Terrific college career
Ford, 22, leaves the Forty Acres having played in all 49 games he was eligible to dress and started in 26 of 27 games the last two seasons before declaring for the NFL draft one year early. He became the first Texas player since Keenan Robinson in 2011 to post consecutive 100-tackle seasons and added 101⁄2 tackles for a loss, one sack, a fumble recovery and two interceptions playing behind star tackles T’Vondre Sweat and Byron Murphy II.
Those big-boy numbers would have been even better had he not been hampered by a groin injury during the second part of the season.
Strength and conditioning coach Torre Becton called him Batman because of his brainy approach to the game.
Ford always seemed to be in the right place at the right time, a testament not to luck but to his dogged preparation, from film sessions with Johnson — “You’re the general out there,” DJ reminded him more than once — to doing that little bit of extra in the weight room or in meetings to show the type of leadership that hopefully trickled down to future stars.
He expects linebackers David Gbenda, Morice Blackwell and the electric Anthony Hill Jr. to build upon the example he set the last three seasons under linebackers coach Jeff Choate’s tutelage. True leaders in a locker room are so important and while Sarkisian said there are several stepping up this spring, it will be difficult to replace Ford’s terrific example. He was a no-excuses, hard-hat carrier who spoke when he needed to speak and carried with him an air of authority that was easy to see whenever he walked into a room and especially onto a football field.
“He was a great guy to be on the same team with,” said quarterback Quinn Ewers. “He knows what kind of work it takes. He was always at the facility getting treatment or putting in extra work. He was a good friend of mine. I’m super excited to see where he goes and how his career turns out.”
His mother Youlonda Taylor told me at pro day that she always preached accountability to her son from his childhood all the way through his high school stay at Frisco Lone Star. It makes sense because she’s an accountant.
I told her the Texas media could always depend on her son to give authentic, honest answers to our questions, both in good times and bad. It’s a part of his makeup that shows character, leadership and a sense of responsibility that’s important to the profession he will soon join.
“He’s a real thoughtful person,” she said. “He’s always been that way from a young age.”
Her life lessons — he calls her Superwoman for the sacrifices she made to support his football dream — have served him well up to this point.
Originally committed to Utah before flipping his commitment to Texas, the 3-star recruit was the lowest rated among Texas’ 2020 recruiting class that included Atlanta Falcons running back Bijan Robinson and current Texas seniors Jahdae Barron, Alfred Collins, Jake Majors and Vernon Broughton.
The two-time all-state honoree came to Texas as an overachieving playmaker with upside and he’s leaving the same way, albeit with some All-America credentials under his belt.