Jahdae Barron understands what’s on the line when Texas battles Alabama

Texas defensive back Jahdae Barron is a little bit of everything for the Longhorns – he helps with the secondary calls, covers the opponent’s slot receiver all over the field and even fancies himself as a team spokesman of sorts.

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Heck, on Monday in the Longhorns’ media availability in advance of their titanic showdown at Alabama on Saturday, Barron even tried his hand at the role of a cub reporter, getting in a few questions (and good ones, at that) in an interview with offensive tackle Kelvin Banks.

Expect Barron and his teammates to be at their best and on point when No. 11 Texas squares off against the third-ranked Crimson Tide. In a return game from last year’s instant classic in which Alabama kicked the game winning field goal with 10 seconds remaining to beat the Longhorns 20-19 in Austin, Texas knows what’s in store for them.

“We know that Alabama’s gonna come in and give us their best shot, so we’ve got to make sure we hold up things on our end and make it a game,” Barron said. “Their wide receivers are very fast. I love what they do, and they’re all deep threats. So we’ve got to make sure we’re ready for them, and that we’re on top of that.

“They’re an efficient offense with an explosive quarterback that can run and he has a great arm and the talent to throw deep to his receivers.”

Barron knows that the Crimson Tide and dual-threat quarterback Jalen Milroe will be a different test than what the Longhorns saw in week 1 in a 37-10 victory over Rice. So what happens if Milroe gets loose and gets to the secondary?

“I’m a pretty good tackler, and I don’t think about if someone is going to be hard to tackle,” Barron explained. “If you think about it, when you’re tackling you probably miss, so I just go in and shoot my shot. We want to just kind of play with Milroe because he can do so much. Just disrupt him – if we do that and make him pass the ball that’s what we want.”

Barron called playing in a game like Saturday’s against the Crimson Tide in Tuscaloosa “a blessing.”

“These are the things that little kids like dream of… to be at a top program and play against a top program,” he said. “So we are taking it all in but at the end of the day, we’ll be ready. I’m happy and excited.”

That said, Barron would not take the bait when he was asked if playing Alabama was a “statement game,” instead deferring to the party line and the team’s mantra.

“Every week we just want to go out there and handle business,” Barron said. “So we’re looking for another opportunity against a great team to go out there and just handle our business and handle what we have to do. Every game is a championship game to us. We want to win every game.”

The Texas defense is in its third season in coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski’s system. Barron said that the familiarity allows the Longhorns to just go out there and play and not have to think as much about what’s being asked of them.

“PK’s plan is always smart and always easy for us to understand,” Barron explained. “With me being a vet in his program and his scheme I’m able to know what everybody else is supposed to do, and it kind of helps me move way, way faster than everybody else sometimes.”

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Barron said the Texas defense is just better than it was two years ago in Kwiatkowski’s first year.

“Our communication plays a big role. We probably had some stuff that we can fix from week 1 but we’re on top of it,” he said. “I would say our communication in the back end has been a big plus and our D-line is tremendous.”