Texas CB Jahdae Barron made his case to win the Thorpe Award against Arkansas

A stat-stuffing performance by the Pflugerville Connally product solidified his claim as the nation’s top defensive back.

AUSTIN, Texas — Trying to live up to the standard set by Michael Huff isn’t easy.

A Thorpe Award winner and member of the UT Hall of Honor, Huff left the Forty Acres as a two-time All-American who recorded 318 tackles, 26 tackles for loss, seven interceptions, 44 pass breakups, six caused fumbles, and three fumble recoveries in his standout career for the Longhorns.

For Texas super senior cornerback Jahdae Barron, who counts the assistant director of player personnel as a mentor, wearing Huff’s old No. 7 jersey and attempting to win the Thorpe Award this season means that Huff is always asking for more.

“Good is not good enough,” Barron said on Monday. “I make plays and he tells me, like, ‘Hey, I would have done better.’ So I just keep pushing. Or after I make a pick, ‘I would have stayed up or took it to the crib.’”

Huff’s critiques aren’t just reflective of the continued confidence that always defines defensive backs — of those seven career interceptions, the Irving product returned four for touchdowns, averaging 23.1 yards per return, a school record.

As the joke went when Huff played for the Horns, if a potential interception didn’t clearly set up a return, well, some of those 44 pass breakups just ended up hitting the ground as a result, in truth a nod to Huff’s preternatural ability to find the end zone after securing those picks that was simply astounding.

Barron’s pass-breakup-to-interception-ratio this season is two-to-one, highlighting the ability of the 5’11, 200-pounder to convert opportunities into turnovers — when the ball hits his hands, he finishes, with his four interceptions tying for the SEC lead.

It’s just one element of Barron’s game that arguably makes him the favorite to become the third Texas player to win the Thorpe Award, joining Huff in 2005 and Aaron Ross the following season.

The Pflugerville Connally product is already a semifinalist for the award given to the nation’s best back. The national panel of more than 250 sports writers, sportscasters, former players, and coaches will announce the three finalists next Tuesday.

Barron is a strong bet to make the cut after receiving the Thorpe Award National DB of the Week recognition for recording seven tackles (six solo), two tackles for loss, one sack, one interception, and one pass breakup in the win over the Razorbacks in Fayetteville.

But Barron’s body of work this season isn’t just reliant on one big performance — according to Pro Football Focus, Barron is the highest-graded cornerback in the nation to play more than 42 snaps.

Ask Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian about Barron and his versatility comes up time and time again. After Barron started his career playing outside at cornerback, he moved to nickel in 2022 before moving back to cornerback during the offseason while also playing a diverse role, spending time at nickel, free safety, and as the middle linebacker in the new dime package employed on passing downs. Defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski has even devised some blitzes for Barron. To open the fourth quarter with the Hogs facing a 3rd and 10, Barron lined up over a guard and disguised his blitz with his alignment, forcing a mistake in protection that resulted in a quarterback hurry and a throwaway.

Kwiatkowksi also used Barron as a spy on Arkansas quarterback Taylen Green to create a sack that ended the first half.

“He’s so elusive, he’s such a playmaker. He’ll show man to man, and then all sudden, he’s retracing over a seam ball by the No. 2 receiver and going to pick it off on a tip and overthrow. He’s setting the edge at corner when he’s playing Cover Two, or he’s in the flats, and then he’s going to play nickel and going to play man on a slot receiver. And so just the things that he’s done, much less he can blitz and get sacks, and so all the things that he’s done, he deserves to win that award for sure,” Texas redshirt junior safety Michael Taaffe said on Monday.

The interception mentioned by Taaffe was the first game-changing play in the 20-10 victory for the Longhorns and set up a touchdown, highlighting Barron’s combination of instincts and preparation in zone coverage, reading the route combination, finding work, and showing off his reaction ability in catching the tipped pass.

Pre-snap reads for opposing quarterbacks get clouded by Barron’s ability to disguise whether he’s in zone or man coverage.

“There’s the differences between man and zone and knowing your pros and cons to it — man you get more sticky coverage, with zone you get better eyes. We do a great job of disguising that and switching it up and trying to take advantage of disguising man and then showing zone or showing zone and then playing man,” Taaffe said.

“It’s really easy to play with Jahdae because he does a really, really good job of disguising and then playing sticky coverage in man and knowing where the quarterback is going to go with the ball — take this part of his zone or take that part of his zone and he’s so elusive.”

As Barron has matured, he’s been able to use his technique to magnify his natural athleticism and reactive quickness.

“He’s so special,” Taaffe said.

“I was watching film yesterday of the last game we just played, and seeing one of his breaks — it was the early pass breakup that he had that everybody thought it should have been a flag, but he really just tripped over the guy — if you go watch that break, and if you have respect for defensive backs, and you know how hard playing defensive back is, you’ll see that break, you’ll be like, ‘Holy cow.’ He just put a foot in the ground, redirected and got 90 degrees really fast. I watched that, I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, this guy is so good.’”

Barron also has a well-earned reputation as a player who makes big plays in big moments. Because he’s so assignment sound, offensive coordinators have tried to scheme him out of third-down plays by blocking him.

The problem? Barron tends to blow up those blocks, as he did on a 3rd and 3 midway through the first quarter — Arkansas play caller Bobby Petrino dialed up a swing pass behind a block from wide receiver Jordan Anthony, but the 162-pound Texas A&M transfer was no match for Barron.

On one of the nation’s elite defenses, there aren’t many obvious areas to exploit, as sixth-year senior David Gbenda noted on Monday, but he did admit that he’s surprised when teams go at Barron in high-leverage situations.

And, truly, it is surprising — how many times does Barron have to put those plays on film before even brilliant offensive minds like Petrino just try something else?

Those plays are all hard-earned by Barron, who had to grow on and off the field to become the nation’s best defensive back, with Sarkisian citing Barron’s improved maturity as a key factor in his ascent.

“Everything that’s coming to him, he 100-percent deserves it and he obviously put the work in to get it. It didn’t just come to him — he had to go out there and earn it. I feel like he gonna continue to do a good job, because one thing about him, he’s never going get satisfied, so he’s still hungry,” Texas senior safety Andrew Mukuba said on Monday.

First up is the Senior Day ceremony before Saturday’s final regular-season home game against Kentucky, marking the second straight year Barron has participated.

Expect some gangster tears — those are the real ones, because Barron is a real one.