Linebacker Mike Smith embodies new transfer outlook for Baylor football

First-year Baylor linebacker Mike Smith isn’t afraid to take the long route.
Smith originally spent three years at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College before jumping up to the Division I level last season at Liberty.
He continued his rise in January when he committed to join the Bears.
“I just gained an appreciation through it,” Smith said last week at Big 12 Media Days. “I gained life lessons and have bonds with people that I’ll never forget. It taught me how to be humble, be patient and just keep working.”
Smith compiled nearly 250 tackles and seven sacks in three years with MGCCC and helped the Bulldogs win the NJCAA National Championship in 2019. As a super sophomore in 2021, he ranked ninth in the nation with 90 tackles and earned All-America first-team honors.
He led Liberty with 85 tackles last season, including setting a career mark with 16 in the Flames’ loss to Toledo in the Boca Raton Bowl.
Every step of the way, he’s kept his NFL dream at the forefront of his mind.
“Wherever I’m at, just bringing my team along with me to help them reach their goals just as much as mine,” Smith said.
Smith is part of a shift in focus for head coach Dave Aranda and Baylor regarding transfers.
Aranda said at media days that not embracing the transfer portal was one of the factors in why the Bears went from being conference favorites at the beginning of the season to finishing 4-5 in the Big 12 and 6-7 overall last season.
“I think one of the struggles for me has always been if you say yes to something, a player outside of your team that’s in the portal, you’re saying no to a player on your team,” Aranda said. “I think when you bring somebody (new) in, you almost kind of stunt the growth of that (other) person.”
This year, Baylor has brought in 13 new players via the transfer portal. The class is ranked 23rd in the nation, according to 247Sports.
Compare that to 2022, when the Bears only had three new players join from the transfer portal.
“I think for me to kind of come to grips (that) this is what needs to happen for the betterment of the team as opposed to just looking at what’s best for that one particular player on your team,” Aranda said.
Running back Dominic Richardson will make an already deep Baylor running back unit even deeper after he led Oklahoma State with 543 yards and eight touchdowns last season, and finished his three-year stint with the Cowboys with over 1,000 yards.
Receiver Ketron Jackson had 21 catches for 375 yards and four touchdowns in his two years at Arkansas and gives the Bears another speedy weapon on offense.
Aranda said the transfer portal is like “speed dating times 100.” Less than an hour after many players put their names in, they have double-digit offers.
His approach is a little different and a little bit slower. Aranda and the Baylor staff are careful to reach out to a prospective transfer’s family, his high school coach and even the coaches at his former school.
Person over player, right?
“I think guys that come to Baylor want to come to Baylor, and they’ll go through that process to come to Baylor,” Aranda said. “I think when you do it like that, you have the right fit.”
That process stood out to Smith in a big way. He said the reason he chose Baylor was just as much about what was happening off the field as the potential the Bears have on the defensive side of the ball.
“Asking how I’m doing on a day-to-day basis is rare, you don’t get that much these days,” Smith said. “It’s not always about what you’re doing on the field. Coaches, staff and players asking you how you’re doing mentally (is important).”
Baylor technically had the fourth-best defense in the Big 12 last year, allowing 26.8 points per game. Defensive coordinator Ron Roberts and safeties/special teams coach Ronnie Wheat were dismissed in early December.
When they won the Big 12 title in 2021, the Bears had the second-best defense in the league in 2021, allowing less than 20 points per game.
This season will be the first with new defensive coordinator Matt Powledge, a former Baylor assistant who spent the last two years as the co-defensive coordinator at Oregon.
Smith thinks this Baylor defensive unit has the potential to get back to being elite.
“It starts with confidence and how much we gel together,” he said. “Right now, I feel like we have all of that, and we’re just trying to keep the momentum going into fall camp. If you’re all on the same page, we’re able to play fast together, and we’ll be able to do some good stuff.”