WRITING HIS STORY

Second-year Baylor assistant coach Jarrett Anderson knows that Matthew Klopfenstein has to write his own story, but the junior tight end can be as good as he wants to be.
 
"I tell him, you have to define your own story," Anderson said. "Every day, you have a story to tell. Are you in paragraph two or paragraph three? If you're at the conclusion, you've got a problem. That's the best you can get right now. But he's elevated from being new to the offense to . . . one of those things where the sky's the limit for him."
 
The 6-foot-4, 244-pound Klopfenstein, second among the Baylor tight ends last season with six catches for 62 yards and one touchdown, said the position group can build off the momentum and success they had last season.
 
Highlighted by second-team All-Big 12 pick Michael Trigg, who hauled in 30 passes for 395 yards and three touchdowns, Anderson returns five of the six tight ends from last year's team. The lone loss is Gavin Yates, a "Swiss Army knife" who earned honorable mentioned all-conference honors as a fullback before declaring for the NFL Draft.
 
"I think finishing the season the way we did and just the momentum we have, it's like, 'Okay, this is something we can build from,''' Klopfenstein said. "Obviously, it sucks that we don't have Gavin. He's such a good vocal leader and a great player. But it's allowed the rest of us to step up. So, for sure, it gives us confidence, knowing that we can build off what we did last year."
 
At the same time, he knows that last year is last year and "this is a new chapter."

"I think there are expectations. I don't think there's pressure at all," said Klopfenstein, a four-star prospect who totaled 87 catches for 1,227 yards and 16 touchdowns in his last two seasons at Horizon High School in Scottsdale, Ariz. "I think what we've got is a really good team. I'm really excited for what this team and this group is capable of."
 
Trigg is certainly the bell cow of the group, but he suffered a shoulder injury on the first day of spring workouts and has been sidelined for the last 11 practices.
 
"It was kind of precautionary measures, but we held him out for the rest of the spring," Anderson said of the 6-4, 246-pound Trigg, who transferred from Ole Miss last year. "It's that kind of deal of whether to bring him back with two or three practices left, if we wanted to do that."
 
But he already knows what Trigg can do. That's given Anderson more time to look at Klopfenstein, redshirt sophomore Hawkins Polley and redshirt junior Cody Mladenka.
 
"There haven't been a whole lot of bodies this spring, but there's definitely an upside to it," said Polley, who has played in 11 games combined in the last two seasons, catching two balls for 14 yards and a key late-game touchdown versus Houston in his collegiate debut two years ago. "We're getting a lot of reps and getting a lot better. Ultimately, it's been a good thing."
 
In addition to Trigg being sidelined, redshirt junior Kelsey Johnson has missed the entire spring rehabbing from an offseason surgery. Johnson played in 26 career games with eight starts, totaling 20 catches for 141 yards and two total touchdowns, before being sidelined by an injury for the last nine games a year ago.
 
"I think it's something that happened probably back two years ago, that's kind of been bugging him," Anderson said. "We decided to have the surgery right after the season. It was time to get that surgery, move on and get him to a healing process where he can play full strength. If he's at full strength, he has the ability to help the room."
 
Polley, now in his third year at Baylor and second in the Jake Spavital offense, said he is "getting comfortable, everything is becoming more second nature."
 
"We're not having to stop and think through things as much," said the 6-4, 251-pound Polley, who played in nine games last year. "It's just seeing signals, seeing the look and being able to go. I think we've all kind of felt that this spring, because I know it's mine and Matt's first year really having the same offense going into spring ball as the previous year. I think that's huge for us to be able to just develop in the offense and have things that are more second nature to us."
 
Anderson said the offense is tight end-friendly, much more than just a "glorified blocker," and making it attractive to potential recruits.
 
"I think kids see that they run this, they run that, it's not just a bootleg or a drag or things like that," Anderson said. "He's running vertical down the field, he's a running a hitch. They go into all aspects of the route tree. And in the run game, I tell them, it's the same run game you're going to see at the next level, whether it's the inside zone, outside zone, counter, to all the different aspects that we have."
 
Added to the mix this summer will be freshman tight end Brody Wilhelm, a consensus three-star prospect who totaled 75 catches for 1,216 yards and 16 touchdowns over two seasons at Austin Westlake High School.
 
"He really played outside receiver for them last year," Anderson said of Wilhelm. "He was a big tight end playing receiver."

Baylor football continues spring workouts with a practice Tuesday afternoon and will conclude with an open practice this Saturday, April 26, at McLane Stadium. The Bears open the 2025 season with an Aug. 29 matchup at home against Auburn, with ticket information available at 2025 Baylor Football.