Baylor junior running back Dawson Pendergrass is out for the entire 2025 season after sustaining a foot injury during Saturday’s practice, according to head coach Dave Aranda.
Pendergrass had 671 rushing yards, six touchdowns and a 5.5 yards-per-carry average last year. He also had 11 catches for 103 yards and one TD.
The stats for Pendergrass are even more impressive when you consider that he had seven games in a row with a single-digit number of carries. In Baylor’s 45-17 home win over Kansas in its regular-season finale, he had 104 rushing yards on 11 totes and a 20-yard TD catch.
In a 38-28 home win over Oklahoma St., Pendergrass erupted for 142 rushing yards and one TD on just six attempts.
As a freshman in 2023, Pendergrass produced 338 rushing yards, five TDs and a 4.3 YPC average. He added 26 receptions for 199 yards and two TDs.
Phil Steele’s National Unit Rankings have the Bears ranked #19 at the RB position.
Bryson Washington is RB1, but Pendergrass was one of the country’s best RB2’s. Washington was a fourth-team All-Big 12 selection in 2024 when he had 1,028 rushing yards, 12 TDs and a 5.9 YPC average. He had 22 catches for 217 yards and one TD, too.
The injury to Pendergrass provides an opportunity for a pair of true freshmen RBs in Michael Turner and Caden Knighten. Per the 247Sports Composite, Turner is a four-star prospect who was ranked as the nation’s #282 overall player, the #18 RB and the #39 prospect out of the state of Texas. He chose Baylor over SMU, Arizona and Arizona St.
Knighten is another four-star prospect who was ranked as the #474 player in the 2025 class, the #38 RB and the #7 player out of Oklahoma. He picked the Bears over Colorado and Michigan St.
As of late Sunday morning, most betting shops had Auburn listed as a 1.5 or two-point road favorite at Baylor in the Friday night opener for both teams on Aug. 29. DraftKings had the Tigers as 2.5-point road ‘chalk’ (albeit at a -105 price), while the total was 57.5 or 58. The Bears were in the +105 to +115 (BetOnline) range to win outright.
FanDuel has Baylor’s season win total at 7.5 (‘under’ -115, ‘over’ -105). The Bears have +650 odds to win the Big 12 Championship Game. Those are the fifth-shortest odds on the board.
Kansas St., Utah, Texas Tech and Arizona St. are the +550 co-favorites.
Aranda’s team posted an 8-5 straight-up record and an 8-4-1 against-the-spread mark last season. Expectations are high in Waco with the return of QB Sawyer Robertson, his two favorite WRs (Josh Cameron and Ashtyn Hawkins, who combined for 97 catches, 1,321 receiving yards and 15 TDs in 2024), TE Michael Trigg, Washington and four starters on the offensive line. That’s what is back from an offense that averaged 34.4 points per game.
The Bears return eight starters on defense.
We’ll learn a lot about Baylor’s 2025 squad in September when it faces Auburn and Arizona St. at home, in addition to a Week 2 showdown at SMU. FanDuel opened the Mustangs as 6.5-point home favorites vs. the Bears, but that number is now down to -4.5. The total is 60.5 points.