Caden Knighten doesn’t need much room to make a defense look slow. That’s the kind of back Baylor has in the 5-foot-11, 211-pound speedster, who was an Oklahoma 2-A 100 meter state champion as a high school sophomore in 2023 with a winning time of 10.95 seconds.
Last season, Knighten was part of Baylor’s backfield rotation with Bryson Washington and Michael Turner after Dawson Pendergrass suffered a season-ending foot injury in practice. Knighten handled 104 carries for 469 yards and added 11 catches for 134 yards, finishing with one rushing touchdown and one receiving touchdown.
Washington has since gone to Auburn through the transfer portal, while Pendergrass is healthy again this year. That could keep Knighten in a reserve role much like the one he had a season ago, when he was getting a dozen or so touches per game.
Pendergrass was originally expected to form a one-two punch with Washington before the injury, and he spent last season watching Knighten and Turner work. The three backs are among the few players still around from last year’s team after 32 players left through the transfer portal during the offseason.
That shared experience matters, and Baylor now has a trio that already knows what it looks like to operate together. The familiarity is one of the few traits a team can’t coach into existence.
Knighten’s game is built around burst, not brute force. He is not a power back, and he is not going to win by grinding through traffic. He wins when there is a crease, an edge, or a little bit of space to turn into daylight.
That makes him a possible answer for Coach Aranda and Baylor’s third-down issues. He is not the kind of back who is going to plow ahead in a “three feet and a cloud of dust” style. He is more the type to take a quick screen or toss, hit the open field, and sprint to the marker.
If Baylor can stack enough production on the ground from Pendergrass, Lagway, and Knighten, there is even room for speculation that the Bears could rush for 2,000 yards by the end of the season. If that happens, it would also make life easier for Lagway through the air, because tired defenses tend to get exposed late.
That’s where Knighten’s speed becomes such a problem. In the second half, when defenders are dragging and hands are on hips, he can turn a small opening into a big play before anyone has a chance to react.
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These Baylor Players Could Decide Whether The Bears Matter Again
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Dawson, DJ Lagway, Wheeler, Freeman and Kyland all sit near the center of that equation, each carrying a different kind of weight for a team trying to climb back into the conversation. Baylor does not need every question answered at once, but it does need some of these players to look like difference-makers rather than placeholders, and that is why this group feels so important heading into the year. [Read more 🡒]