Why Garrett Gilbert May Surpass Colt McCoy And Vince Young At Texas

Vince Young? You've heard it all: high school player of the year, 30-2 as a starter, back-to-back Rose Bowl MVPs, breaker of the loss streak against Oklahoma (and likely saving Mack Brown's job in the process), responsible for the first conference title and major bowl berths of Mack Brown's long coaching career, national title, and a better NFL player (26-13 as a starter on a bad team) than people were willing to admit UNTIL TIM TEBOW NEEDED SOMEONE TO BE COMPARED TO.

And Young would have had an even better career had Mack Brown put in the spread-option offense earlier.

Colt McCoy? More of the same. Big 12 title, winningest college QB ever (and he didn't need the extra games that UGA's David Greene had to set the record), a ton of records in passing efficiency and completion percentage, and a winning record against Oklahoma. Also, McCoy's career has had the "coulda woulda shoulda" quantity to it.

Imagine if Mack Brown had replaced Gene Chizik with a competent coordinator instead of wasting a season on Duane Akina. Imagine if McCoy hadn't separated his shoulder late in his freshman season. Imagine if the Big 12 had a different tie-breaker process in 2008.

McCoy would have four Big 12 titles and as many as two national titles, rivaling Nebraska's Tommie Frazier for the designation of the greatest college QB of the modern era.

Well, as much as Vince Young and Colt McCoy meant to college football and to Texas Longhorn fans, Garrett Gilbert may surpass them both. First, Gilbert is the type of athletic position at the QB position that usually goes to USC: a dropback passer with outstanding natural athletic gifts. Gilbert isn't a freak of nature like John Elway and Dan Marino, but he is definitely in a category with guys like Troy Aikman, Eli Manning, Carson Palmer, and Mark Sanchez. 

In that respect, Gilbert can be considered a combination of his UT predecessors: the superior natural gifts of Vince Young (which McCoy lacked) and the pure passer game of McCoy (which Young lacked).

Second, it looks like Greg Davis and Mack Brown aren't going to replicate their errors with McCoy and particularly Young by trying to impose a pre-existing offensive philosophy on them. Brown very nearly ruined the career of Vince Young by trying to run the same pro-style offense that he had with Major Applewhite and Chris Simms. (Though Simms was made the scapegoat for the failure of those Texas teams, even though Applewhite was clearly the better player, the real problem with that Texas era were the bad defenses.)

Brown and Davis also attempted to have Colt McCoy run a lot of spread option initially, though in their partial defense at the time they were planning on sticking with the spread option and attempting to recruit guys like Ryan Perriloux and Terrelle Pryor for it. But Davis and Brown did settle on an offense that was perfectly suited for McCoy's skills.

However, they aren't going to try to run the McCoy offense for Gilbert. Instead, according to Greg Davis , Texas is going back to a more traditional offense, including more plays from under center instead of out of the shotgun, and the option plays will all but disappear.

This is being done to take advantage of Gilbert's far superior deep passing ability, and also to enable Texas to run the ball. Davis finally admitted that Texas began to de-emphasize running the ball with McCoy because McCoy was so accurate on short passes in that offense.

But while dominating running games have never been associated with Mack Brown at Texas or at his prior stop at North Carolina (that is, except when Brown is running the option, or when he has big time talent like Cedric Benson and Ricky Williams at tailback) the way that it is associated with guys like Tommy Tuberville (now at Texas Tech) and Nick Saban of LSU and Alabama, they should be able to at the very least achieve an offensive balance with the threat of a running game.

That, plus the deep ball threat, will make the Texas offense more effective in big games against top defenses and more reliable and diverse with multiple ways to beat you - through the air or on the ground—in general, like the Miami offenses of 2000-2003 or the USC offenses from 2003-2005, or the offenses of most everyone who comes out of the SEC.

And going back to a more fundamental offense that emphasizes the deep pass and running the football will result in the finesse and speed-loving Texas program getting tougher and more physical at the point of attack. 

Further, you have to consider this as a major benefit that McCoy and Young did not have but Gilbert will: Will Muschamp. Vince Young only had good defensive coordinators for two seasons, and in those he went 24-1. Colt McCoy only had Will Muschamp for two seasons, and in those went 25-2. Garrett Gilbert, meanwhile, willl have Will Muschamp from the outset. Muschamp's defenses alone will make Texas a contender in the Big 12 and nationally. Gilbert—and the running game—will only have to push Texas over the top.

The only limiter will be how long Gilbert stays in Austin. Unlike McCoy and Young, who had to play their way into attention from NFL scouts, Gilbert by virtue of his playing style and ability is on the NFL radar already. If he has a couple of good seasons as the Texas starter, there will be no reason for him to stick around, as he would certainly be the No. 1 pick overall in the QB hungry NFL. So, as Gilbert already used up a year of eligibility last season, whatever he accomplishes is almost certainly going to be limited to the 2010 and 2011 seasons.

However, by winning a national title, Gilbert can surpass the great but yet star-crossed career of Colt McCoy. Outdistancing Vince Young's career in two seasons would require winning a national title and two Big 12 titles at minimum. 

That is a lot to ask of Gilbert in two seasons, yet asking Gilbert to give up being the No. 1 pick in the 2012 draft by coming back to play out his college eligibility is asking a lot more, especially considering what happened to Sam Bradford. But as of right now, I am leaning towards Gilbert starting two years at Texas, and making those two years count.

I am predicting the 2010 and 2011 Big 12 titles as the floor for the Gilbert era at Texas. (Oklahoma won't catch Texas so long as Muschamp is around, and Texas will always have better players than Nebraska unless the Cornhuskers go back to the veer). Get to either the 2010 or 2011 title game, and he therefore surpasses McCoy. Win either the 2010 or 2011 title, and he surpasses Young.

I further say that in either 2010 or 2011, Texas would face a very talented USC, Alabama, Florida, Ohio State or LSU team, or failing that a resurgent FSU or Miami. All the better for Gilbert's legacy if he wins!