College Football QB Chooses Faith Over Fame as He Leads a Resurgent Program

For Sawyer Robertson, football wasn’t the original plan. The Lubbock, Texas, native grew up playing baseball and hoped to follow in the footsteps of his father, Stan Robertson, a 1990 first-round MLB draft pick. “If I’d had all my prayers answered, I’d be playing right now for the Texas Rangers,” he said in an interview. But life, or faith– if we can call it that- led him to football, much against his mother’s initial apprehension. 

After redshirting and backing up Will Rogers at Mississippi State, Sawyer Robertson transferred to Baylor in 2023 and lost the quarterback competition to Blake Shapen. In 2024, he again entered camp as a hopeful but lost out to Toledo transfer Dequan Finn. When Finn suffered an injury in Week 2, Robertson stepped in as QB1 and didn’t give the job back. He led the Bears to a six-game win streak to close the regular season, finished with 3,071 passing yards, 28 touchdowns, 8 interceptions, and an 83.7 Total QBR—fifth-best in the FBS and highest in the Big 12. He helped Baylor finish the regular season at 8–4, before dropping their bowl game to end the year 8–5, their best finish since the 2021 Big 12 title run. 

That turnaround came at a critical moment for head coach Dave Aranda, who had followed a 12–2 Big 12 title season in 2021 with back-to-back losing years: 6-7 in 2022 and falling even further to 3–9 in 2023. Entering 2024 with a career record of 23–25, Aranda’s seat was under scrutiny. Now, in 2025, Aranda is locked in for yet another season and praises Robertson, saying, “There’s confidence with him, and there’s confidence in him,” and that he “is trying to take that leadership role over”. But the QB has made it clear that statistics aren’t his legacy and what truly matters more to him.  

Robertson, in a media appearance during the fall camp, talked about how legacy is more about value beyond the field or stats. “50 years from now, 100 years from now, the odds of people knowing my statistics as a Baylor football player are not great. But what does matter is the impact I made while I had the platform, you know. Whether it’s being involved in campus activities, communities, bible studies, all the stuff.” Then, he expanded on how faith has helped him cope with his struggles.

“You don’t ever know what I’m going through or struggling with something. And so that’s where faith comes in. I mean, talking to people just about Jesus, who you know believe in all that stuff. And you know, you might change their life in eternity. And so, that’s why I’m going with, at the end of the day what really matters is using the platform“. And true to what he says, Robertson has consistently pointed to his Christian faith as the foundation for how he carries himself both on and off the field. 

“My identity comes through who Jesus Christ says I am and what He did on the cross,” he wrote in a 2024 Instagram post, adding that this certainty allows him to “play free”. Besides that, he often shares posts referencing Bible verses like Psalm 91:2 and Proverbs 27:21, and in has declared in one of the posts: “I know who I am because I know WHOSE I am. Nothing more, nothing less.” And on the field, despite being viewed as a legitimate 2026 NFL Draft prospect in early scouting rankings, Robertson has been clear-eyed about life after football: 

He plans to graduate in December from Baylor’s Business School and has openly said he’d welcome front-office work or even running a fishing‑supply store if pro football doesn’t pan out. All that said, to Robertson, Baylor’s faith community remains central still. He credits it with helping him “refocus, recenter and just spend time with the Lord,” and using football as a platform “to be a light for other people and to be a witness for Jesus Christ”. And despite draft hype, he says: “I could see myself living in Waco the rest of my life.”