When Mack Brown was hired by the Texas Longhorns on December 4th, 1997, he inherited a program in complete disarray under John Mackovic. Brown immediately implemented a new strategy for the fallen perennial powerhouse, one that was designed around recruiting.
Mack has been able to successfully implement this strategy through his 13 years on the 40 acres. Unfortunately for Texas, this has only resulted in 2 Big 12 championships and one epic 2005 National championship.
This is not to say that some fine collegiate quarterbacks have not played for the University of Texas since 1997. In fact, two UT quarterbacks stand out immensely in the BCS era.
#6 Garrett Gilbert
(2010-Present)
- Record as a starter: 4-4
- Statistics: 2098yds 8tds 13ints
UT’s offensive coordinator Greg Davis joked that he had waited his entire coaching career for a player like Gilbert. Well, 8 games into Texas’ 2010 season, and it’s an absolute abortion. Texas fell out of the top 25 for the first time since 1998, and Texas’ streak of 9+ wins per season since 1998 is likely to come to an end.
#5 Chance Mock
(2001-2004)
- Record as a starter: 4-2
- Statistics: 1613yds 17tds 2ints
Mock was another highly touted recruit brought to the 40 acres: Parade All American, top 10 on the Austin American Statesman Fab 55. He finally was given the starting job after backing up Applewhite & Simms from 2001 to 2002. Unfortunately for Mock, his backup happened to be Vince Young, and Mock’s reign as UT starter lasted just 6 games.
#4 Chris Simms
(1999-2002)
- Record as a starter: 26-6
- Statistics: 7094yds 58tds 31ints
Chris Simms was Mack Brown’s first crown jewel of his recruiting strategy. Simms originally committed to the University of Tennessee in his senior year of high school, hoping to follow in the footsteps of Volunteer legend Peyton Manning. Brown, however, was able to change Simms’ mind, and set forth a series of events that for better or worse changed the landscape of the Longhorns football team. Simms was never able to beat Oklahoma, or overcome critical mistakes in the 2001 Big 12 championship game; but Simms was a fantastic Longhorn quarterback who won 26 games as a starter.
#3 Major Applewhite
(1998-2001)
- Record as a starter: 22-8
- Statistics: 8353yds 60tds 28ints | 3 rushing tds
The Major was one of the most popular quarterbacks to ever wear burnt orange. He was unceremoniously benched for Chris Simms in 2000, and didn’t see the field for any serious snaps until the 2001 Big 12 championship game, in which he was nearly able to pull off an epic comeback that would have sent the Longhorns to Pasadena to face #1 Miami for the National Championship game. Unfortunately, Applewhite was unable to overcome Simms’ 4 turnovers, and Texas was sent to the Holiday Bowl. Applewhite set a UT record for most passing yards in the game, and engineered a thrilling comeback victory over the Huskies to end a prestigious career for the Texas Longhorns.
#2 Colt McCoy
(2006-2009)
- Record as a starter: 45-7
- Statistics: 13253yds 112tds 45ints | 1589yds 20tds
Colt McCoy made his way to the 40 acres as an unheralded recruit in 2005. How ignorant the Longhorn faithful were to what McCoy would eventually become: 3-1 as a starter in bowls, dozens of UT records, back-to-back Walter Camp Player of the Year, 09 Maxwell winner, 2008 Heisman runner-up, highest single season completion percentage, most wins as a FBS quarterback, and many other career accolades.
Quite a career for a quarterback who had to follow in the footsteps of the BCS era’s best player.
#1 Vince Young
(2003-2005)
- Record as a starter: 30-2
- Statistics: 6040yds 44tds 28ints | 3127yds 37tds
The consensus #1 recruit in the country in 2001 began his Longhorns career with a lot of expectations, expectations that the young Vince Young was unable to deliver — at first.
That all changed after the 2004 Red River Shootout loss to Oklahoma. That would be the last time Vince Young tasted defeat in college football. Young ran off 21 straight victories, culminating in arguably the best individual performance in college football history, knocking off the defending 2 time Nat’l Champion USC Trojans.
Young’s accolades include 2 Rose Bowl MVPs, 2005 All American, Davey O’Brien Nat’l QB of the Year, Maxwell winner, Heisman runner-up, and the most total yards ever in a BCS Nat’l Championship game.
Vince Young is not only the greatest QB in the Mack Brown era of the Texas Longhorns, but the greatest quarterback to ever wear burnt orange.
