Thinking About Filling Jalen Pitre's Shoes 'Not A Big Deal' for Bears S Devin Neal
The Baylor Bears won the Big 12 last season due primarily to one of the best defenses in college football.
Now, as they look to repeat as Big 12 champions for the first time since going back-to-back in 2013 and 2014, the defense will play a big role in doing so. However, while they do return talent in the trenches, they did lose some key members from the 2021 defense.
Namely, they lost safety Jalen Pitre, who saw himself drafted in the second round of the NFL draft at No. 37 overall by the Houston Texans. In his final season as a Bear, Pitre racked up 75 total tackles, including 18.5 tackles for loss and 3.5 sacks.
Replacing that production is easier said than done, but the Bears have the talent on defense to do so. Safety Devin Neal is ready to step up but also admits that he has found himself thinking about the shoes he has to fill at times.
"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't thinking about it. Everyone thinks about those things," Neal said. "I don't think it's going to be that big of a deal, just because I watched the guys ahead of me and modeled what they did, put in work and played to my strengths."
As a sophomore last season, Neal would only record 23 total tackles in just five games, 16 of which were solo. Losing Pitre is tough for any defense, but if Neal and the younger guys step up and fill that production, there is no reason to believe this Baylor defense is not good enough to lead the Bears to their second straight Big 12 title.
You can find Connor Zimmerlee on Twitter @Connorjz98
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Connor Zimmerlee is a writer and reporter for the FanNation network. Zimmerlee received his Bachelor's of Journalism from the University of Texas at Austin and graduated from Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism with a Master's of Science in Journalism with a Specialization in Sports Media.