It’s safe to say that college football can feel like a cold business today. Players often look out for their own brands first, so it is easy to get lost in the noise of contracts and fame. That is what makes Thursday night in Waco so special. Four young men chose faith and brotherhood over the usual spotlight.

Baylor Football shared photos of four of its players with an uplifting caption on X. “Lives Forever Changed,” it wrote. “Last night, DJ Lagway, Stilton McKelvey, Daniel Cobbs, and Kaleb Arterberry publicly declared their faith and were baptized.”

For DJ Lagway, this is a huge moment. The former 5-star QB has always been open about his faith, even before he arrived in Waco. During his rise from Texas high school phenom to national recruit to SEC QB, he repeatedly sent the message that football matters, but it is not the center of everything.

“Faith plays a huge role in my life,” he once said. “Without God, I wouldn’t be able to do anything.”

DJ Lagway arrived in Gainesville as the 2023 Gatorade National Player of the Year. His freshman season in 2024 gave people hope and expectations. He earned consensus Freshman All-American honors, going 6-1 as a starter, throwing for 1,915 yards and 12 touchdowns. He was statistically once the best deep-ball passer in America on throws over 20 yards.

Last year was a test for him. Injuries slowed his momentum, and Florida struggled on the field. After the school parted ways with its head coach, Lagway needed a reset. He entered the portal and chose Baylor. Coming back to his father’s old school gave him a quiet place to heal and grow.

Baylor isn’t like most Power Four schools. The university was founded on Baptist values and openly integrates faith into campus life. It’s a Christian institution, though students from dozens of religious backgrounds attend the school. So maybe this is an environment where DJ Lagway can remain true to his faith. 

“What he gives, he can take away also,” he said earlier. “So, just always staying grounded in my faith, and my parents instilled that in me at a very young age… just really having that faith foundation has been huge for me.”

Stilton McKelvey, Daniel Cobbs, and Kaleb Arterberry joined Lagway in the water. Like him, they are transfers who left old schools looking for a fresh start. Football brought them to Baylor. But standing together in that pool showed they had found something much deeper than a new playbook. They found a family.

Can DJ Lagway change how ESPN views Baylor? 

Baylor is coming off a 5-7 season that forced the program into a major rebuild. The Bears lost 32 players to the transfer portal, including important names like LB Keaton Thomas, RB Bryson Washington, and center Coleton Price. So, head coach Dave Aranda chose to completely change the team by bringing in 31 portal additions. 

DJ Lagway instantly became the face of that rebuild. And he believes this transfer is God’s plan. 

“My biggest thing when I was going through the whole transfer process, I prayed to God,” he said. “I just wanted to have clarity on my decision. When I came up here on a visit, I knew this was the place to be. I knew this is where I wanted to be at and where I wanted to continue my college career.”

The Bears also added contributors like Gavin Freeman and Dre’lon Miller at receiver, while DC Joe Klanderman added defenders like Ryan Davis and Garrick Ponder. Yet, Baylor still isn’t getting much respect nationally. ESPN ranked the Bears just 11th among Big 12 teams in terms of offseason success. 

Coach Dave Aranda may have brought in dozens of new faces to fix a broken roster, but outsiders worry about how these strangers will play together. Well, rebuilding a house starts with a strong foundation. And in a sport obsessed with clout, seeing these players build personal trust shows that real rebuilding starts from within.