Texas Football: 5 overreactions from the meltdown loss vs. OK State

Jaylan Ford is ready to challenge for a starting spot

If there was any positive note that arose out of this game for the Longhorns, it is the fact that the former under-the-radar three-star recruit and sophomore linebacker Jaylan Ford really stood out in the wake of a costly injury to senior linebacker DeMarvion Overshown. Last week, Overshown suffered a concussion, which is a very unfortunate occurrence for this defense.

Losing one of the true defensive leaders for this team in Overshown, the Longhorns needed someone to step up in the spotlight. And new co-defensive coordinators/linebackers coaches Pete Kwiatkowski and Jeff Choate saw solid production come from an unlikely source against Oklahoma State in Ford.

In this game, the Longhorns saw Ford give them a dozen combined tackles, one tackle for loss, three quarterback hurries, and one QB hit. That went along with no missed tackles, a whopping seven stops, and the best tackling, and defensive grades on the Longhorns in this game.

Unfortunately, this solid performance for Ford didn’t result in helping Texas get the win over the Pokes.

All in all, Ford looks like he can be a good long-term piece for this defense. He’s stepped up to rise up in a bigger way than any of the other backups behind the likes of Overshown and Luke Brockermeyer. Considering he is someone that has 29 combined tackles on the season so far, and just one missed tackle, Ford could be the type of reliable production that Texas need at linebacker.