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[SIZE=+2]Football: Game-winning play changed everything for Sweed, Horns
[/SIZE] [SIZE=-1]Web Posted: 09/04/2006 01:23 AM CDT
[/SIZE] [SIZE=-1]Jeff McDonald
Express-News Staff Writer[/SIZE] AUSTIN — Seldom a day goes by that someone doesn't ask Texas receiver Limas Sweed to tell the tale of The Catch. It sounds a bit like the title to a fish story. It isn't.
It is the story of how Sweed reached up into the cool Ohio night nearly a year ago and snatched hope out of the sky.
His leaping, stretching, falling-down grab of a 24-yard touchdown pass from Vince Young with 2:37 to go in last year's game at Ohio State provided the winning tally in UT's 25-22 season-making upset.
It provided the man who made it with so much more.
"At the time, I didn't realize the magnitude of The Catch," said Sweed, now a junior. "It's something that will keep with me forever."
With No. 1 Ohio State heading to Austin this week for a rematch, Sweed will no doubt be asked to recount the story and relive the moment over and over.
He will talk about how he streaked down the sideline and saw the Ohio State safety breaking too late to catch him. How he saw the ball floating toward him, how he caught it without even thinking about it. He will talk about the breathless jubilee that greeted him on the UT sideline.
He will talk about the plane ride home, when the meaning of the moment finally overtook him.
"I had tears in my eyes," Sweed said.
He will talk, most importantly, about how the Limas Sweed who boarded that Ohio-bound flight last year wasn't the same Limas Sweed who returned.
The Catch seemed to spark something in Sweed. It turned his career around. It changed his life.
Before it, Sweed was just a big, fast receiver who wore Roy Williams' jersey number but never produced like his All-American predecessor. He was dangerously close to earning the dreaded label of bust.
The Catch changed all that.
It altered people's perception of Sweed. More significantly, it altered Sweed's view of himself.
Sweed wound up leading UT receivers with 545 yards and five TDs last season and began making the tough catches in traffic for which Williams was famous.
It seems for Sweed, The Catch was contagious.
"He started growing up, started maturing," UT coach Mack Brown said. "It's been exciting to watch."
Sweed continued the metamorphosis in Saturday's season-opening victory over North Texas. He caught five passes for a career-best 111 yards and a pair of TDs — including a 60-yard catch-and-run that ranked as the longest reception of his UT tenure.
Afterward, offensive coordinator Greg Davis was asked to quantify how far Sweed has come since this time last season.
"Oh, it's a million miles," Davis said.
And Davis had little trouble tracing the genesis of Sweed's transformation.
"It all started," he said, "at Ohio State."
One catch — The Catch — is all it took.
Sweed will recount the story again this week. And he will remember the power of one play to change everything.
"Things just started to fall into place for me after that," Sweed said. "Thank God."
[SIZE=+2]Football: Game-winning play changed everything for Sweed, Horns
[/SIZE] [SIZE=-1]Web Posted: 09/04/2006 01:23 AM CDT
[/SIZE] [SIZE=-1]Jeff McDonald
Express-News Staff Writer[/SIZE] AUSTIN — Seldom a day goes by that someone doesn't ask Texas receiver Limas Sweed to tell the tale of The Catch. It sounds a bit like the title to a fish story. It isn't.
It is the story of how Sweed reached up into the cool Ohio night nearly a year ago and snatched hope out of the sky.
His leaping, stretching, falling-down grab of a 24-yard touchdown pass from Vince Young with 2:37 to go in last year's game at Ohio State provided the winning tally in UT's 25-22 season-making upset.
It provided the man who made it with so much more.
"At the time, I didn't realize the magnitude of The Catch," said Sweed, now a junior. "It's something that will keep with me forever."
With No. 1 Ohio State heading to Austin this week for a rematch, Sweed will no doubt be asked to recount the story and relive the moment over and over.
He will talk about how he streaked down the sideline and saw the Ohio State safety breaking too late to catch him. How he saw the ball floating toward him, how he caught it without even thinking about it. He will talk about the breathless jubilee that greeted him on the UT sideline.
He will talk about the plane ride home, when the meaning of the moment finally overtook him.
"I had tears in my eyes," Sweed said.
He will talk, most importantly, about how the Limas Sweed who boarded that Ohio-bound flight last year wasn't the same Limas Sweed who returned.
The Catch seemed to spark something in Sweed. It turned his career around. It changed his life.
Before it, Sweed was just a big, fast receiver who wore Roy Williams' jersey number but never produced like his All-American predecessor. He was dangerously close to earning the dreaded label of bust.
The Catch changed all that.
It altered people's perception of Sweed. More significantly, it altered Sweed's view of himself.
Sweed wound up leading UT receivers with 545 yards and five TDs last season and began making the tough catches in traffic for which Williams was famous.
It seems for Sweed, The Catch was contagious.
"He started growing up, started maturing," UT coach Mack Brown said. "It's been exciting to watch."
Sweed continued the metamorphosis in Saturday's season-opening victory over North Texas. He caught five passes for a career-best 111 yards and a pair of TDs — including a 60-yard catch-and-run that ranked as the longest reception of his UT tenure.
Afterward, offensive coordinator Greg Davis was asked to quantify how far Sweed has come since this time last season.
"Oh, it's a million miles," Davis said.
And Davis had little trouble tracing the genesis of Sweed's transformation.
"It all started," he said, "at Ohio State."
One catch — The Catch — is all it took.
Sweed will recount the story again this week. And he will remember the power of one play to change everything.
"Things just started to fall into place for me after that," Sweed said. "Thank God."
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