Texas Football: 3 ‘vocal leaders’ among upperclassmen in summer workouts

Last week, Texas football and head coach Steve Sarkisian got the summer workout program started upon the arrival of more than a dozen new enrollees for the summer semester. There was a good amount of hype surrounding the new additions to the program among the summer enrollees, but most of the excitement within the team building right now has to do with the early enrollees and the key returning players from last year’s squad.

Sark and the Longhorns bring back well over half of the starters from last season’s eight-win team. That includes a whopping 10 returning starters for the Longhorns on the offensive side of the ball.

Texas will need a lot of these returning starters to step up and really lead the way to help take this team to new heights this fall. There are a lot of people out there in the college football media landscape that expect the Longhorns to win the Big 12 this fall, which could put this team in a spot to contend for the program’s first ever College Football Playoff berth.

Quinn Ewers and the Texas football upperclassmen rising up as “vocal leaders” this summer

But before we get too far ahead of ourselves, Texas has a lot of work to do in summer workouts and fall camp. With that in mind, here’s a look at three upperclassmen for the Longhorns that have emerged as “vocal leaders” so far this summer.

Jaylan Ford, LB

Potentially the most important player on the Texas defense this year is the deserved 2022 Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year and reigning AP Third-Team All-American, senior linebacker Jaylan Ford.

Ford emerged as a much-needed difference-maker for the Longhorns along the front seven last season, leading the team in total tackles, defensive stops, interceptions, forced fumbles, and fumble recoveries. He was the playmaker that Texas needed to step up at off-ball linebacker.

And with senior linebacker DeMarvion Overshown already having left for the NFL this offseason, Ford will be the leader that this defense looks to at the linebacker position this fall.

It sounds like Ford is taking this newfound leadership role and running with it this offseason. We heard about him stepping up as more of a vocal leader in the locker room and on the practice field during the spring.

Eric Nahlin of Inside Texas reported on June 10 (paid content) that Ford is one of the upperclassmen that has noticeably stepped up as a “vocal leader” early in the summer workout program.

From everything we’ve heard and seen regarding the direction of Ford’s game and leadership ability since the start of spring camp, it sounds like he’s a great candidate to be one of the captains for this team for the upcoming season. He’s the leader that this team needs to act as the glue at the linebacker position.