Barryn Sorrell is deserving of every accolade ahead of his final home game

Being a Longhorn legend means a lot more than just accumulating an impressive set of box scores or winning championships. Sure, Vince Young is a by-the-book Longhorn Legend: he led the program to its most recent national championship and had one of the best non-Heisman seasons in CFB history. But a strong argument could be made that joining him in the ranks of the fabled history of the burnt orange blue blood are players far from the level of accolade or skill of Young.

[Join Inside Texas TODAY with code HOOKEM and get 50% off annual memberships!]

Would you call Sam Ehlinger a Longhorn Legend? What about Jordan Whittington or even Chris Hall, a plug-and-play offensive lineman who spent five years at Texas leading the offense alongside Colt McCoy. These players may not show up in a Django Walker song, or have their names attached to stadiums, fields or donor boxes, but these types of players all deserve their own chapters in Longhorn history.

It’s often hard to appreciate these kinds of contributors while they are around. Ehlinger, for instance, lost 35% of his games at the University of Texas, a startling number when thinking back to the successful QBs like McCoy and Young in the early 2000s. But looking back fans can appreciate what he was for the team: a rare bright spot in the worst decade of Texas football, a true leader that loved the team more than anything else and always put his best foot forward to win football games. Players like the aforementioned Whittington and Hall also possessed these traits, and losing them often hurts more than what people expect. You don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone.

Texas has a group of leaders on this team that continue to be mentioned. Obviously QB1 Quinn Ewers is a leader, and his legacy at this school will be greatly debated for years to come. Jake Majors, a fifth-year center, is also a great player to note for his leadership qualities and mentality to step up. Jahdae Barron is another fifth-year who has become the loudest man on the field for Texas, and earned himself a great paycheck in the process.

But there’s one man who will have earned every bouquet of flowers and standing ovation that he receives this Saturday on senior day. A player who, by every definition of the word, is a Longhorn legend, fans just might not know it yet. 

Barryn Sorrell is entering his final home game of a four-year career at Texas, and it’s hard to argue that any singular player exemplifies what the beginning of the 2020s and a potential Steve Sarkisian championship run was like for Texas fans. 

Sorrell was just a three-star prospect with over 600 players ranked ahead of him in the class of 2021. He was recruited by a completely different coach, yet still decided to buy into the culture that Sarkisian has tried to instill from the first day. Sorrell was on the team in 2021 when Bo Davis ripped into the entire team after a tragic showing against Iowa State. He played his second-most snaps of the year when the Longhorns lost a thriller to Caleb Williams and Oklahoma that same season. With every reason to want to leave the school available to him, Sorrell kept quiet and kept working.

“It means a lot. It was a journey. And like you said there was some ups and some downs, but I feel like that definitely factors into why we are where we are right now as a program,” Sorrell said.

By year two Sorrell was a starter and led the team in sacks, and by year three no edge rusher in the Big 12 recorded more quarterback pressures. Through all of this, Sorrell was on the Big 12 Commissioner’s honor roll every single year.

But when leaders like Whittington, Jaylan Ford and Christian Jones all graduated, it seemed like there were a lot of big shoes to fill in the leadership department. Some roles were seamless, as Majors and Barron were two obvious candidates to step up and be the voices of a championship-hopeful team. But in the background, Sorrell has become arguably the team’s most important leader.

It all starts in practice, where Sorrell is deemed to be the most energetic and competitive player on either side of the ball.

“We really burned the intensity today at practice and could kind of feel it especially with them two guys (Sorrell and right guard DJ Campbell) going at it and going back and forth with each other,” left tackle Kelvin Banks said ahead of the Florida game last week.

But Sorrell keeps that energy going on the field. He’s known for his innate athleticism, helping him stop both the run and pass and allowing him to bully opposing offensive linemen, but the quality that most sticks with players is his ability to get the defense excited and ferocious ahead of big plays and in the fourth quarter.

“I love Barryn so much,” fellow senior defensive lineman Alfred Collins said. “He just gets us going. He’s our energy sometimes. He gets us in that mode and we go execute.”

Sorrell has turned into everything you’d hope from a recruit and more. He’s a leader, a fantastic player, and embodies exactly what the culture needed to be in order for Sarkisian’s system to become a winning program.

[Subscribe to the Inside Texas YouTube channel!]

“Knowing my journey and this program’s journey up until this point, knowing that this is the last time that I’ll be playing in front of Longhorn Nation at home. Going into my freshman year Longhorn Nation took me in with open arms, and I just want to leave a good taste in their mouth,” Sorrell said. “But I really want to enjoy this experience with my teammates and definitely all the seniors.”