He weighed 180 pounds. Slender shoulders, skinny arms and legs and a wide-eyed expression made some teammates wonder if he could play.
“I’m a city guy from Houston,” Texas senior running back Chris Ogbannaya said. “Colt comes up to me and the first thing he says is, ‘Hi, I’m Colt McCoy.’ I am just like, ‘Where are you from?’ He had a West Texas accent.”
Nobody questions whether McCoy can play anymore. The confident kid is in his third year as the Longhorns’ starter. Hard work in the weight room turned him into a solid 6-3, 215 pounds athlete with a strong arm and speed to outrun defenders.
With 16 touchdown passes and a team-high 317 yards rushing, McCoy is playing so well that even though he’s got plenty of experience he’s still been the biggest surprise on offense for fifth-ranked Texas (5-0). Another big game - and a victory - Saturday against No. 1 Oklahoma (5-0) in the Red River Rivalry could make him a top contender for the Heisman Trophy.
“I think everybody understands who their bellcow is, who their leader is, and they get on his back,” Oklahoma defensive coordinator Brent Venables said.
Many Texas fans figured McCoy was just an insurance policy when the Longhorns missed signing blue-chip recruit Ryan Perrilloux out of Louisiana in 2005.
“If you saw where I played high school, you’d know why I wasn’t a (big) recruit,” said McCoy, who played at Class 2A Tuscola Jim Ned, just up the road from Buffalo Gap.
Longhorns coach Mack Brown saw past the small town to see a big-time player.
“We saw the same things in high school you’re seeing now,” Brown said. “The questions we had were: Could he get bigger and stronger? We never questioned his ability to play. He has worked really hard to answer every flaw. He’s played as near perfect as you can play.”
Size and strength were a problem early in his career when he was injured on a hard hit to the shoulder as a redshirt freshman. A pinched nerve in his neck lingered for weeks and might have cost Texas a home loss to Texas A&M and an opportunity to defend its Big 12 Conference title.
Today, McCoy runs with power and confidence. Against Rice, he bowled over two defenders at the goal line for a touchdown. Against Arkansas, he outran the Razorbacks’ secondary in a 35-yard burst to the end zone, Texas’ longest scoring run of the season.
While Texas has yet to find a No. 1 tailback, McCoy is averaging 7.0 yards per carry, most of it coming on designed runs. That gives the Longhorns a flavor of the dual-threat QB they had with Vince Young in their national championship season of 2005.
McCoy ran for more than 400 yards last season but said he finally realized he could do some real damage when he went 70 yards against Texas’ first-team defense in a preseason scrimmage.
“When I can use my feet I’m going to use them, and just like Coach Brown tells me every day, ‘When you can go make a first down, go make it,’” McCoy said.
Just as important is that the mistakes that plagued him last season - when he threw 18 interceptions - have not shown up through the first five games. Texas offensive coordinator Greg Davis said McCoy now understands the defenses he’s facing so well that he often anticipates plays before Davis calls them.
Oklahoma won’t be like Rice, Arkansas or any opponent Texas has faced this season. The Sooners will bring a big, fast defense on Saturday. The Sooners chased McCoy all around the backfield in last season’s 28-21 win.
“He’s much faster and more accurate,” Sooners defensive tackle Gerald McCoy said. “That guy, he’s a real good player, so we’re going to have a task ahead of us stopping him.”
Saturday’s game at the Cotton Bowl will be a return to the place of McCoy’s biggest win and his most crushing defeat.
He wore a smile as wide as a country mile after he threw two touchdown passes in Texas’ 28-10 win as a freshman in 2006, a victory that propelled him out of Young’s considerable shadow. He played well again last season, but Texas lost and McCoy seethed as he stalked off the field clenching both fists in anger.
Minutes later, an impassioned speech to his teammates in the locker room established him as a leader not just of the offense but also the entire team.
McCoy’s name is showing up on early lists of Heisman contenders along with Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford and Missouri QB Chase Daniel, McCoy’s opponent next week. Wins against those two could make him the front-runner for a trophy that even Young couldn’t win.
“I love this game,” McCoy said. “I love this week. I can’t wait till Saturday."
