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. 35: Baylor RT Campbell Barrington

The History: Barrington transferred from BYU with his brother, Clark, ahead of the 2023 season after earning Freshman All-American honors in 2021. The brothers were expected to lead a revamped offensive line after reuniting with offensive line coach Eric Mateos. Instead, Baylor bottomed out to 23.1 points per game while getting physically manhandled in the trenches. While Barrington is lumped in with the underwhelming unit, he personally had an impactful year. He started all 12 games and found a home a right guard over the last six contests, allowing just three pressures.

The Skillset: Barrington is a versatile option on the right side of the line who can rotate from guard to tackle. While he performed admirably at guard and did allow three sacks at tackle against Texas Tech, Baylor will start him at right tackle. Per PFF, Barrington had a 77.9 pass-blocking grade and 65.1 run-blocking grade, so he should benefit from offensive coordinator Jake Spavital's Air Raid offense.

The Importance: Dave Aranda said at Big 12 Media Days the majority of offensive linemen from last year's team shouldn't have been playing due to youth. He also said the five transfers the Bears brought in lit a fire under the returning players.

"There is a chip on the shoulder with that group," Aranda said. "They’re probably pissed off right now. They’re somewhere angry, right now. So that’s good!”

Barrington, a senior, is the leader of Baylor's incumbent linemen, and his presence took on added importance after seventh-year senior transfer Kurt Danneker was forced to medically retire.