dave Aranda reflecting on the mistakes of the previous year. This go-around was no different, as he highlighted Baylor’s shift in roster-building philosophy, prioritizing depth at key positions over flashy, highly touted high school recruits, a strategy he believes will pay dividends this fall.

“If you have a lot of money, then it really doesn’t matter,” Aranda said in an interview with SicEm365 on Tuesday at Big 12 Media Days. “There can be money for high school recruiting, and this money can be used for the transfer portal and retention. I think if you don’t have that, if you’ve got half of that, then the money that you have has to go to the players that are playing the game. I think the last two years we had too much money tied up in freshmen and sophomores that were not playing, and it limited the amount of talent that we had on the field playing.”

With Aranda needing a strong season to save his job, Baylor invested the bulk of its offseason resources into rebuilding the trenches after being consistently overmatched on both sides of the line of scrimmage in 2025.

“Building the team inside-out and not outside-in is a lesson learned,” Aranda noted. “Our receiving room was probably the highest-paid receiving room in this league, and that was at the expense of our defense, and of our O-line and everything else. Because there’s a limited number that we had. Now, we put the money on the O-line, the D-line, and focus on winning the line of scrimmage.”

Arguably, the biggest reason to be excited about this fall is the addition of Florida transfer quarterback DJ Lagway, one of the top transfer prospects and formerly the No. 3 overall recruit in the 2024 class.

When asked what Lagway could provide as Baylor’s starting signal-caller, Aranda noted, “He can make those [tough] throws. Those deep outs, both opposite hash throws, and then same side throws. He’s comfortable with his legs. He wants to use his legs, so I think when you get linebackers turning and running with interior receivers, he can take off running.”

Aranda added, “I think both Sawyer and DJ are great communicators and connectors. Sawyer did a lot of the connecting off the field, and then would do it some on the field, and grew where he’s comfortable doing it on the field. DJ is much more comfortable on the field connecting. He’s the best I’ve seen at that, and so connecting through football, getting on the same page, finding things that are in common, and then taking that off the field. He does it in a different way, but he’s been able to engage a lot of guys.”

A large part of Lagway’s success will depend on the play of the offensive line, however. After a disappointing 2025 campaign, Aranda and offensive coordinator Jake Spavital made sweeping changes up front, hiring first-year offensive line coach Austin Woods to lead the unit and adding three projected starters through the transfer portal: left tackle Logan Moore (UAB), left guard Nate Kibble (Texas) and center Yakiri Walker (Memphis).

“I feel good about the starting group we got right now,” Aranda noted. “I feel good about their improvement and their mentality, and I think a lot of it comes down to ownership. Like, ‘This is my team. This is on me. This is my run, like this is the call I want called.’ It’s what it needs to be.”

Another potential wrinkle in this year’s offense is using the tight ends more. Aranda believes a steady rotation of Matthew Klopfenstein, Hawkins Polley and Tony Livingston could help open up Baylor’s run game, which was virtually non-existent in 2025.

“Offensively, our quarterback could really see best when it was doubles two by two, and he could see what coverage it was,” Aranda said of last year’s offense with Sawyer Robertson. “He could see if there’s pressure and everything, which is great, we can see it, but then on the other end of it, we’re in the same look almost all the time, and so to run the ball became difficult in that type of setting, because we were limited on surfaces.”

While Aranda is most definitely sitting on a scorching-hot seat, his demeanor seemed more relaxed than usual on Tuesday at Big 12 Media Days. Part of the reason could be that he handed the defense over to Joe Klanderman, who came to Waco after a strong seven-year tenure at K-State. 

When asked, everybody raved about Klanderman’s system, and the consistent theme was that its simplicity would allow the Bears to play fast on defense, with Aranda saying, “The variety is all pre-snap, and it’s not post-snap. That’s where the simplification comes, whereas maybe in the past there were reads, there were kind of pattern progressions that had to take post-snap, where now there’s very few, there’s none really.”

He added, “It’s all zone, so get back to your area, see the quarterback play fast, so the majority of it is the pre snap of, ‘Hey, what’s the formation, what are we playing over here, then communicate to each other, and then they get back to their landmark, and they play, and so the ability to play true zone has enabled guys to play fast, and they love it. I’m a fan of it.”

One area where Aranda expressed a lot of confidence was Baylor’s depth along the defensive line, noting that there are “good playmakers” on the edges but “really explosive and dynamic guys inside.”

“We are three deep of just guys that are 280, 290, 300 pounds that can stunt and move and and and take off and hit the gap and make plays,” Aranda said of the interior defensive line, which features Jamaal Whyce (Marshall, 311 pounds), Jackson Blackwell (330 pounds), Jordan Mack (Coastal Carolina, 281 pounds), Kamren Washington (Texas State, 288 pounds) Devonte Tezino (295 pounds) and Hosea Wheeler (306 pounds).

Unfortunately for Aranda, arguably the best player on the defensive line, Wheeler, the Indiana transfer, is currently in eligibility limbo, as is Walker, the projected starting center and Memphis transfer. Although Aranda said, “we’re fighting hard to keep them both,” there isn’t much transparency about how the situation will be resolved, as both players are currently in the process of seeking a temporary injunction to play this fall.

“I wish I had a better idea of that,” Aranda said. “It’s getting late. Within two weeks, I’m hoping there’s some clarity on whether it’s denied, accepted, or pushed back. Right now, it’s still in the formative stages, and so the last I heard is that there’s a two-week window. We’re going to try to push this and see what happens, so we’ll see.”