WACO, Texas (KXXV) — "You got to crawl before you walk, and so we're crawling," defensive coordinator Joe Klanderman said.
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Baylor football's defense gets an update as Joe Klanderman is the new defensive coordinator.
Klanderman arrives from K-State and the players are already putting in effort.
"Buy-in's been awesome. The buy-in's been as good as I could have hoped, and we've got players that are carrying the message now. We've got guys that really want it and work hard, a lot of guys that do a lot of extra things," Klanderman said.
"As a guy with experience, knowing Coach Klanderman like standards, his teachings, I feel like it's my responsibility to, you know, come in and teach all these guys, you know, his philosophy, how he moves, how he teaches, and I've been really trying to like, you know, emphasize that," safety Colby McCalister said.
The defense also gets a boost with the return of Devin Turner. Turner injured his knee in the spring of last year and missed the entirety of the 2025 season.
"It's a blessing, man. I'm really happy to be back out there with my teammates. Didn't know how much I really cared about football until it got taken away, but I'm really glad to be back, really happy to be back out there, you know, it's just a blessing from the Lord up above," Turner said.
"It's good having him back, you know, we build a strong mind when he first got here, so having him back, you know, actually get to play with him, getting, getting on field snaps with him is good," safety Bo Onu said.
The Bears defense last season struggled. With fresh faces on the field and on the sidelines, the team wants a new identity.
"I want to win games on defense and I want these guys to know and believe that they can do that. I want them to be tough. I want them to be smart. I want them to be dependable," Klanderman said.
"We want teams to look at us on their schedule and be like, man, I don't want to play Baylor because they're just tough. They run to the ball and they play physical, and it's always gonna be a fight all the way to the fourth quarter," Turner said.
Baylor takes on Auburn in Atlanta to start the season on September 5.
