A Tribute to Colt McCoy: The Nice Guy of College Football

You have to feel for Colt McCoy he has worked for a chance to play in the National Title game for at least four years, maybe even his entire life.  But he injures his shoulder very early in the first quarter of the BCS Championship game, on a play that was as normal as any other.  McCoy taking the snap looking for a hole to run through, and an Alabama player coming from behind and hitting (spearing) him.

McCoy falls softly on the pile, gets up just like he has done hundreds of times before.  But all of a sudden you see him motioning to the sideline for the backup QB to come into the game.  He runs off the field with his right arm hanging somewhat limp, he is mobbed by coaches and training staff as he hits the sideline to see what’s wrong with their star Quarterback.

Over the course of the first half all you see are shots of McCoy walking to the locker room looking dejected, but no updates on his condition.  You see him leave the Texas locker room heading for x-rays, with every shot of McCoy you get the sense that his career at Texas is over.

The finality hits when you see the shot of his dad heading into the Texas locker room, and at that point you realize he isn’t going to come back into the game.  The real tragedy wasn’t the fact that McCoy was going to miss the rest of this game, it is the fact that fate once again chose to make McCoy the odd man out.

If you look at the career of Colt McCoy you will see many instances where he received the short end of the stick.  I can easily make an argument that McCoy’s career was just as impressive as that of Tim Tebow.  But fortune did not shine on McCoy like it did for other high profile players over the last four years.

Entering his third year as a starter McCoy finally had the Longhorns on a roll with the team starting 8 – 0 even though there was much doubt about the Longhorns football team.  After defeating three ranked teams in that 8 – 0 run Texas looked to be in good shape, then the ill fated game against Texas Tech happened.

If you think about that game McCoy led that team to the lead late in the game on his own will.  After Texas scored Texas Tech was driving for the winning score with under two minutes to go. On that drive a Texas defender dropped an interception that would have sealed the win for the Longhorns.  Still, Texas looked like they were going to hold, but with :06 left in the game Michael Crabtree catches an improbable pass, escapes the defender and scores as time expires to give Texas Tech the win.

This lone loss would put McCoy out of the BCS Title game, and vault an Oklahoma team he had already beaten into the title game.  McCoy would then lose the Heisman trophy to Sam Bradford whom he had beaten head to head, and Bradford would also get to play in the National Title game.

McCoy came into his senior season with the goal of winning the National Title, and even passed up NFL dollars for that opportunity.  The Longhorns were not as good this season as the 2008 team, but McCoy put the team on his back and made enough plays to finally get them into the title game.

Along the way McCoy lost another bid at the Heisman trophy to sophomore Mark Ingram, primarily because McCoy didn’t out perform himself from the previous season.  But when asked McCoy said he would rather win a National Title, and then we come to tonight where he was knocked out early as fate robbed McCoy again.

You can’t do anything but root for McCoy, after the game you could see him fighting back tears of disappointment as he was interviewed.  You could see the hurt on his face the entire game as he watched his team claw back into the game only to come up short at the end.  McCoy who has tremendous religious faith said he would not question the reasons for this opportunity being taken away from him.

Even with all these things going against him McCoy always remained a class act.  It almost became repetitive hearing McCoy praise other players and teams as he constantly finished second.  If he ever complained or felt the world was against him, you never saw him display it publicly.

On this night where fate dealt McCoy one last crushing blow to end his career in a Longhorn uniform, McCoy may be embarking on the beginning of a fruitful NFL career.  My congratulations go out to Alabama although it would have been interesting to see the turnout had McCoy played the entire game.  It’s their night to celebrate being champions, but I think a few moments of praise should be given to the guy who always seems to finish second.