Texas Longhorns College Football Pregame Quote, 12/30/2023

Q. I want to talk to you a little bit about Coach Sark [Steve Sarkisian], and the evolution of all you guys together. He talked a little bit today at the press conference about how he’s changed as a coach and how he gets more into conversations with players. Can you tell me a little bit about what it’s like for him to have those conversations about life and everything else?

JAHDAE BARRON: For me, that’s what got me to stay here. But for me, it was just the connection I built off the field with him, knowing I can trust him off the field. It’s easy to trust him off the field with my life and everything and how everything’s playing out for me.

But at the end of the day, he’s a real good dude, real good man. He genuinely cares about us, he cares about all the kids he brings in and things like that, and then genuinely tries to build a connection with you to a standpoint beyond life. He always tries to build the culture, and we did a thing called Culture Wednesdays, and it always helped us evolve as a family and as a brotherhood. Even with the coaches, assistant coaches, to everybody, we were always involved and we always felt connected as one, knowing what somebody went through off the field. And so it’s easy to trust somebody on the field.

So these Culture Wednesdays, we always did it during summer workouts. It was always helpful in a positive way. Sometimes it was tough to get through some of them, some of the talks with your brother, but it always helped us get here right now with the connection that we have.

Q. It seems like he’s also pushed a lot of buttons this year, and I don’t mean that in a negative way. I mean, in terms of the “Revenge Tour” and all this stuff. I mean, it felts like everybody has galvanized together. Has it been different at all from previous years, in terms of how he motivates the team, on a mission kind of thing?

JAHDAE BARRON: So one thing about Sark [Head Coach Steve Sarkisian], he’s never changed his personality and who he is as a person. As soon as he got here, it was always the same way we approach things, and he always approached it the same way when he talked to us and spoke to the team. At the end of the day, it was just puzzles. It was just pieces to the puzzle that we had to connect, and that was one of his puzzles that he always started with, to preach a certain way to us, to relay the message that way to us, and it obviously took time from sophomore year to junior year, but it’s always a piece of the puzzle. You just have to connect one at a time, and that’s what he did. We built something special here.

Q. Before Senior Day, I saw some of the pictures you posted about being a kid, going to autograph days and going to games, stuff like that. How crazy is it now to be here at this stage after growing up as a fan?

JAHDAE BARRON: It’s amazing. Honestly, I’m always blessed, truly blessed to be able to live a kid’s dream. I was that little kid once, so to be able to have that experience and play in front of the hometown that I grew up, it’s honestly been the best opportunity for me. I never take anything for granted.

Q. This offense, they got a lot of people that can potentially make plays. What’s kind of your key as a defensive back on where you stand preset, pre-read alignment? What puts you in position to help you be successful?

JAHDAE BARRON: Well, not to discredit anything that Washington can do. Washington, they have a lot of explosive guys, but at the end of the day, we’ve got a lot of explosive guys. So it’s going to be good on good. We accept the challenge. We can’t wait for the challenge.

But at the end of the day, PK [Defensive Coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski], he has a great plan for us. We have to make sure we go out there and excuse it.

Q. Coach PK [Pete Kwiatkowski], year number two playing against this same team. Some things that you’ve been able to learn since you played against them last year. What’s carried over from the film that you’ve been able to break down to something that you’ve seen on tape show up again, and something that you can have ready for you this upcoming Monday?

JAHDAE BARRON: Obviously, their offense, great players with great talent. But they love to get their shots in and they want to catch us slipping on formation shifts and things like that and miscommunication. So we just have to be on the same page and be locked in together as a brotherhood.

Q. Why did the Sark [Steve Sarkisian] culture work? Why does that work? It doesn’t always work. I’ve seen coaches try to bring the family atmosphere in, and it doesn’t work, but I can tell you guys get along. What have those coaches done to make it so easy for you guys to have that chemistry?

JAHDAE BARRON: It was easy. Once he put his life in front of us and he had to gain his trust from us, so it was easy for us to gain our trust from him. And he opened up to us, so it made it easy to open up to him, and open up to the other brothers on the team, and then the assistant coaches and other coaches and so on.

So that was a big part. Just trusting one another and being able to open up to one another, and that’s what Sark did from the start. So he made it very easy for us and it was very helpful for us to get here.

Q. How candid was he? He’s been through it, and it’s all public. The USC thing was a nightmare for him. He had to rebuild. He had to rebuild his career and his life. How candid was he about that with you guys? Because he’s been through so much, and a guy who’s only 50 years old has been through a lot.

JAHDAE BARRON: At the end of the day, he’s been through so much, but it never stopped him, it never stopped his drive. So he talks about it all the time: It’s not what happens to you, it’s how you respond. And he responded in the best way possible, and he’s turned his life around completely, and I know whatever he went through, it only made him stronger and his family stronger.

I’m connected with his son that’s on the team. He’s a great dude. He’s proud of his dad and he’s proud of the things that his dad has done for us. We all treat Sark [Head Coach Steve Sarkisian] like another dad. He’s just another brother to us, and it’s amazing to have both of them with us.