Posted: Wed, 21 Jul 2010 12:31 AM - 10,963 Readers
By: Jack Carey
The situation for Texas appeared dire. Five plays into last January's Bowl Championship Series national title game, quarterback Colt McCoy went down with a shoulder injury. The Heisman Trophy finalist appeared to be the last player Texas could afford to lose against Alabama.
Enter Garrett Gilbert. Then a true freshman, Gilbert had completed 15 passes for 124 yards during the regular season.
Suddenly, Texas' national championship hopes rested with him.
"My head was spinning pretty much," Gilbert says. "It was a humbling experience, almost surreal."
And that was before he even took a snap.
Gilbert completed one of his first 10 passes. Two were intercepted, including a shovel pass picked off by Alabama's Marcell Dareus and returned 28 yards for a stunning touchdown that gave the Crimson Tide a 24-6 halftime lead.
But in the second half, Gilbert seemed to grow up before his teammates' eyes.
Gilbert passed for 162 yards after halftime and had two touchdown throws to Jordan Shipley, helping UT move within 24-21. He completed seven of eight passes for 64 yards in leading the 'Horns on the nine-play, 65-yard scoring drive that brought them within a field goal.
Though Gilbert's fumble late in the fourth quarter led to the clinching Alabama touchdown and the Tide pulled away for a 37-21 win, Gilbert and Longhorns coach Mack Brown believe the appearance was something that can be used as a springboard.
"It was a great learning experience. It turned out to be a real positive for me," Gilbert says.
"Garrett had an opportunity to go in the game, struggle some, then come back and put us in a position to possibly win at the end," Brown says. "If you're weak, you might (not embrace) that situation. But here's a 4.0 student, who was the high school player of the year at a big-time high school program. So he was not going to be intimidated by the situation."
At that high school program (Lake Travis in Austin), Gilbert was a three-year starter who finished his career as Texas' all-time leader in passing yards (12,540) and ranked second in state history in touchdown passes (138), completions (895) and attempts (1,368).
Gilbert led Lake Travis to consecutive Class 4A Division II state championships and was named USA TODAY's offensive player of the year for 2008 and the Gatorade and Parade magazine national player of the year.
Gilbert has long had his eye on Texas' quarterback job, having grown up not far from the campus. He also is the son of a former pro signal-caller. His father, Gale, is the only player in NFL history to be a member of five consecutive Super Bowl teams (four with the Buffalo Bills and one with the San Diego Chargers) and was California's quarterback in the famous 1982 Cal-Stanford game that ended with the Stanford band on the field.
The younger Gilbert sounds as if he's not about to back down from a challenge.
"I've always wanted to come here, and with everybody having expectations as high as they are, expecting 10 wins or more every year, I just couldn't see myself anywhere else," Gilbert says. "I looked at other schools just in case, but I always wanted to be here, and when I had a chance to come, it was a dream come true."
As was the opportunity to be mentored in his first season by a Heisman Trophy finalist.
"I couldn't have asked for a better guy to learn from than Colt," Gilbert says. "It was great for me."
After a productive spring practice (he completed 10 of 13 passes for 165 yards in the spring game), Gilbert believes he and the Longhorns are primed to make another run at Big 12 and national honors.
The offense has been tweaked so that Gilbert is expected to be under center more frequently than Texas has shown in the recent past — although exactly how much will likely be determined by what a specific game plan calls for.
And there will likely be more of an emphasis on the running game, but Gilbert says that's fine with him.
"I was really energized and excited by our work in the spring," he says. "The other guys helped me feel comfortable. I feel great about our receiving corps. The spring gave us a chance to get our timing down, and we'll be working more on that during the summer, and that will be big for us."
Coming so close to a national title is a motivation for 2010. "Nobody," he says, "wants to be let down and have that feeling again."
