Baylor football has high expectations for the 2025 season, after a solid campaign in 2024. The Bears got some bad news though on Sunday. Star running back Dawson Pendergrass is out for the season with a foot injury, per On3.

Pendergrass rushed for 671 yards and six touchdowns in 2024. He posted 121 carries for the Bears. Baylor football finished the season with a 8-5 record, and six wins in the Big 12 conference.

The Baylor back was also effective at catching balls out of the backfield. Pendergrass posted a receiving touchdown in 2024, to go with 103 receiving yards.

In undoubtedly his best game of the 2024 season, Pendergrass rushed for 142 yards on just six carries in a win over Oklahoma State. The rusher also posted 104 rushing yards in a victory over Kansas. He has also been used in the kickoff return unit for Baylor over the past two years.

Pendergrass also played for Baylor football in 2023. He finished the 2023 season with 79 carries for 338 rushing yards.

Baylor football hopes to win the Big 12 this season

The loss is definitely a blow to the Bears. Baylor football is hoping to win the Big 12 again under head coach Dave Aranda. Aranda entered the 2024 season on the hot seat, after a disappointing 2023 campaign. He put together an outstanding 2024 season, nearly tripling his win total from the year before.

Aranda previously won the Big 12 in the 2021 season. He has been the head coach of Baylor football since 2020. Before his time in Waco, Aranda was an assistant at LSU and several other power 4 programs.

With the loss of Pendergrass, Baylor will have to give even more carries to running back Bryson Washington this season. Washington had a 1,000-yard rushing season in 2024.

“Bryson brings a downhill quality,” Aranda said at Big 12 Media Days this summer, per KBTX. “He can finish runs at the second level. He’s got great vision, and so there’s an RPO read component to the majority of our runs. So the line’s kind of firing out on Monday and then on Wednesday, he’s able to kind of see the cut or see the crease or see the lane, and he doesn’t miss very many of those.“

Baylor starts their 2025 season on August 29, in a game against Auburn. The Bears also have non conference matchups with Samford and SMU this campaign.

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