Carson Hall Sees Baylor’s Defensive Front Taking Shape After Offseason Overhaul
As Carson Hall enters his second season on Baylor’s coaching staff, he’s seen plenty of change over the last 12 months, including learning a new scheme under first-year defensive coordinator Joe Klanderman, an influx of resources into the defensive line and an expanded role that now includes coaching both the JACK position and defensive ends.
With so much “newness,” Hall hasn’t let that slow him down, as he’s feeling much more comfortable now than he did in the spring, telling the media in a press conference on Tuesday, “We're at the point now where we’re on level-four, level-five type of teaching and installation. To be able to work through that as a coach and then with my guys, no different. Like, they're here all summer, so we're able to steal a little bit extra time to meet, go over the install, and so the packages and all those things.”
Southern Miss fifth-year senior transfer Garrick Ponder has been a key addition to the defensive front, after totaling 37 tackles, 11.5 for loss, 4.5 sacks, one forced fumble and one fumble recovery last year with the Golden Eagles. So far, his transition to the Power Four level has been pretty smooth, which he credits in part to Hall’s coaching.
“We get a lot of knowledge from Coach Hall,” Ponder said. “He’s very technical with our footwork. That’s the key ingredient: to play D-end, you have to be aggressive. He’s very technical. He listens. He’s a coach that you connect with. He’s a great guy.”
Last season, Baylor’s defensive line was incredibly thin and struggled to create disruption. This offseason, head coach Dave Aranda made bolstering the trenches a priority, bringing in eight transfers to complement a handful of talented underclassmen and returners.
“We got a bunch of guys that are really similar body types, so they can play both positions like DE and JACK,” Hall said. “For one, like Kyler Jordan, Zavion Hardy, Jordan Mack, Daemian Wimberly and Chris Johnson, all those guys. Ryan Davis plays some DE every now and then. It’s good to see a lot of those guys play multiple spots. We’re able to be pretty multiple in that regard, just because guys know both spots.”
When asked about what goals Hall has for his unit this fall, he said he didn’t necessarily have a numerical goal in mind, but it was more so the aggressiveness his group shows, paired with a non-stop motor, that will be his barometer for success.
“We’re trying to make sure that every game, there are no loafs,” Hall said. “Every single play is a full-speed rep, whether that’s practice or in the game. We want to make sure that we’re a very physical unit, that we play with our hands, play with physicality, get off blocks, and pride ourselves on being able to affect the quarterback.”
Aranda has expressed in the past that the best teams he’s been a part of were player-led, and Hall said his room very much fits that mold, especially with all the veterans up front leading the charge.
“They are very much a group that holds themselves accountable to the entire room and to themselves,” Hall noted. “It’s funny because I can hear somebody telling somebody not to loaf before I even get to them, which is the coolest thing to have. When you have player-led accountability, that’s the strongest point of leadership in the team, which is awesome to see.”
Initially, it was hard for the players to call each other out, as they were just getting to know each other, but over time, Ponder has bought into the idea.
“Once everybody has the same goal and mission, it doesn’t matter who’s saying it,” Ponder noted. “It could be a backup. It could be a fourth-string. It doesn’t matter who’s saying it. You listen, and that’s the standard on the team right now.”
Since transferring from Kansas State, senior Ryan Davis sees himself as the de facto bridge between Klanderman and the rest of the front seven to help everyone get familiar with a new scheme.
“I definitely feel a responsibility to help out everybody, just because I've been in the defense for three years, and I’m willing to do whatever it takes to win,” Davis said. “If that’s helping guys out, staying after practice, talking through some things with some of the younger guys, or even some of the guys that are my age and older, then I’m gonna do whatever it takes.”
Davis flashed his potential at Kansas State, earning Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week honors in a win over Oklahoma State on Nov. 15, where he had a sack, forced a fumble and five QB pressures. Davis, however, has dealt with injuries across his three seasons in Manhattan and is looking to stay healthy and put it all together for the Green and Gold this fall.
“He had experience coming in, obviously knowing terminology, being familiar with Coach Klanderman and his philosophies, but to see him evolve now in the Baylor version of the defense is really cool to see,” Hall said when asked about Davis. “He’s got a good veteran presence, and he’s one of many leaders in the room that lead both vocally and by example.”
Part of the success Davis and the other pass rushers will have on the outside is determined by Baylor’s deep interior defensive line, spearheaded by Indiana transfer Hosea Wheeler, who was deemed eligible on Tuesday, as well as Marshall transfer Jamaal Whyce, among others.
“Those interior D-linemen have been tearing it up across the board,” Davis said. “Hosea is a big one, too. He’s one of those guys you could look at and just be like, whatever happens on this play happens. I know you’re gonna go disrupt crap, and I’ll be right there with you.”
Klanderman called Wheeler “dominant,” and Hall feels the same way, but doesn’t want Wheeler to take all the shine from what he believes is an experienced, well-rounded interior defensive line.
“He’s incredibly important,” Hall said of Wheeler. “He’s a very talented football player who brings a different dynamic to the game. But I’d be remiss without saying that the entire room and the D-tackle room are very deep. They’re all talented. They all play very hard. It’s a front four that plays really well together.”
