Texas players knew about Colt McCoy; will they find the next Longhorn QB?
Published: 7/25/2011 8:46 PM
Last Modified: 7/25/2011 8:46 PM
DALLAS — So Texas has an open quarterback competition.
After Garrett Gilbert’s uneven performance in 2010, that’s got to be a good thing for the Longhorns.
The candidates are redshirt freshman Connor Wood, sophomore Case McCoy and, of course, Gilbert. David Ash also is on scholarship, though it seems more than a longshot for a true freshman to win the job.
It wouldn’t be surprising if Gilbert won it. He did, after all, start all 12 games last year and has the benefit of playing in 22 career games, including the 2009-10 national title loss to Alabama. Wood and McCoy have played in two games combined.
The last time the Longhorns went into the offseason with an open spot at QB, it worked out pretty well.
When Vince Young took his Superman tattoo to the NFL after UT’s 2005 national championship season, Jevan Snead and Colt McCoy (Case’s big brother) spent the winter, spring, summer and training camp going head-to-head.
“What we felt was fair is to let both compete over the summer and see which one came back and had the attention of the team, who took over, who handled the team chemistry, who had leadership, and who did the players believe in,” coach Mack Brown said Monday at Big 12 media days at the Westin Galleria.
“Well, at this meeting — I'll never forget, Selvin Young was one of them, but there was a group of four or five players — we had dinner with them, and each one of them said, ‘Coach, the quarterback has been decided. Colt McCoy is your quarterback.’
“And we said, ‘Really? Why?’ They said, ‘You'll see.’ And then his name is in the stadium with a retired jersey.”
McCoy set several NCAA and dozens of school records in his four years as the Longhorns’ starter. Now he’s a leading candidate to start for the Cleveland Browns. Snead transferred to Mississippi, threw too many interceptions, nearly lost his starting job, left school early, wasn’t drafted and is virtually out of football.
It’s conceivable the same result could happen after someone wins the job in Austin this year: one guy becomes a legend, the others fade into obscurity.
“We’re hoping by not naming a starter, by sending all four guys to the summer, that it put a tremendous amount of pressure on all four of them to become the leader, to make the players believe in them, to make the team step up,” Brown said. “And I think we’ll see the effect of who comes out of that competitive fight for two months at a very difficult time, who worked the hardest, who led the best, and I think we’ll see that during preseason camp.”
— John E. Hoover
Written by
John E. Hoover
Sports Columnist
