Player's Club: Bears See Another Level for Surging Defense, Offense Searching for More

As Baylor heads into its final matchup before conference play begins against Colorado, the Bears find themselves in an unfamiliar position compared to recent years: they have a legit defense that can suffocate and make life incredibly difficult for opposing offenses.

Currently, Baylor leads the Big 12 in tackles for loss (18) and sacks (9) and is second in turnovers forced (4). It’s also forced 15 punts, and in the commanding 44-3 win over Prairie View A&M, the Bears limited the Panthers to just 53 yards of offense after the opening drive, giving them early results to build confidence.

“We've put on tape what we can do," fifth-year senior defensive end Kyler Jordan said. “There are still some things that we can clean up. We could have put an even better product out there on Saturday. We know that we got a good challenge this week, so we’re just gonna continue to get better.”

Jordan isn’t alone in believing the locker room has another level this defense can reach if they clean up simple mental miscues, including limiting explosive plays and improving communication.

“There’s a lot of confidence, just the way that we're flying around, hitting things and, honestly, just kind of wreaking havoc,” fifth-year senior safety Michael Allen said. “One of the big things that Coach Klanderman continues to touch on is that we are nowhere near where we can be. It's a continual climb, continual rise. When we watch the tape, there are a lot of things we can clean up to be even better. It's a great group of guys, but we're just not even touching the surface of where we can be.”

Unfortunately for Baylor’s defense, it suffered a big loss last Saturday as fifth-year senior defensive lineman Devonte Tezino broke his ankle and is out for the season. Tezino was playing the best football of his career, according to head coach Dave Aranda, and was coming off an incredible Week 1 performance against Auburn, where he totaled two sacks and tipped a pass that led to an interception. Baylor does have depth along the defensive line, but key reserves will now have to take on a bigger role.

“We’ve been here for five years together,” Jordan said of his relationship with Tezino. “We've been through all the highs, the lows, and he means a lot. But I think there's a lot of guys in that room who are going to step up. Braylen Jackson, Jae’lin Battle, Slug [Mitchell], Jackson Blackwell. There's a lot of guys in that room who'll step up and do what they can to fill that role, but it's also hard to fill the hole that Tez left.”

Injuries have also beaten up the safety room, and star senior Jacob Redding was lost before the year started with an ACL injury. In Saturday’s contest, fifth-year safety Devin Turner, arguably Baylor’s second-best defender against Auburn, behind Tezino, played one snap before sitting out with a tight hamstring. With Redding out and Turner limited, other players have stepped up without much of a drop-off.

“They've answered the call,” Allen said of the other safeties. “Obviously, Jacob was a big loss for us, and we miss him, but guys like Colby McCalister and Micah Gifford have done a great job of really stepping up. Jordan Davis was a guy who played a lot of snaps the other night, and so they've stepped up. They've answered the call, and we don't have a lot of time in the season to have people ease their way in. We need you to be ready now. I think fall camp was a lot of competition in that position group, and we all pushed each other to be better so that they would be ready when their moments showed up.”

Speaking of players who have stepped up, after riding the bench the last two years, Nate Bennett had every opportunity in today's collegiate landscape to transfer elsewhere and play immediately. Instead, he stayed with the Bears and got his first chance to start last Saturday against Prairie View A&M, throwing for 314 yards and three touchdowns on 24-of-36 passing, while adding a 17-yard rushing touchdown. Bennett’s decision to wait his turn and make the most of his opportunity earned him plenty of respect from his teammates.

“That was awesome,” Jordan said. “It was cool to see Nate get his chance to go out there and shine. I think everybody can see that he can throw it around the yard. He took a chance staying here with DJ [Lagway] coming in, and it’s just really cool to see that come to fruition. I’m super happy for Nate. Thought he did a great job.”

Fifth-year senior tackle Kaden Sieracki added, “Honestly, he came out there with a lot of energy. I felt like he was out there spinning the ball really great, and he's got a really good energy about him. He's a great leader too, and he's really verbal with us, and I really appreciate that.”

The offensive line has taken some heat across the first two weeks of the season for not being very effective in the run game. Against Prairie View A&M, the Bears rushed for 219 yards on 41 carries for an average of 5.34 yards per attempt, which looks solid on paper, but the expectation was probably hoping to be a little more dominant. With four new starters and a first-year offensive line coach, Sieracki sees early improvement from the group but, like the defense, wants them to fix communication issues and pre-snap penalties.

“I feel like we're getting better,” Sieracki said. “I feel like this past game, you saw a little bit maybe of a dip in that third quarter with the run game, but I think through that, we were able to see what we're able to correct. We got it corrected yesterday, and I think today's practice showed that we're hungry and ready to get back out there.”

So much of the offensive line’s success comes down to mentality, and Sieracki wants his unit to bring the concentration and mindset from the Auburn contest to every Saturday moving forward.

“Offensive line-wise, we just need to play balls to the wall, aggressive,” Sieracki emphatically said. “We just need to come out as hard as we can. We need to come out kind of as we did in the Auburn game.”

He continued, “I felt like we came out pretty strong in the Prairie View game, but I think our intention was — it felt weird. It was probably a little bit more in the Auburn game. I don't want to say that as if it was Prairie View [was less]. That's a faceless opponent that we need to treat like that every time. But I think that we just need to come out thinking with a really strong mindset that we're just going to attack.”

Jordan, Allen, Sieracki and the rest of the Bears (1-1) will close non-conference play against Louisiana Tech (1-1) at 3 p.m. on Sept. 19 at McLane Stadium. The game will be televised on ESPNU.