While chasing Derrick Johnson's greatness, Texas' Jaylan Ford steps up on defense
No. 41 isn't a number that quarterbacks wear. Yet Jaylan Ford is in his third season wearing 41, which makes sense since he's a linebacker, but as the Texas junior recently explained, "At Mike (linebacker), that's kind of like the quarterback of the defense."
Ford is leading the Longhorns in tackles heading into Saturday's Oklahoma game at the Cotton Bowl. He has 51 tackles. Of those, 4½ have been for a loss.
"I know the stat line shows so many tackles, and I think Jaylan will be the first to tell you he can play better," Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian said. "That's the beauty of it."
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Ford was a three-star recruit coming out of Frisco Lone Star in 2020 who was flipped by Texas after he'd originally committed to Utah. As a freshman, Ford started in the Alamo Bowl win over Colorado. He had a game-high 12 tackles in last year's loss to Oklahoma State.
Poised for a breakout in 2022, he didn't make much noise in Texas' season-opening 52-10 win over Louisiana-Monroe. He started the game but didn't record a single tackle.
Ford later said he wasn't too mad about his personal performance in that game. After all, Texas had earned a comfortable win. But Ford has a standard that he holds himself to, and admittedly that first game wasn't "the standard that I wanted to play or put on tape."
Ford has since posted double-digit tackles in every game since then. He had a big sack of Alabama's Bryce Young and then forced fumbles against UTSA and Texas Tech. In last Saturday's 38-20 win over West Virginia, he led the team with his 14 stops.
"He came in (this offseason) with that mindset, 'I'm the Mike linebacker, this is my defense,'" fellow linebacker DeMarvion Overshown said. "He's been fantastic. I love the guy and he's getting better every week."
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Like Overshown, Texas defensive lineman Moro Ojomo has praised Ford's improvement over the offseason. Like Overshown, defensive back Anthony Cook feels like Ford is capable of more.
And what does "more" mean?
"Maybe turnovers, more tackles, TFLs," Cook said. "Whatever it is, I feel like he's got more in the tank."
If Cook's projections for Ford sound lofty, he isn't being any more ambitious than the player himself. Ford wants to be great. That was among the first things he told Jeff Choate after the co-defensive coordinator arrived in 2021.
To Ford, "great" is Derrick Johnson, the 2019 UT Hall of Honor inductee who compiled 458 tackles, 11 forced fumbles and a school-record 65 tackles for loss from 2001-04 before embarking on a 14-year NFL career.
"Leaving a legacy that people remember, I think that's what greatness is," Ford said. "When you play linebacker, what (Johnson) put on tape here, that's the standard you really want to live up to. For me, I just want to be like how he did when he was here and just win ball games, make the team better and leave a great legacy."
With Ford leading the way, Texas is allowing 21.4 points per game. The Longhorns are No. 42 nationally in scoring defense, but Texas Tech is also the only team that has scored more than 20 points against them. Texas has so far held Alabama and West Virginia's top-25 scoring offenses to their lowest point totals of the season.
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Saturday's opponent, Oklahoma, is averaging 37 points per game.
Over the past six years, Texas and Oklahoma have played seven times. Oklahoma has averaged 42.9 points in those games. Throw out the points scored by Oklahoma in the 2020 game (with four overtime periods) and that average just slightly dips to 39.7.
Oklahoma has burned Texas both through the air and on the ground during that span, producing at least one 100-yard receiver in seven of the last eight games. Samaje Perine ran for 214 yards in 2016 and Kennedy Brooks had 217 yards last season.
Not surprisingly, Texas is just 1-6 in those games. Oklahoma has won four straight in the series.
"We're gonna show up and we're gonna give it our absolute best shot," Ojomo said. "I miss that (Golden) Hat."
Saturday's game
Texas vs. Oklahoma, 11 a.m., ABC, 104.9, 105.3 (Spanish), 1260, 99.3, 98.5
Scouting Oklahoma
Last year: 11-2, third in the Big 12 (7-2) and beat Oregon in the Alamo Bowl.
From boom to bust: What's wrong with Oklahoma? The Sooners haven't lost even more than two Big 12 games in a season since 2014 but have already stumbled against Kansas State and TCU. They gave up 668 yards of offense to the Horned Frogs and gave up scoring plays of 73, 68, 67 and 62 yards. OU hasn't lost three games in a row since 1998, but the Sooners are seven-point underdogs to Texas.
Three players to watch: (1) QB Dillon Gabriel — if the Central Florida transfer plays, that is. He suffered a concussion last week; (2) RB Eric Gray is No. 8 nationally in average yards per carry and paces a running game that's gaining 220.8 yards per game; (3) WR Marvin Mims is OU's Xavier Worthy, a dangerous playmaker with 15 career catches of 40 yards or more.
FYI: The Texas-Oklahoma regular-season matchup at the Cotton Bowl has been decided by a touchdown or less for eight straight years. ... P Michael Turk was a Ray Guy Award semifinalist last year when he averaged 51.2 yards per punt. ... This is Brent Venables' first head coaching job, but he did spend 13 years as a Sooners assistant and 10 years as Clemson's defensive coordinator, winning three national championships between the two stops. ... Since 2000, OU has won more Big 12 championships (14) than it has lost home games (12).
Rich Tijerina
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas linebacker Jaylan Ford has big goals, standards for himself
