Baylor...

“I think for me to kind of come to grips with, ‘Hey, this is what needs to happen for the betterment of the team,’ as opposed to just looking at what’s best for that one particular player on your team.”

The Bears heavily used the portal to refill the offensive line, where it lost four of five starters. They brought in brothers Clark and Campbell Barrington, along with Arkansas transfer Ketron Jackson Jr. Baylor tackle Gavin Byers is the lone returner to the offensive line, moving from right tackle outside to the guard position.

On defense, Baylor allowed opponents less than 350 yards of offense and 18 points per game in 2021, but that jumped to 26.8 points in 2022. So, Aranda is bringing back a piece of that 2021 defense.

Matt Powledge was the safeties and special teams coach at Baylor in 2021 before taking the co-defensive coordinator spot at Oregon last year. Now, Powledge is back as the Bears’ defensive coordinator this season.

Powledge will have experience on the defensive front with TJ Frankling and Gabe Hall, who combined for 22 starts last season, and Jerrell Boykins Jr., who led Hutchinson College to the NJCAA title game in 2022. In total, Baylor added four defensive transfers who project as starters.

Aranda is optimistic the changes and adaptations he and his staff have made can get the Bears back to the team they were two years ago.

“For us to be at our best when it matters most, I think you look at two years ago, you know the game that was played here (Big 12 Championship at AT&T Stadium) was a good example,” Aranda said. “When things got hard, we were pretty good. Last year, when things got hard, we disappeared.”

Continued from 1 sports.ed@ocolly.com