Aranda's Call Sheet: Bears Get Reinforcements Back, Look to Clean Up Mistakes Ahead of CU
As the Bears head into conference play, the top storyline surrounding the program is the health of star quarterback DJ Lagway, who suffered an ankle sprain on the first drive of the season opener against Auburn.
Since then, Lagway’s been held out of the last two games against Prairie View A&M and Louisiana Tech, but Aranda provided a positive update on Monday during his press conference, saying that Lagway would be back for the Big 12 opener against Colorado and noted, “He was able to work out on the field prior to the game Saturday. He felt really good. He feels good walking around now. He’s excited and ready.”
Given Baylor’s last two opponents, questions remained about whether Lagway would have played had the Bears faced a Big 12 foe. Aranda played it a bit coy but didn’t think he would have been comfortable playing Lagway, saying, “He was at probably 60-70% last week. I didn't feel like he was in a position to protect himself, with in-the-pocket movement, pushing off and making sudden movements. I didn't feel like he was in a position to do that, and regardless of who it was, I didn't feel he could protect himself. Where now, I feel like he's improved and ready.”
In addition to Lagway, the Bears should be close to full strength heading into Saturday, as junior wide receiver Jadon Porter, fifth-year senior safety Devin Turner and senior right tackle Logan Moore are all expected to return, none of whom played against Louisiana Tech.
“He's got the green light for this week, so I’m excited for him,” Aranda said of Porter. “We got JP coming back, Devin Turner's coming back, DJ's back and Logan Moore's back. We’ve got a fair amount of guys that are back.”
While getting Lagway and Moore back on the field could boost Baylor’s ground game, the rushing attack hasn’t looked as sharp or dominant as hoped across the first month of the season. The Bears averaged 3.75 yards per carry against Louisiana Tech and didn’t seem to impose their will on the Bulldogs’ front seven at any point last Saturday. Aranda admitted as much, noting “we’re still not where we need to be in the run game.”
“If it's base defense, we're able to get some movement,” Aranda said of Baylor’s ground game. “If it's not base defense, we're struggling too much. When the bullets are flying and the d-line's slanting and stunting and all that, we've got to be able to clean that up.”
A limited rushing attack has also put pressure on the quarterbacks to start the season, with Lagway, Nate Bennett and Ed Griffin combining for six giveaways (four interceptions and two fumbles) through three games. Aranda believes a better ground game will quell those turnovers and noted that four-star freshman Ryelan Morris will get more snaps moving forward, as he’s the most dynamic player in the running back room.
“The takeaways will also be limited when we can run the ball better,” Aranda said. “Some of the throws are because we have to throw, whereas I think if we're running the ball and the chains are working in our favor, then we can throw it when we need to, not just when we have to.”
Another area where Aranda wants the Bears to be better heading into Big 12 play is making fewer self-inflicted mistakes; Baylor has totaled 19 penalties for 175 yards across the last two contests. The seventh-year head coach says he wants this team's identity to be tough, smart and dependable. He believes they’ve checked two of those boxes but are still lacking in the “smart” department.
“We’ve got to find a way to do that better,” Aranda said. “Practice is the closest thing you've got to games. You've got to hold guys accountable in practice in terms of penalties and put them in competitive spots where they're tired, where they're hot, where they're kind of exhausted, and get them to where they've got to be able to move their feet. They got to let go of the guy if I can’t stay in-phase with the guy. I got to have solid eye control here, so I'm not guessing and not committing penalties.”
Defensively, the Bears pretty much shut down Louisiana Tech’s offense for much of the afternoon, but the Bulldogs found some success late, scoring 12 points and putting up 238 of their 362 yards in the second half. Aranda, however, thought the defense performed well, and the poor ending came from the offense not helping them out and keeping them on the field.
“Looking back at Saturday, there were some positives,” Aranda said. “I thought defensively, there was fight and continued strain and effort to play good defense. I thought that guys were put in some tough spots, especially in that third quarter. It was really kind of a gun to the head of Baylor's defense that whole third quarter, field position and just situational stuff all throughout. I thought they just battled and battled, and so we have to play better on all sides of the ball, make it a little bit easier for them.”
One area on defense where Aranda acknowledged the Bears have to be much better, however, is limiting the quarterback runs. Louisiana Tech’s starting quarterback, Blake Baker, missed the contest with a hand fracture, and senior Trey Kukuk gave Baylor fits with his legs, logging 11 carries for 75 yards. The Bears forced 15 quarterback pressures, but a lack of discipline in rushing lanes allowed Kukuk to be sacked just once.
“We have to clear up and improve our rush lanes, and we lost some of that,” Aranda said. “We're at our best when we rush as a unit, all four guys working as one. We're not at our best when it's three guys working as a unit, one guy doing his own thing. That's when you're able to get rush lanes. We had some of that and have to clean that up. Too many rushing quarterbacks in our conference to not be as good as we can be at that.”
As the Bears look ahead to the Big 12 opener against Colorado this Saturday, one can’t help but think about the 2024 matchup in Boulder where Baylor surrendered a last-second Hail Mary and ultimately lost in overtime to Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter and Company.
Aranda said the Bears have since used that game as an example of the importance of finishing games strong, saying, “That season, with the ability to kind of look back at it, it's a completely different season. You finish out that play in that game, and so definitely in the past, that's been used for that.”
Even with that crushing loss, Aranda has remained friendly with Colorado head coach Deion Sanders, the NFL Hall of Famer. This season, the Bears added two transfers from Boulder — wide receiver Dre’lon Miller and offensive lineman Cooper Lovelance — while former Baylor defensive lineman Samu Taumanupepe is now suiting up for the Buffaloes.
“Every time I've met him, he's been really gracious to me and is a pleasant guy to talk to,” Aranda said of Sanders. “We have a couple of guys on our team that were at Colorado, and at the Big 12 spring meetings, he sees me, comes, sits down right next to me and starts talking about those guys and just praising them. His character and what he's about, I'm a big fan of that. He's good for our league as well. I have a lot of respect for him.”
Colorado started the 2026 season with a thrilling 14-13 road win over Georgia Tech, but last week, the Buffaloes were absolutely embarrassed with a 41-7 defeat to Northwestern. Aranda expects that loss to be a major motivator for Coach Prime’s squad heading into Saturday.
“We're going to get their best game, and just with the start of the league and their head coach and knowing who he is and what he's about, we're going to get their best game, their best effort, their best shot,” Aranda said. “We need to apply pressure for 60 minutes from the very beginning. So that's something we're talking about all week long.”
Aranda and the Bears (2-1) will open Big 12 play against Sanders and Colorado (2-1) at 11 a.m. this Saturday, Sept. 26, at McLane Stadium. The game will be nationally televised on ESPN2.
