UT's McCoy is eager to get his feet wet
[SIZE=+1]Redshirt freshman ready to jump in and fill void at UT
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02:25 AM CDT on Sunday, August 20, 2006
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By CHIP BROWN / The Dallas Morning News[/SIZE]
AUSTIN – Texas quarterback Colt McCoy has already done something not even Vince Young can claim.
All McCoy, a redshirt freshman, did over Memorial Day weekend in the West Texas town of Graham was swim about 300 yards to help with the rescue of a man who, it turned out, was suffering a grand mal seizure.
Ken Herrington, a 60-year-old former IBM employee, suffered the seizure on his dock across the lake from McCoy's parents' home. Herrington's wife, Patina, screamed for help. McCoy and his father, Brad, answered the call.
"He and his dad saved my husband's life," Patina Herrington said.
Moving a football down the field would seem tame by comparison, except that McCoy is attempting to replace Young on a team with enough talent to possibly repeat as national champion.
The winner of the quarterback competition between McCoy and true freshman Jevan Snead will become one of the central figures in college football this season. The Longhorns are No. 2 in the
USA Today coaches' preseason poll and No. 3 in the Associated Press poll.
Through Saturday's scrimmage, it has become increasingly clear that McCoy will be the starting quarterback when Texas opens at home against North Texas on Sept. 2 and Ohio State on Sept. 9.
Coach Mack Brown won't talk about the team's depth chart until Monday, Aug. 28. But he and offensive coordinator Greg Davis have both said if the season started today, McCoy would be the guy.
So who is this 19-year-old (he turns 20 the week of the Ohio State game) with a boy's face and voice who played for his father at Class 2A Tuscola Jim Ned?
Surely he's overwhelmed at the thought of 85,000 fans and a national television audience glaring on Austin when the top-ranked Buckeyes come to town for the season's first make-or-break moment. After all, McCoy grew up in a town so small it had only a blinking stoplight and no Dairy Queen.
"It excites me," McCoy said. "I'm in the position I've wanted to be in my whole life. I've dreamed about it. I've been around the game forever. I've prayed about it.
"It's going to be awesome."
McCoy walked into the Rose Bowl for warm-ups before the national title game against USC and soaked up every last detail, right down to the smell of the grass.
"Everywhere I went last year, I thought, 'If Vince leaves, this is going to be me. This is going to be what I experience for the next four years when I take over,' " McCoy said. "So I got myself mentally prepared for this last year."
McCoy got a strong endorsement from Young before Young left UT after his junior season.
"Colt's growing into a leader and he's smart," said Young, now a Tennessee Titan. "He knows a lot more about the offense and reading defense than I did at his age."
McCoy said he still talks with Young about once a week.
"Vince obviously knows the offense here and all the guys," McCoy said. "So we can talk about that. And then he tells me what's going on at Tennessee. He's a great guy, a great friend."
McCoy has won over his teammates by being confident, not cocky, and by being consistent in practice day after day.
"Colt's a solid guy," said running back Selvin Young, a fifth-year senior. "He's having fun. I'm seeing him smile. When I look in a guy's eyes and I see fun and a smile, it tells me he's comfortable."
McCoy grew up idolizing Troy Aikman because Aikman also grew up in a small town (Henry- etta, Okla.). McCoy lost only twice in 36 high school starts. He was a three-year member of the National Honor Society in high school and a member of the UT Athletic Director's Honor Roll last fall.
He loves to hunt whitetail deer and fish. He was in a fishing contest with his dad the day they helped rescue Herrington. He listens to AC/DC (his favorite CD is
Back In Black) and loves
Seinfeld.
But the thing McCoy is most proud of is being a coach's son.
"I've been around the game since I was born," he said. "Playing for my dad, he's always been a head coach. I got to grow up around football – terminologies, blitzes, defenses, all that. It's been really good for me to be around it my whole life. Now, it just comes easy."
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COLT McCOY
Who: UT quarterback
Ht./wt.: 6-3, 205
Class: Redshirt freshman
Hometown: Tuscola, Texas
Notable: Put on 15 pounds since the spring. ... Was coached in high school by his father, Brad. ... Brad McCoy was roommates with Texas receiver Jordan Shipley's father, Bob Shipley, at Abilene Christian. ... Colt and Jordan are best friends. ... Has been characterized by UT coaches as a more mobile Major Applewhite.
Quotable: "We both know we're competing for the same job, and someone is going to be the starter and the other person is just going to have to deal with it," McCoy said of his battle with true freshman Jevan Snead. "We both know we've given it our best, and Coach Brown's going to be the determining factor. We're going to win as a team, regardless."
