I love Colt McCoy and Jordan Shipley, but I do not believe they belong on the "top 10" longhorns of all time.
I would include James Street and Steve Worster. Neither played in the pros but you cannot deny what they accomplished in college.
I feel like Street had too many built-in benefits of the system to warrant a top-ten spot, even if he never lost a game as a starter. His career QB rating is worse than GG's was at Texas, and his RBs basically carried the offensive load. 4 ypc isn't exactly top ten material.
No offense, but anyone that leaves Street off that list is either too young to remember, an idiot, or both.
Somebody actually got paid to do this list? Probably interned under the morons that did the whitewash known as "30 on 30". The top three or four are without question, then comes the problem and where do you cutoff the list. The list should start with Layne, Nobis, Earl, VY. Next for consideration should include Appleton and Kenneth Sims. Both of these players could dominate on defense, but I do not ever remember a player in all college football as dominate as Kenneth Sims was. Not bad for a player with no scholarship offers, and who only got an offer because we lost a last minute offeree. I would defer to Bill Little, Dave Campbell, and former players like T Jones for input.
James Street must be on the list, no lower than fourth or fifth. Screw your stat sheet and your qb formula. The job required someone to manage the game and win, and to take chances only when really necessary. When it was really necessary, Street made seemingly impossible plays. Nobis is number one all-time.
I love Earl but VY should be #1. He had the greatest season with the team that beat the greatest team ever! Street should be on that list too.
My top three in terms of just pure incredible physical skill and no particular order are Earl, Ricky and VY. As for the Street debate, if you mean pure athlete than I am not sure Street makes the top ten in football bit would in baseball. If you mean winner then he is clearly top ten and in terms of Texas history I put him in that next group with Nobis and Layne.
Street must be on the list. And VY must be # 1. Scott Appleton was a more dominant college DT than McMichael.
Other than Shipley being on the list and Street's absence from it, I don't have a problem with that Top 10. Tough to come up with a consensus Top 10 when you talk about a program like Texas.
"Screw your stat sheet and your qb formula." I didn't invent the formula or stats. What FWHORN said... if this is a list of "guys who didn't lose," then Street should be at the top. But seeing as how it's just "Great," and Street was basically a game manager who had an other-worldly scheme around him, I don't know if he should get the credit as an individual player. Nobis, Appleton, Kiki, Sims, Worster, and a few others could have transported in a time machine from their playing days to 2014 and started for the current team. Not so much with Street. He was never even mentioned by Heisman voters because they understood his limitations.
"Super Bill" Bradley instead of Gray. I also wonder how players like Alan Lowry don't seem to make these lists. ALL conference as a db his junior year and ALL conference as a qb his senior year. Loved his td runs beating Alabama in the Cotton Bowl. No he didn't step out of bounds.
Ricky Williams at 5? I think he should be higher. He had three great years before a truly amazing senior season. I wasn't a Longhorns fan during the James Street heyday (I was in elementary school) but he, Worster and Jim Bertleson were players I recognized and admired. McCoy and Shipley each had four outstanding seasons on the 40 acres, so I can see why they rated so highly, but McCoy was less amazing than Williams. Young's junior year rivals Campbell's senior year as the most outstanding performance by a Longhorn football player, ever, but nothing he did before that would get him consideration as a Top 10 of all time at UT.
Colt McCoy. Most underappreciated player in college football history. His final two seasons when he left the field his team was in the lead. If you want to be technical, maybe there was a second left versus Tech. Obviously, he set some records. He played his *** off. He won games. Lots of them. In retrospect, he should get even more credit than did during his tenure. The significant offensive talent around his last two years was very underwhelming. No offensive linemen drafted from his last two years. No TE's to speak of. Chris O. undrafted and journeyman RB. Undersized Quan Cosby present during Jr year and missed the Tech game. Jordan Shipley. Marquise Goodwin present during Sr year as MG was a FR and really a track guy. Find me anyone with less game breaking talent in their support cast of a major program in a major conference. His junior year was tops. What was it 4 top 15 teams in a row? The final one being a road, night game against a top 10 team in the biggest game in their history. I believe all 4 of those teams had QB with skills that had them in the NFL. Amongst other talented players. For my money, that was the biggest snub in Heisman history. Well, at least recently. Colt won going away head-to-head, was more important to his team, and was more invaluable to his team than Bradford. You can say that about Young versus Bush too although the vote was in before they went head-to-head. We had so many underappeciated guys on that team. We had more good players than USC did. Young's play had no impact on the ability of guys like Sendlein, Studdard, Scott, Blalock, Thomas, Charles, Hall, Sweed, Hills, S. Young to get drafted or play in the NFL. Only 1 of those guys, I would say had more hype than production. Many of these guys were the reason Colt was in the Heisman discussion as a FR. He was not worthy that year of any consideration. The discussion was about numbers and team record. Part of the argument for Colt is supported by the offensive garbage we have put out since Colt left. And it was immediate after he left. On one hand, it is difficult to blame GD for his injury versus Alabama. But at the same time, it was a high risk, low reward play. No one knows where it ranked amongst our best play calls, but I would venture to say it wouldn't be in the top 50. So let's run it early in the game. Brilliant.
What djack said. His records will go untouched for quite a while. I'd venture a guess that whoever bests his QB prowess at Texas probably hasn't been born yet.
Street over McCoy? It's the classic old dudes saying Ray Nitchke is better than Ray Lewis. Colt was one of the best college quarterbacks to ever play in any generation, for any school. Got it Street is a legend, beat OU etc... But to slight Colt because Street has a cult following? Not a very intellectual debate.
Besides winning every game he started at quarterback at Texas and winning a National Championship there is this too. James Street was an excellent pitcher for the Texas Baseball Team and threw two no hitters. One of those being a perfect game against Tech. He also won two Southwest Conference Championships and went to the College World Series three times. He was first team All Southwest Conference three straight years and second team All American two years. He would have been first team All American one of those years, but some guy named Burt Hooten beat him out. How did Colt do in another sport at UT? Same thing for Bobby Layne in baseball by the way who was also an excellent pitcher with two no hitters and more. I think that counts too when you star at Texas in multiple sports. How intellectual is it to not know this and include it in any debate about this subject. That slights Street and Layne in a big way. They are both Texas Longhorn Legends and UT sports icons, not cult heroes and it sounds more like someone doesn't know the history of UT sports and who made it.
Earl is Number 1. He won the Heisman behind a third-string QB. Everyone knew he was gonna run and no one could stop him.
This whole ranking system is ridiculous. "__ is the best ever!" "__ should be #2." Different eras, different O's and D's, 3 yards and a cloud of dust vs. zone read, coaches, grass vs. carpet, S&C...whatever.... My soph year at UT I got to enjoy watching Street run the Wishbone and beat the Irish for the NC. As an older guy I enjoyed watching Vince and crew beat the greatest college team of all time (tongue-in-cheek). In between were Earl, Ricky, DJ, the Triplets, Sims, Major, Redding, etc, etc, etc. Lots of great Longhorns. It's impossible to state __ is "The Best Ever." This is a list of 10 outstanding Texas football players. But it is still the off-season....
