The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Motivated by a Longhorn Legend and unfinished business, Jaylan Ford prepares for his senior year
08.08.2023 | Football
The 2022 first-team All-Big 12 linebacker, All-American and Preseason Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year is driven to lead the Longhorns and leave a legacy at Texas.
By Will Dehmel
The first sign was Jaylan Ford's clothing.
No red or white. No U. No drums. No feathers.
As he approached the front entrance of Lone Star High School — that familiar arch overhang, the unmistakable capital letters, and of course, the star — someone should've known something was off.
Ford moved heavily, trudging his sleep-deprived legs through the glass door and directly to his head coach's office.
"I got to my coach, and I told him, 'Coach, I'm not about to sign today,'" Ford said. "And they're like, 'Everybody's outside.'"
Still, Ford had made up his mind. He'd be flipping his commitment from Utah to Texas.
"The day before signing day, I saw some posts about Texas Football and the game days," Ford, who up until that point had no doubts about committing to Utah, said. "That post made me second guess if I wanted to leave Texas. Because growing up in Texas, knowing all the legacies about guys at Texas Football, and knowing the legacy of Texas Football itself."
He pauses.
"For me, I wanted to make a name for myself. If I could make a name for myself at Texas, in my state, then that would be the coolest thing."
Just hours before Ford had driven to school that morning, he'd been wide awake.
"I stayed up all night because I was scared to have to tell Utah I don't want to go there anymore," Ford explained. "I walked into my mom's room and talked to her — she stayed up with me. That was one of the hardest things I had to do at the time. I was 18."
By morning, his decision was clear. Ford called Utah and told them he wouldn't be signing.
Ford, of course, would have made that call on his own, but his mom ensured he did.
"I told him, 'Well, if you're going to not sign with Utah, this is the day you're gonna grow up,'" Youlonda Taylor, Jaylan's mom, said. "Because tomorrow morning, you've got to let them know you're not signing."
For Ford's teammates, coaches, and friends, this was a "shock," Ford said.
In November of his senior year, as Ford's Lone Star team approached the height of the playoffs, Texas came to scout a practice. After the session, Ford was pulled aside.
"We went into a room, they talked to me for a little bit, and then told me they were gonna offer me a scholarship," Ford said.
Following the visit, Jeremiah George, the Longhorn's interim linebackers coach at the time, reached out to Jaylan's mom. George called Taylor and recounted that he had come across Jaylan's film, and shortly thereafter got on the plane and went to Lone Star High School.
George told Taylor he had, "talked to Jaylan and he was really impressed — more impressed with him in person because of his character. Everything was a 'we,' 'team,' not 'I, I, I.'"
Jaylan was, however, resistant.
"When Texas first offered me, I really didn't think of how much weight it held," Ford said. "I really didn't even think twice about if I wanted to stay committed to Utah," which finished the 2019 season ranked 11th in the final College Football Playoff rankings.
That was why that day, Ford was expected to sign alongside high school teammates Marvin Mims — the four-star wide receiver who played at Oklahoma and was drafted by the Broncos last year in the second round — and Toren Pittman, a three-star now at Colorado.
"It was me, Marvin and Toren, and I was the only one who didn't sit in the chair and sign."
Instead, having never previously visited or expressed real interest, Ford called Texas.
"We called up Texas and we asked them, 'If I wanted to sign my letter of intent, can I do it tomorrow?' And we called [then-head coach Tom] Herman, and he was like, 'Yeah, of course, we'd love to have you.'"
The next day, Ford officially signed to be a Longhorn.
Team first mentality
Jaylan Ford had every reason to be upset.
His coaches, his teammates — even media members were.
Despite registering 119 tackles — the most for a Longhorn since 2014 — 10 tackles for loss, three forced fumbles, two sacks, a team-leading four interceptions, and several game-changing or winning plays, Ford did not win the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year award. Instead, it went to Felix Anudike-Uzomah, a Kansas State defensive end drafted in the first round by the Chiefs.
Whether he was snubbed or not, Jaylan did not care. Instead, he sent Felix a congratulatory text.
"As a football player, I felt like he was deserving of the award," Ford said. "I didn't have any negative feelings about not winning or anything. I just felt like whoever wins that award deserves a congratulations. I didn't really think of it as a big deal."
Asked about the external backlash regarding not winning the award, Ford laughed.
"Especially amidst my teammates — everybody was talking about it on social media, and I got asked in the media a lot," Ford said. "I just congratulated him. I didn't really think anything of it."
Ford is used to being underappreciated. A three-star out of high school, he was the lowest-rated recruit in the 2020 Longhorn signing class.
That, Ford says, helped fuel him.
"I was never really the type to even worry about those things," he said. "Because personally, I just loved to play football. The rankings and stuff, I never really cared about, and I think that was probably my best trait: not letting it ever affect the way I played or felt about myself as a player."
Ford credits Jeremiah George, the Longhorn's interim linebackers coach, for identifying his talent.
"He took a chance on me when I felt like a lot of schools didn't," Ford said. "He told me that he could tell I was better than people thought I was. I'm always grateful for him, helping get me a scholarship offer to play football here."
His mom, too, is grateful.
"I'm thankful for Jeremiah, because he really looked at the film," Taylor said. "Jaylan didn't play like a three-star. I always knew he was going to be something, because he really strived to be the best. And I saw the talent. I saw the development."
This season, Ford's name is well known. In fact, he was voted the Big 12 preseason Defensive Player of the Year. In typical Ford fashion, he's honored, but he knows there's a season's worth of work ahead of him.
"I'm focusing on the team, because at the end of the day, the team success is what will ultimately bring all of us individual recognition," Ford said. "I'm not oblivious to it — I do see those things with the ratings and rankings and draft prospects and all that, but I don't really think I let it weigh me down. If anything, it pushes me to prove them right."
Returning as a leader
Before they faced cameras, spoke into microphones, or fixed their hair to look presentable at Big 12 Football Media Day in Arlington — before all of that, Jaylan Ford, Quinn Ewers, Jordan Whittington, Xavier Worthy and Jahdae Barron were spotted making their way to the Big 12 trophy and taking in its elegance.
"Our motivation was just like, 'The next time we come here, we want it to be later this year,'" Ford said. "We walked over to the trophy, and I was just like, 'Our goal is to get back here and win that in December.'"
With all the talk about the Longhorns future in the Southeastern Conference, the 2023 squad is laser-focused on their primary goal of getting to AT&T Stadium for the Big 12 Championship.
"Me and J-Whit, we were walking outside right before, and I had made a joke," Ford said. "I hadn't played in there since I was in high school, and J-Whit was laughing and he said the same thing."
The shared goal has driven the five of them closer together, and along with the other leaders on the team, they are delivering the message of a quest for a Big 12 title loud and clear.
"We're seen as leaders on our team, and so this summer we've all grown so close," Ford said. "We're the ones that have the common goal, which is to win the Big 12, to get the chance to go and play for a national championship. There are a lot of other guys leading the way, too. We as leaders all have a common goal, and our biggest task is to get everyone else on our team to envision that same goal and put in the work every day to reach for it.
"We've got a roster of teammates that really want to win, and really want to win for each other," Ford added about the team culture he credits Steve Sarkisian for building since he arrived at Texas in 2021. "The common theme for us has been loving one another, working hard together as a family, and going out there and playing for each other."
At the end of last season, that goal seemed all too unlikely for Ford, whom many thought would declare for the NFL Draft.
To Ford, the decision to come back was simple.
"It was the same reason I came here in the first place," Ford said. "Because I wanted to build my legacy here, like the people I watched before me."
Those Ford once idolized — like Derrick Johnson, Vince Young, Michael Huff (who is on the Longhorn staff), Colt McCoy, and Sam Ehlinger — became his mentors, often returning to campus as proud alums.
Derrick Johnson, the 2004 Nagurski Trophy and Butkus Award winner who is set to be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame later this year, was especially impressed by Ford. At the end of last season, Johnson reached out.
"He just commended me on my success so far in that season and how he thought I just kept popping up," Ford said. "And he just kept noticing me and then eventually realized like, 'I'm that guy.' Being told that from somebody like that — I would have never expected that. It really motivated me to keep doing more."
"The thing that really jumps out about Jaylan is his tenacity, how hard he plays and the fact that he's always in the right place to make big plays," Johnson said. "That comes from great preparation in practice, the film room, the weight room — everything it takes to be great. We've watched film together and talked a lot, and Jaylan has a great football IQ. He has all the physical traits necessary — size, speed, strength, vision — and is always working to get better at all of those. But, he really gets the importance of the mental side of the game, preparing, studying and being ready for anything an offense will throw at you. That's going to go a long way in him having a big senior year this season. I'm looking forward to watching him."
In high school, leadership came natural to the two-time captain because Ford was one of the best guys on the team. It took more effort once Ford got to Texas, but with compliments like that, he's now rolling.
He also credits DeMarvion Overshown and Keondre Coburn, now both in the NFL, with helping build his confidence to step up as a leader.
"Those guys were who we saw as leaders on defense," Ford said. "And I appreciate them because they took me under their wing. They saw how good I was more than I saw it myself."
Ford says his success last year caused teammates to start seeing him as a leader.
"I want to say things, not all the time, but say the right things in the moment it's needed," Ford said.
His mom, watching from the sidelines, is proud.
"To see him being vocal and just being in command, that warms my heart," Taylor said.
Sometimes — like two weeks ago at Big 12 Media Day — he needs to say very little.
The sight of the trophy is enough.
"I didn't even know people were around us when we were looking at it, and then I look around right after and there's 10 guys with cameras and stuff," Ford said.
The message from the moment was evident. The Longhorns had a clear goal in mind.
Jaylan Ford is returning this season as a leader.
He's hoping to leave a legacy.
