Jaylan

Ford

Rattler goes from being the starter to the emergency QB with the return of David Carr (oblique). Williams was already listed out with his groin injury, so it’ll be Jordan Mims as the backup tailback against Carolina on Sunday.

A team captain and iron man who suited up in all 49 of his games for Texas, Ford (6'2/240) bowed out of the Senior Bowl due to injury and only performed jumps at the combine. He would go on to perform the full complement of movement tests at his pro day with a 4.71s 40-yard dash, 7.09s three-cone and 4.24s shuttle for a strong 8.30 RAS. One of the heavier LBs in this class at 240 pounds, Ford is a physical tone-setter in run support who is diligent about his gap responsibilities. His ability to read offensive concepts led to six interceptions the last two years, which is special ball production for a linebacker. Ford is a decent athlete, but doesn’t show sideline-to-sideline pursuit range and frequently gets beat to the edge on outside run plays. He profiles as a two-down run-stuffing rotational linebacker with upside to be more.

Despite being committed to Utah, it seems Ford has now decided to stay in-state and play for the Longhorns. Ford is the 17th player to sign to Texas so far. Per 247 Sports, Ford is actually Texas’ lowest-rated recruit, but given they have the 11th best class in the country and 2nd in the Big 12, being the “worst” player of that bunch is no knock. Ford is a bit light at 6-foot-2, 205-pounds, but he’s got the movement skills and spatial awareness to play defense in today’s wide-open game.