Colt McCoy’s return next year might not be as sure of a thing as once thought. The junior quarterback, who said earlier this season he will return for a fourth year, told reporters last week he will seek information from an NFL draft committee at the end of the season.
McCoy would like to know where he’d be drafted if he decided to leave school at the end of the season.
“I think it would be foolish not to look at it,” McCoy said. “At the same time, I want to play four years here. Not many people have had the opportunity to do that. That’s really special and important to me.”
McCoy said he’s not familiar with the process and will consult director of football operations Cleve Bryant about what to do from here.
Players can submit paperwork to an NFL advisory committee to estimate where, or if, they might be taken in the draft. After reviewing that information, players can decide to stay in college or become draft eligible.
“My intentions are to come back and play,” McCoy said. “I would love to do that.”
However, if McCoy was projected as a first or second round pick, that might change his mind.
“Would it change your thinking?” McCoy said. “We’ll see what happens.”
NFL draft expert Mel Kiper projects the 6-foot-3-inch, 210 pound junior as a third or fourth round pick if he declares after this season.
McCoy is a candidate for the Heisman trophy and a finalist for the Davey O’Brien Award, given to the best quarterback in the country. McCoy leads the league with a 77.6 completion percentage and is also Texas’ leading rusher with 704 yards.
–David R. Henry
st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) }
<!– /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:”"; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:”Times New Roman”; mso-fareast-font-family:”Times New Roman”;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} –>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:”Table Normal”;
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:”";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:”Times New Roman”;
mso-ansi-language:#0400;
mso-fareast-language:#0400;
mso-bidi-language:#0400;}
By David R. Henry
Daily Texan Staff
The seniors on the Texas football team won’t forget their final home game, as it was a night of milestones Thanksgiving night at Darrell K. Royal Texas Memorial Stadium.
Colt McCoy became the winningest quarterback of all-time at Texas, coach Mack Brown got his 200th win and the Longhorns held Texas A&M to a series record low of -24 yards rushing.
The most important milestone was that McCoy got his first win against the Aggies, and it wasn’t even close. Texas (11-1) dominated from start to finish, crushing A&M (4-8) 49-9—the second largest margin of victory in series history.
“It was a great night for Texas football,” Brown said. “There was a tremendous amount of pressure on our guys tonight, because A&M had nothing to lose and we have everything in the world to lose. I felt like they made the statement they needed to make.”
McCoy made his case for the Heisman, completing 23 of 28 passes for 311 yards and two touchdowns and rushed 11 times for 68 yards and two more touchdowns.
“I’ve set it repeatedly and I’ll say it again tonight—we would not be where we are without him,” Brown said. “I do think he’s the most valuable player on one of the best teams in the country.”
With Texas up 42-9 with 11:23 left to play in the first quarter, McCoy wanted to stay in the game torch the Aggies even more. Brown and offensive coordinator Greg Davis had to tell him no.
“I’m not so sure that Greg didn’t want him to go back in either,” Brown said. “We wanted our second-team guys to get a chance to play some. We’re not one of those teams that is going to throw the ball until the final seconds of the game because that’s not good sportsmanship.”
The Aggie defense tried to take leading receiver Jordan Shipley away, so McCoy got the ball out to sophomore receiver Brandon Collins. Collins had six catches for 103 yards. McCoy burned an A&M all-out blitz to find Collins for a 20-yard touchdown midway through the second quarter to put Texas up 14-0.
“Colt helps me out by telling me the little things about separation and how the defensive backs are going to play me,” Collins said. “He reads coverages and helps me get open just by knowing what they’re in before the snap.”
McCoy put the game out of reach when he scored the first touchdown of the second half with 8:11 remaining to put Texas up 28-3. McCoy faked the handoff to Vondrell McGee on the zone read and ran untouched up the middle into the endzone. He then hurdled into two defenders waiting for him at the goalline after he already crossed the line.
Davis tried to establish the running game in the first half, but couldn’t get much going there, which led to a slow start. The Longhorns led 21-3 at halftime. Texas finally got that ground game going in the second half when Cody Johnson had two touchdowns and eight carries for 102 yards.
“We noticed their defense was jumping around the edges so we wanted to run the ball to get them settled down,” Davis said.
Texas’ defense was equally as dominant, harassing quarterbacks Stephen McGee and Jerrod Johnson for six sacks. Senior defensive end Brian Orakpo led the way with one and a half sacks in his final home game. He had a forced fumble in the fourth quarter when he hammered A&M receiver Ryan Tannehill on a reverse and defensive end Henry Melton recovered at the Aggie 32 yardline.
“Roy [Miller] and company did a great job up the middle pushing the pocket and making our job easier off the ends,” Orakpo said. “We did a great job controlling the line of scrimmage.”
Linebacker Sergio Kindle had two and a half tackles for a loss and sacked McGee for a nine yard loss as in the opening drive of the second half as the Aggies were driving down the field. That knocked A&M out of field goal range, and McGee walked towards Kindle and uttered a few unfriendly words after the hit.
“I don’t know what he was saying, but Sergio didn’t do anything back,” said linebacker Rashad Bobino.
If the first-team defense showed any weakness, it was when running back Michael Goodson gained 54 yards on a screen pass in the second quarter to set A&M up for their first field goal.
“Besides the missed field goal that was the only thing I was unhappy about in the first half,” Brown said.
Texas’ knockout performance came in front of 98,621 fans—another record on a night of many.
“How awesome were the fans tonight,” McCoy said. “It’s the loudest I’ve ever heard it.”
Note: Texas is ranked second in the BCS standings. The new rankings will be released Sunday after all teams have played. Oklahoma, Texas and Texas Tech are all tied at the top of the Big 12 South with one loss. The team with the highest BCS ranking determines who represents the South if all three teams win out. Oklahoma and Texas Tech both play Saturday. Oklahoma will pass Texas in the BCS with a win over Oklahoma State.
The second ranked team in the BCS tried to make a statement Thursday night by beating the rival Aggies 49-9. The win improves Texas to 11-1 on the year. A&M falls to 4-8, their worst season since Dennis Franchione’s first year.
Texas is behind Oklahoma in the coaches’ poll at 4th place, while the Sooners are in second. If Oklahoma beats Oklahoma State Saturday the Sooners will likely pass Texas in the BCS standings.
If Texas Tech and Oklahoma both win out, then there will be a three-way tie atop the Big 12 South and the team with the highest BCS ranking will go to the Big 12 Championship game to play Missouri.
Cody Johnson scored from a yard out to put Texas up 35-3 with 14:25 to play in the first quarter.
Texas must be playing for style points because the starters are still in the game.
12:53 Tannehil fumbles on an end around . Henry Melton recovers to set Texas up at the Aggie 32 yardline. Two plays later the powerful Johnson takes the handoff and runs it in for a 23-yard score.
Jerrod Johnson entered the game for Texas A&M and he threw a nice fade for a wide open Jeff Fuller in the endzone for a 33 yard score. The two point conversion attempt failed.
The score is 42-9 Texas with 6:13 left to play. I’ll be walking down to the field so this is the last of the updates. Thanks Texas fans for bringing the Daily Texan 45-35 signs to the game. The Longhorns are about to add another touchdown after Cody Johnson ran down the field for a 61-yard game.
Chiles has entered the game for Texas.
After Stephen McGee and the Aggies moved the ball down the field to start the first half, Sergio Kindle sacked McGee on third down for a nine yard loss to knock the Aggies out of field goal range.
Then, McCoy marched the ball down the field, hooking up with Cosby for a 25-yard gain and Brandon Collins for a 36-yard gain. McCoy capped off the drive by scoring on a 16 yard zone read. McCoy faked the handoff to McGee, and then ran untouched up the middle for the touchdown. He hurdled into two Aggie defenders once he reached the endzone.
Texas A&M missed a field goal towards the end of the third quarter and it’s still 28-3 Texas.