The 2023 Baylor Bears football team represented Baylor University in the Big 12 Conference during the 2023 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Bears were led by Dave Aranda in his fourth season as their head coach.
Baylor was picked sixth out of 14 teams in the preseason media poll of the conference. It was not ranked in the national top 25 polls of media or coaches, though the team did receive some votes.
The Bears played eight of their 12 regular season games at home, the largest number in school history and the most home games in the NCAA FBS this year, along with Penn State, Arizona State and Mississippi State.
This was the first season with Big 12 membership at 14 teams, after the realignment upheaval of the preceding years, which saw the league add four teams (BYU, UCF, Houston and Cincinnati). Consequently, the football schedule was no longer a "round robin" in which every team plays every other team, as was the practice when the league had 10 teams. The league continued to play nine intra-conference games; therefore, the Bears in 2023 did not play BYU, Kansas, Oklahoma State or Oklahoma, which (along with Texas) was in its final year with the league before moving to the SEC. The Bears played three of the four newcomers.
Five Baylor players were named to national preseason watch lists for the following awards:
Richard Reese, Maxwell Award, Doak Walker Award and Earl Campbell Tyler Rose Award Gabe Hall, Bronko Nagurski Trophy Clark Barrington, Rimington Trophy Blake Shapen, Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award Alonzo Allen, Wuerffel Trophy
The Bears played their home games at McLane Stadium in Waco, Texas, its 9th year of hosting play. The Bears failed to qualify for a bowl game and suffered their first losing season since 2020 following their loss to Kansas State.
The Baylor Bears football team drew an average home attendance of 43,388 in 2023, down from 45,463 in 2022.
Schedule
Game summaries vs. Texas State
vs. Utah
vs. LIU
vs. Texas
at UCF
vs. Texas Tech
at Cincinnati
vs. Iowa State
vs. Houston
at Kansas State
at TCU
vs. West Virginia
Personnel
Roster 2023 Baylor Bears FootballQuarterback 12 Blake Shapen – junior (6'0, 206) 13 Sawyer Robertson – sophomore (6'4, 220) 15 RJ Martinez - junior (5'11, 213) 17 Cade Tessier – freshman (6'3, 217) 18 Brayson McHenry – freshman (5'11, 198)
Running back 21 Dominic Richardson – junior (6'1, 204) 23 Jordan Jenkins – sophomore (6'1, 217) 25 Jacoby Clarke – senior (5'10, 230) 29 Richard Reese – sophomore (5'9, 179) 30 Bryson Washington - freshman (6'0, 204) 35 Dawson Pendergrass - freshman (6'2, 212)
Wide receiver 11 Ketron Jackson Jr – junior (6'3, 208) 14 Armani Winfield – freshman (6'2, 200) 16 Hal Presley – junior (6'2, 196) 17 Jonah Burton - sophomore (5'10, 197) 18 Jordan Nabors – sophomore (5'11, 189) 19 Javon Gipson – sophomore (6'3, 213) 24 Landry Kinne – junior (6'0, 187) 34 Josh Cameron – sophomore (6'1, 215) 80 Monaray Baldwin – junior (5'9, 168) 81 Jonathan Davidson – junior (6'1, 208) 84 Cameron Bonner – sophomore (5'11, 186) 88 Micah Gifford - freshman (6'3, 203)
Tight end 43 Gavin Yates - junior (6'3, 230) 44 Mark Patton - junior (6'4, 253) 45 Hawkins Polley - freshman (6'3, 250) 49 Jonathan Steinhauer - freshman (6'6, 242) 82 Cody Mladenka - freshman (6'4, 242) 85 Matthew Klopfenstein - freshman (6'4, 246) 86 Jake Roberts - junior (6'5, 248) 87 Kelsey Johnson - sophomore (6'2, 248) 89 Drake Dabney - senior (6'5, 248)
Placekicker 96 Bryce Boland – junior (5'11, 172) 97 Hayden Arnold - freshman (5'8, 180) 98 Isaiah Hankins – sophomore (6'0, 192) 99 Jack Stone – sophomore (5'11, 197)
Punter 94 Palmer Williams – freshman (6'2, 183)
Offensive line 50 Connor Heffernan – sophomore (6'3, 294) 53 Campbell Barrington - junior (6'6, 299) 54 Timothy Dawn – freshman (6'2, 306) 56 Clark Barrington - 5th year senior (6'5, 306) 57 Wes Tucker – freshman (6'5, 294) 58 Gavin Byers – senior (6'5, 318) 61 Cayden Tone - freshman (6'4, 272) 62 Ryan Lengyel – sophomore (6'5, 305) 65 Sean Thompkins – freshman (6'5, 290) 70 Bryce Simpson – freshman (6'5, 286) 71 MJ Ruhman – sophomore (6'4, 291) 72 Coleton Price – freshman (6'2, 305) 73 George Maile – freshman (6'3, 305) 74 Kaden Sieracki – freshman (6'8, 318) 75 Elijah Ellis – senior (6'6, 307) 76 Isaiah Robinson – freshman (6'6, 299) 77 Tate Williams – sophomore (6'4, 301) 79 Alvin Ebosele – freshman (6'6, 304)
Defensive line 9 TJ Franklin – 5th year senior (6'5, 269) 35 Jackie Marshall - sophomore (6'3, 265) 48 Treven Ma'ae - junior (6'5, 296) 50 Kaian Roberts-Day - freshman (6'3, 274) 54 David Marshall Jr – sophomore (6'0, 278) 57 Prince Ugoh – sophomore (6'1, 227) 59 Devonte Tezino – freshman (6'5, 286) 90 Brendan Bett – freshman (6'5, 290) 91 Trey Wilson - freshman (6'3, 259) 92 Trent Thomas - freshman (6'3, 237) 93 DK Kalu - freshman (6'4, 270) 94 BoChao Jin – junior (6'0, 277) 95 Gabe Hall – senior (6'6, 292) 96 Justin Sambu – 5th year senior (6'4, 284) 97 Cooper Lanz – sophomore (6'3, 273) 98 Jerrell Boykins Jr – sophomore (6'4, 330) 99 Tre Emory – freshman (6'2, 308)
Long snapper 26 Garrison Grimes – sophomore (6'2, 216) 93 Dylan Schaub – freshman (6'5, 226) Linebacker 2 Matt Jones – senior (6'3, 251) 32 Carmello Jones – freshman (6'1, 225) 36 Tyrone M. Brown – sophomore (5'11, 233) 40 Mike Smith Jr - 5th year senior (6'1, 231) 41 Brooks Miller – junior (6'1, 229) 42 Jeremy Evans – freshman (6'1, 216) 44 Josh White – junior (6'0, 215) 49 Trey Laurence – freshman (6'0, 209) 56 Braden Strauss – junior (5'11, 215) 58 Jaden Maronen – sophomore (5'10, 220)
Outside linebacker 45 Byron Vaughns – 5th year senior (6'4, 242) 46 Tony Anyanwu – junior (6'2, 243) 51 Kyler Jordan – freshman (6'1, 235) 52 Corey Kelly - freshman (6'3, 218) 55 Garmon Randolph – senior (6'7, 250)
Cornerback 13 Isaiah Dunson – sophomore (6'1, 186) 15 Carl Williams IV - freshman (6'1, 180) 19 Caden Jenkins - freshman (6'1, 173) 21 Chateau Reed – junior (6'2, 190) 22 Reggie Bush – freshman (6'0, 191) 25 LeVar Thornton Jr - freshman (6'3, 175) 27 Tevin Williams III – sophomore (6'0, 188) 34 MJ Artmore Jr - freshman (6'0, 191) 37 Tay'Shawn Wilson - freshman (5'9, 178)
Safety 7 Bryson Jackson – 7th year senior (6'2, 209) 12 Alfonzo Allen – sophomore (5'11, 194) 20 Devin Lemear – sophomore (5'11, 187) 24 Corey Gordon Jr. – freshman (6'2, 191) 28 Devin Bobby – sophomore (5'10, 186) 29 Romario Noel – sophomore (6'3, 210) 30 Michael Allen – freshman (5'7, 183) 33 DJ Coleman – freshman (6'0, 194) 38 Jacob Redding - freshman (6'0, 187) 39 Michael Mastrodicasa – sophomore (6'0, 196) 47 Caleb Parker – junior (5'11, 205)
References