ARLINGTON, Texas — You'd think the 2020 season is one Dave Aranda would like to forget, a two to seven COVID-riddled struggle.
Wednesday, he said it's one he learned a lot about himself in.
Now, after a Big 12 championship and Sugar Bowl win, Aranda wants fans to know that the expectations in Waco are high.
"I go back to last season, just being in this very building and the continuum of faith on one side, to belief on the other,and just kind of how that season progressed," Aranda said during his press conference Wednesday. "And so appreciative of last year's team, of our players that are about to enter training camp, that have left us, some players that are on new teams, and to the coaches maybe that have moved on and support staff that's moved on, just way appreciative of them."
The Bears return more offensive linemen than any year since Art Briles' firing in June 2016 and have pieces with plenty of playing time to replace guys who were drafted.
For the first time in program history, we were picked to win the conference in the preseason media poll in 2022.
It's a turnaround that even the outgoing Big 12 Conference commissioner commented on in his press conference.
"Our conference champion from last year is picked first this year," Bob Bowlsby said. "Baylor goes from being the hunter to the hunted."
It's a move the Bears appear to be embracing, roughly seven weeks to the season opener.
And one that Aranda says is contagious in the locker room along the Brazos.
"We have some key starters lost and some guys who maybe didn't start but played a lot and I think it felt that way in the spring. It felt like that, and it feels like that now with their summer workouts. There's just a real strong cohesiveness and there's a very robust belief that they can accomplish this and they can do that and when you're around it, it's kind of contagious."
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