Christian Jones used loss to Kansas in 2021 as motivation for improvement, confidence
Given that Texas offensive lineman Christian Jones was one of the players that had to endure seeing Kansas beat the Longhorns in overtime in Austin two seasons ago it does not take much, if anything, to get him motivated to make sure such a result is not repeated when the two teams square off of Saturday in Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium.
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The Longhorns were ranked third again this week in the Associated Press poll while Kansas is 24th. Saturday’s dustup will be the first time the two programs have ever played with both being ranked and is the final time they will meet as Big 12 Conference opponents as Texas moves to the Southeastern Conference beginning in 2024.
Both teams are 4-0 overall and 1-0 in conference play, with the Longhorns reaching that mark for the first time since 2012 and the Jayhawks winning their first four games for the second straight year and in consecutive seasons for the first time since 1914-15.
The Longhorns have discussed Kansas’ 57-56 overtime win in 2021 – perhaps Texas’ low point in a tumultuous 5-7 season – in preparation for this year’s contest.
Jones said the loss “definitely broke me.”
“Yeah. Broken, so broken afterwards,” Jones explained. “I want to say that was also a turning point in my career here and for the rest of the team not wanting to experience that again. I gave up a sack-fumble and they scored on that, and I always think about that and how to live with that.”
The aftermath of the loss to Kansas changed Jones and spurred his improvement.
“I just remember feeling so low and so sad during that moment and dealing with consequences after that moment – the slander, the DMs and all that type of stuff, crazy wild messages,” Jones said. “That and questioning my own self, my own game and asking myself ‘how am I really that good if I did that?’
“I started looking at myself in the mirror every day and just be like ‘I’m the best tackle in the country, it doesn’t matter (what happened), I’m the best tackle of the country’ and saying that when honestly I didn’t believe it at that point. But I’m to the point now where I wholeheartedly do believe it.”
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Jones was quick to adhere to the team’s focus on constant preparation and the elimination of outside noise when he was asked if Saturday’s contest against Kansas was a “trap game.”
“I don’t believe that – I think that if we handle what we have to handle during the week and keep preparation the same, the routine the same, the result will be the same,” Jones said. “It’s all about us, our focus inside our four walls and worrying about what we’ve got to do.
“I know that Kansas as done a lot of good things over the past couple of years. And they improved as a program and they have a great head coach, great leaders on the team and great culture obviously being 4-0.”
Jones credits the communication on the team for its improvement across the board.
“It’s been about communication and technique, focusing on technique, especially later in drives,” he said. “It’s easy to have good technique in the beginning of the drive, but those long drives that’s when you really got to focus in on what you have to do and how you have to do it.”
