Texas Football: 5 takeaways from Longhorns’ messy win over Kansas

Jahdae Barron is Texas’ best defensive player

This might be an obvious statement five weeks into the season, but senior defensive back Jahdae Barron has played like Texas’ best defensive player. Barron has essentially played spotless football for the Texas defense this season while making many big, game-changing plays.

The story was no different for Barron in this 40-14 win over the Jayhawks. In this game, he had three crucial plays at key times for the Texas defense.

First was Barron’s tackle for loss in the first half that put Kansas behind the sticks when its offense was moving the ball well on the ground. Barron sniffed out a broken play behind the line of scrimmage to get his only tackle for loss of the game.

The second big play in this game for Barron was a big defensive stop when Bean was trying to scramble to pick up a key third down in the first half. Barron located Bean and brought him down well behind the sticks.

Lastly, Barron came up with a fumble recovery on Texas’ only forced turnover of the game. Barron was in the right place at the right time to fall on the fumble, which eventually led to a Texas score to put the Longhorns up by two possessions in the second half.

The stat sheet won’t tell the complete story for Barron in this game. While he did have a tackle for loss, a couple of defensive stops, and a fumble recovery, the fact that Barron didn’t make any notable mistakes while having so many game-changing plays was what mattered most.