Texas football 2024 awards: Do Longhorns Quinn Ewers, Jahdae Barron win honors?

Posted by Admin January 14, 2025 Football

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Texas football enjoyed a rousing debut in its first season as an SEC program.

The Longhorns finished 13-3, and ended the regular season with the best record of any conference school. However, they lost the SEC title game to Georgia after losing to the Bulldogs earlier in the year.

They went on to beat Clemson then Arizona State in the expanded College Football Playoff before falling to Ohio State in the semifinals.

After a 13-win season, Austin American-Statesman sports staff voted on the team’s award winners for the year. Our five writers who covered the team plus our sports editor Richard Tijerina each voted on the individual awards, with executive sports editor Tyler Davis deciding tiebreakers.

So who was Texas’ MVP? Or the best defensive player on one of the best units in the country? Who improved most among the Longhorns?

Here are our award winners for the season:

Texas football MVP

Jahdae Barron, senior cornerback

Barron, an Austin-area native, had a huge season in the Texas secondary. The senior won the Thorpe Award, given to the best defensive back in the country, while playing for one of the best defenses in the country.

Texas ranked in the top 10 for scoring defenses and passing yards allowed. The 5-foot-11, 200-pound cornerback was named first-team AP All America. His five interceptions were tied for the most on the team and he racked up career highs with 11 passes defensed and 46 solo tackles (67 total).

Honorable mention: senior defensive tackle Alfred Collins

Longhorns offensive player of the year

Kelvin Banks Jr., junior offensive tackle

Banks and tight end Gunnar Helm earned the same number of votes for offensive player of the year, but Banks gets the nod. The Humble native has long been recognized as one of the best football players in the country and this season did nothing but further that standing. He started all but one games this season and allowed just a single sack.

While Quinn Ewers, Matthew Golden and Gunnar Helm received votes for this awards, their success would have been possible without Banks playing as well as he did. Not only was he first-team All America, he earned the Lombardi Award for the nation’s best offensive lineman.

Honorable mentions: senior quarterback Quinn Ewers, junior wide receiver Matthew Golden, senior tight end Gunnar Helm

Longhorns defensive player of the year

Jahdae Barron, senior cornerback

Honorable mentions: senior defensive tackle Alfred Collins, senior safety Andrew Mukuba

Longhorns special teams player of the year

Silas Bolden, senior wide receiver

The California senior transferred to Texas after four years with Oregon State. With 267 yards on 23 receptions, Bolden was a useful target for the Texas offense while it struggled with injuries.

But his efforts on special teams cannot be overlooked, especially when his 75-yard punt return extended Texas’ lead 14-3 in the first quarter of the Peach Bowl. It was the first touchdown return of his career at Texas and the 10th-longest punt return in program history. He had the second-most punt returns in the country and was third in the nation with 315 punt return yards

Honorable mention: junior long-snapper Lance St. Louis

Longhorns most improved player

Gunnar Helm, senior tight end

Helm, an Englewood, Colo. native, was a top target for quarterback Quinn Ewers. Helm was a 2024 John Mackey Award finalist, for the best tight end in the country. The senior had seven touchdowns and 786 yards on a team-high 60 catches this season. He came into the 2024 campaign with 19 catches for 236 yards and two touchdowns and tripled his total career output.

His habit of making big catches for the Longhorns when they needed it included a 25-yard reception against Arizona State during the second overtime in the Peach Bowl that helped secure the Longhorns’ victory.

Honorable mentions: sophomore running back Quintrevion Wisner, junior safety Michael Taaffe, junior cornerback Jaylon Guilbeau, senior defensive tackle Vernon Broughton

Longhorns unsung hero of the year

Barryn Sorrell, senior linebacker

Sorrell may not have been named to an All-American team like fellow Texas front seven players Alfred Collins or Anthony Hill, but he had a huge role in Texas’ elite defense. His career-high six sacks came speak for themselves. But some were well-timed as well with one against Clemson, a half-sack against Ohio State and another against Oklahoma.

His 11 tackles for loss contributed to Texas’ 112 on the season, which were the fifth-most in the Football Bowl Subdivision.

Honorable mentions: sophomore cornerback Malik Muhammad, sophomore running back Quintrevion Wisner, junior running back Jaydon Blue, junior cornerback Jaylon Guilbeau, senior linebacker David Gbenda

Transfer of the year

Matthew Golden, junior wide receiver

This one might have been the toughest call of all awards. Our staff of six was split between one offensive standout and one defensive standout.

On one hand, you have wideout Matthew Golden, who led the team with 987 receiving yards after transferring from Houston. He scored nine touchdowns and was a big-play threat at 17 yards per catch. But there’s also safety Andrew Mukuba, who left Clemson to come back home. He turned in a stellar year with five interceptions and six passes defended.

In the end, Davis decided to go with Golden. With an up-and-down season offensively from fellow transfer wideout Isaiah Bond and the Texas run game, Golden was essential to Texas’ 12-1 run through the regular season. The Houston native set career highs in yards, touchdowns, longest reception and average yardage per catch all while playing tougher competition. He had 162 yards on eight catches in the SEC title game then turned in a seven-catch, 149-yard, one-touchdown performance against Arizona State at the Peach Bowl.

Freshman of the year

Colin Simmons, freshman edge

Simmons won the Shawn Alexander Freshman of the Year Award. On a team full of seasoned veterans, the Dallas-area native tallied nine total sacks; his season high of two came against Arkansas and Mississippi State. Simmons had 31 solo tackles, 14 tackles for loss and an interception.

No wonder why Simmons was the lone unanimous award winner.

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