Dave Aranda on pressure entering 2022: We are focused on what we do daily

The Baylor Bears’ football program had been the doormat of college football for a long, long time before Art Briles resurrected the program when he took over from 2008-2015. Baylor’s football program enjoyed one of the biggest turnarounds in college football history and they found themselves sitting in territory nobody ever would have dreamed of–inside the top ten on a number of occasions. There were some down years once Briles left, followed by one really good season (11-3) from Matt Rhule in 2019. Enter Dave Aranda, who has helped propel the program back into the discussion among the nation’s elite college football programs.

Last season, in just his second year as the head man in Waco, he guided the Bears to one of the best seasons in program history–a 12-2 overall record, including a historic 21-7 victory over the Ole Miss Rebels in the Sugar Bowl. Now, the Bears find themselves as being the preseason favorites in the Big 12 preseason media poll heading into the 2022-2023 season. At Big 12 Media Days on Thursday, reporters asked Aranda how his team is handling the pressure of being one of college football’s elite programs.

“I appreciate the question. We continue to focus on what we’re doing daily, how we’re doing it. I think it goes back to just the task within a task. Today, for example, they’ll be running — let’s just say throughout the week, they’ll be running and lifting. And so, are we bringing a life energy to that, or are we in the — we’re running, we’re lifting, we’re in it, but we’re not bringing any energy, we’re actually taking away energy? Or is there more weight I could have put on the bar, or maybe there’s a few reps you didn’t take? Or maybe there’s a guy sitting at breakfast in the cafeteria that just got here this summer, you don’t really know yet, you could have had a chance to go see him and talk to him and you didn’t, or maybe you did,” Aranda said.

“I think all of those things are the thing. I think to be real honest about your motivation and to be real clear about your intention, and that is — it’s not about necessarily perfection. It’s any form of — I don’t know. It’s kind of you have to move with imperfection, continue to move and continue to get better. I think that’s the goal for us,” the Baylor head man said.

“So, to keep your eyes on that and to focus on what’s real, because I think this is way cool with the lights and all the people and being asked questions can feel cool. But I think that’s really not real. What’s real is what’s happening day-to-day in your locker room, in your weight room, in your cafeteria, how the team is handling each other or how they’re handling situations and all of it. Are we becoming a player-led team? Do we still need to be a coach-led team? I think to put the focus where the focus needs to be I guess would be my answer to that,” Aranda said.

Dave Aranda returns plenty of talent in the trenches

The Bears return some serious beef in the trenches on both sides of the ball, like On3’s J.D. PicKell mentioned recently on “The Hard Count”. One of those players is Connor Galvin — a 6-foot-7, 310-pound behemoth of a left tackle that earned first-team All-Big 12 honors last year. They also return Siaki Ika, a mammoth 6-foot-4, 350-pound defensive tackle that earned second-team All-Big 12 honors last year. The former LSU Tiger racked up 24 tackles last season for Baylor, while tallying 3.5 sacks and six tackles for loss. Dillon Doyle racked up 89 tackles and nine tackles for loss last year at linebacker for the Bears. He’s back in order to make sure the Baylor defensive unit is once again, among the nation’s very best.

Baylor kicks off their 2022 season with the Albany Great Danes on Saturday, Sept. 3rd. Kickoff for that one is slated for 7:00 p.m. EST on ESPN+.