The 2024 college football season presents an entirely new landscape. Texas is in the SEC. SMU is back in a power conference as ACC members. The College Football Playoff now includes 12 teams and an automatic bid for the best G5 team in the land. For most, the start of the season is in Week 1 on August 30, though SMU starts in Week 0 and TCU plays its first game on Aug. 29. 

To celebrate us making it through another off-season, we’re counting down the 50 most important players in Texas as we inch closer to kickoffs. This list isn’t necessarily about which players are the best in terms of NFL draft stock. It ranks players in order of importance to their team's success. 

No. 40: NORTH TEXAS DT ROD BROWN 

The history: The three-star export from North Forney High School played in 10 games during a freshman campaign in 2021 that ended with selection to the CUSA All-Freshmen team. Brown started all 14 games in 2020, finishing second on the team with four sacks despite lining up in the middle of the defense. He recorded 40 tackles, including 3.5 for loss and six quarterback hurries as a junior in 2023. In 37 games played for the Mean Green, Brown has 102 tackles, including 12 for loss and seven sacks. He’s also forced two fumbles and recovered one. 

The skillset: Brown won’t impress you with his physical physique. But he uses his 5-foot-11, 300-pound frame to create a leverage advantage against taller offensive linemen. He’s excellent at shooting gaps and disrupting offenses in the backfield. He’s also strong enough to hold the point of attack against the double team. Brown is so powerful that he’s not allowed to max out on squat anymore. He’s North Texas best returning player and he’ll leave Denton with nearly 50 starts if he stays healthy as a senior. 

The impact: North Texas moved to an odd man front when head coach Eric Morris brought in former Iowa State assistant Matt Caponi to run the 3-3-5 defense. The Mean Green struggled to stop the run last year, ranking dead last (133rd) in the FBS after allowing 255.17 yards per game. Brown played well according to PFF, but he’ll need to be an elite standout in the middle of the North Texas defense again in 2024 for those numbers to improve. The Mean Green will score points. They need the defense to go from awful to at least average to compete in the AAC.