Baylor’s transfer haul was supposed to be the quick fix - 30 newcomers brought in to patch holes, raise the floor and give the Bears enough firepower to hang in the Big 12. Nine games in, that class has delivered a mix of immediate hits, steady contributors and a few names still searching for traction.
The biggest headline belongs to DJ Lagway, the most talked-about arrival in Waco after coming over from Florida. His first Baylor season has had plenty of ups and downs, starting with an ankle injury in the opener against Auburn that cost him two games and clearly affected his mobility early on. Through seven appearances, he’s completed 53.7% of his passes for 1,900 yards, 15 touchdowns and four interceptions.
Lagway has flashed the kind of ceiling that made him such a prized addition. Against Arizona State, he threw for 306 yards and four touchdowns and added a rushing score in Baylor’s 55-19 win.
But the rough patches have been real, too. He struggled in back-to-back losses to TCU and Kansas, completing 22 of 53 passes against the Horned Frogs before finishing with 236 yards, one touchdown and an interception against the Jayhawks.
Lately, though, he’s looked far more comfortable since Joe Klanderman took over. Lagway threw for 319 yards and four touchdowns against UCF, then followed that with 229 passing yards, two touchdowns and a career-high 119 rushing yards against Iowa State. The recent surge has been encouraging, but the inconsistency keeps him from landing in elite territory.
If Lagway has been the most high-profile transfer, Josh Freeman has probably been the most dependable. The former Oklahoma State receiver has become Baylor’s most reliable offensive weapon, leading the Bears with 69 catches for 852 yards and three touchdowns. He’s on pace for 1,136 receiving yards over 12 games, and he’s paced Baylor in receptions in every game this season.
Freeman opened with 154 receiving yards against Auburn and has topped 100 yards four times, including 123 against Kansas and 114 against UCF. The touchdown total is modest, but the production has been steady enough to make him one of the best additions in the class.
On the other side of the ball, Oklahoma transfer Jordan has given Baylor exactly what it needed in the secondary: takeaways. The junior cornerback has 33 tackles, four interceptions and three pass breakups through nine games, and his four picks lead the Bears while accounting for nearly half of the team’s nine interceptions.
His signature play came against Kansas, when he intercepted a pass and returned it 42 yards for a touchdown to help Baylor dig out of an early hole. That kind of playmaking has been huge for a defense that has allowed just nine passing touchdowns this season.
Baylor’s pass rush has also gotten a major lift from another transfer, Southern Miss product Ponder. The fifth-year senior leads the Bears with 10 tackles for loss and 4.5 sacks, and he’s added 24 tackles, three quarterback hurries, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery and a blocked kick.
The Bears added three more sacks and nine tackles for loss against Iowa State, pushing the season total to 37 sacks. That’s the fourth-highest single-season mark in program history and only nine away from the school record. Even with some uneven stretches against the run, Ponder has repeatedly found his way into opposing backfields.
Indiana transfer Wheeler came in with championship experience and plenty of expectations, but his individual numbers have been more muted. The sixth-year defensive tackle has 22 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks in nine games.
Those stats don’t capture everything he does inside, where his job often comes down to eating space and freeing up others. He’s been part of a strong position group, even if his production hasn’t matched some of the other defensive transfers.
Another defensive addition, Kansas State safety Cobbs, has been one of the quieter success stories. He’s posted 32 tackles, five tackles for loss, 3.5 sacks and three pass breakups, a stat line that stands out even more because of the sack total from a safety.
Against Iowa State, he added four tackles and a pass breakup. Jordan has drawn more attention for the turnovers, but Cobbs has made his mark in multiple ways.
Colorado receiver Miller has been the opposite story. He arrived as one of the more intriguing offensive pickups, but the production hasn’t followed.
Through nine games, he has just eight catches for 133 yards and one touchdown, averaging fewer than 15 receiving yards per game. He’s had a few flashes, including a 36-yard catch against UCF and a 32-yard grab against Iowa State, but he hasn’t carved out a steady role in the passing game.
Rounding out the group, South Florida defensive lineman Mitchell has quietly become one of Baylor’s more effective front-line additions. He has 21 tackles, 7.5 tackles for loss and three sacks through nine games, with his tackles for loss ranking among the team’s best totals behind Ponder among the transfers on this list.
Mitchell had a sack against UCF during a game in which Baylor piled up seven sacks and 12 tackles for loss while holding the Knights to 66 rushing yards. He then finished with five tackles against Iowa State. He may not have gotten the same spotlight as some of the bigger names, but his disruption behind the line has made him one of the class’s better pickups.
In Other News...
Joe Klanderman Just Raised The Stakes For Baylors Finish
Joe Klanderman has given Baylor a much steadier hand than anyone could have expected in the immediate aftermath of Dave Arandas firing. As the interim head coach, he has guided the Bears to two straight wins, and suddenly a season that looked like it might spiral has settled into something far more interesting. At 6-3 overall and 4-2 in Big 12 play, Baylor is still mathematically alive in the conference race, which is no small thing at this stage of the year.
The challenge now is the closing stretch, because the Bears still have three difficult games left and no one around the program can afford to look past what comes next. Klandermans quick start has also started to change the conversation around the job itself, with speculation beginning to build about whether he could become a real candidate for the permanent opening. For a team that was just trying to stabilize, the stakes around the finish have suddenly gotten a lot higher. [Read more 🡒]
Baylors Offense Looked Dangerous But One Concern Still Lingers
Homecoming brought plenty for Baylor fans to like in a 42-31 win over Iowa State, especially the way the offense kept finding answers from different spots on the field. DJ Lagway was a central figure in the attack, helping the Bears move the ball both through the air and on the ground, while the rest of the offense showed the kind of varied production that can make this group difficult to defend when it is clicking.
Still, the final score also left one area worth watching as the season moves on. Baylors defense generated pressure with three sacks and nine tackles for loss, and special teams did its part with clean extra points and solid punting, but Iowa State was able to lean on its rushing game enough to keep the Bears from fully putting the matchup away sooner. [Read more 🡒]
Baylor Opens Big 12 Run With A Rematch That Could Set Tone
Baylors Big 12 tournament path starts with a familiar opponent and a chance to make an early statement. The No. 8 Bears, seeded third after a 15-3-1 regular season, meet No. 25 Houston in the quarterfinals at Texas Health Mansfield Stadium, where the opening round already carries the feel of a test of pace, poise and postseason readiness.
Houston comes in as the No. 6 seed at 11-4-4, which gives this matchup a little more edge than a standard bracket opener. For Baylor, the immediate focus is simply advancing, but the reward for doing so is a semifinal date with the winner of Texas Tech and UCF, a path that could quickly shape the rest of the tournament. [Read more 🡒]