Watched this freshman in his first game last night against Pitt and he certainly lived up to all the hype. 25 of 27 for 356 and four TDs, plus one on the ground. It wasn't just the stats, but the way he ran the offense. Sure didn't look like a freshman. Pitt isn't exactly a powerhouse, but they're not FCS chopped liver either. Color me impressed.
Says he wanted to play QB for Texas: Linky. Way too early to weep, wail, and gnash teeth over what-could-have-been, but this seems to be an annual occurrence (assuming it's true).
Doesn't hold a candle to Johnny Moneymaker! There's something about his hand motion that doesn't stack up.
Wow, thanks for depressing me! I was thinking as I watched the game, "Man. I wish Texas could recruit a QB like that!". Apparently not being recruited by Texas is something all the great college QBs have in common. I hope this isn't one of those "Mack promised Chris Whaley that he wouldn't recruit any other rbs" things. Winston made all the right reads. He stood tall in the pocket and took hits while delivering an accurate pass. He's big and physical. But I will say that his deadly accurate passes all lookded like dying ducks.
He also played a Pitt team that won two games. Lets wait before we start anointing this kid the next great QB.
^^^. This. Moreover, I'm still not sure if what he said was more talk than anything else. After looking back at several threads about the kid during recruiting, he made similar statements about Texas, but also said he was a big OU fan growing up, was high on 'Bama, Auburn, and Stanford, and often referred to FSU as "my school". All of those teams offered him. Harsin was supposedly already all-in on Conner Brewer for 2012, so it wouldn't be surprising that Texas didn't offer. We'll never know whether he would have taken the offer or not. Instead, we potentially have to live with another year of "woulda, coulda, shoulda."
the truth is that until the horns get a game changer at QB, the narrative of "texas could have had so and so" will continue...despite the fact that it's ridiculous to assume that the horns have the ability/time to evaluate every single player in the country. i suppose in some sense you should take it as a compliment? that espn seems to think that a texas offer is such a game changer that they could have anyone they want? either way, when the media gets a narrative in their head, they're going to run it into the ground, even when it defies logic. i can see the criticism for RG3 and johnny (his past behavior not withstanding) but a random QB out of alabama? come on.
Given the less than outstanding ratio of out of state qb's I wonder how much of it played a part in this? He seems to be a great talent and a great kid. I wonder if he's the only qb to ever call the coaches and wants to come here. Maybe there are dozens if not more each year. Were we full? Did we already have our eyes on somebody? Are we happy with who we have and on the way? Who do you pull a 'ship from? There's way more to all this than he merely wanted to come here. And yet he was an OU fan living in Bama Country who wanted to be a Longhorn. Hmmm. I think if I was a coach at Texas and knew he was a Sooner fan I would be suspicious. Holla Ryan P. sort of made them once bitten. The list of wishy-washy out of state qb's is long. We've landed a couple, missed out on a lot for various reasons. I don't worry one second over this. I like our future as is. Best of luck to the Sooner Fan, Bama raised Seminole playing young man.
Joe - You could put that same post on just about every college board. I forget, how many other offers did Manziel receive? "in addition to Texas A&M, he received offers from Baylor, Colorado State, Iowa State, Louisiana Tech, Oregon, Rice, Stanford, Tulsa, and Wyoming." As far as Griffin, "During the college recruiting period Griffin was pursued by Stanford, Tennessee, Kansas, Nebraska, Houston, Tulsa, Illinois, Washington State, and Oregon. " Sounds like most of CFB didn't offer anything to these two. So critizing Texas for not recruiting them is ********.
Meh... With ~25 schollys a year, you can't offer everybody. Yeah, we can whine about Luck, RGIII and JFF and even as far back as Andre Ware, but it's not like any of them actually won MNCs where they went. If anything Texas has been cursed by getting its guy. Garrett Gilbert looked fabulous in HS. Not so much at Texas. And I daresay Texas probably would've been better off if they had never taken Chris Simms. Eh... whatever.
Winston is a FSU baseball player and was drafted out of high school. Maybe Texas didn't want a two sport athlete as a QB
he was the #10 overall recruit on Rivals, and top rated QB in 2012. this is on the coaches if a 5-star recruit was begging you to consider him. You'd have to hope they at least thought about it.
Why is Winston now talking about not being recruiting by a school that isn't a rival and isn't even in his conference? Seems weird. I don't know why this would even be a story unless solicited by some anti-Texas troll. I have plenty of reasons to gripe about Mack, but "missing out" on this recruit is not one of them.
All he basically said he would have gone here if we'd come over to him - but he didn't seem to do much about that while he was being recruited. He certainly didn't "beg to come to Texas". And he also says he was a big OU fan. And he lived in Bama country. So if anything, Saban and Stoops missed out on this guy just as much.
Dying to know who Mack's trusted source was that told him the kid was playing drama games and to steer clear. That was good advice.
Joe - Did you read my post? I didn't say you in particular, any criticism for "hindsight recruiting" is ********. But now that you mention it, you are condoning it since you "can see" why Texas is criticized for not recruiting Griffin or Manziel.
1. Apparently those are retweets from 2011 2. He was already committed to FSU and being from Alabama, only Auburn and Alabama had an outside shot at him
I did enjoy the kid's play Monday ... but why would he even bring up UT after his big night? just curious ... Those FSU receivers were damn good too -- esp #1 Benjamin
If I was an FSU fan I'd be a bit annoyed at how the star freshman has a great opening game and then talks about OU fandom and about wanting to be at Texas instead of here....
He's lying. He's like one of those hot babes who, when you were single, never gave you the time of day. Then after you get married, they say, "You know, I was sooo into you...remember that night at the party? You could have had me that night. I sent you all kinds of signals. (sigh)..oh well, now it's too late." Yeah right.