Posted: Fri, 5 Mar 2010 07:40 PM - 7,355 Readers

By: Mike Finger

When it was over, after the stands at the Rose Bowl had cleared and the media had left the locker room and he finally had a moment to himself to reflect on what he'd just done, how was Garrett Gilbert supposed to feel?

Football decorum dictated he was not supposed to smile, not supposed to talk about what he'd done well, not supposed to demand any credit for nearly pulling off one of the most unlikely comebacks in college football history. The Texas Longhorns had lost to Alabama in the Bowl Championship Series title game, and Gilbert's five turnovers were a reason why.

But shouldn't he have felt a little pride? Couldn't he have been forgiven if he allowed himself just a brief second of self-satisfaction? Most everyone else who's played college football is allowed at least that much after experiencing their first dose of meaningful playing time, and almost none of those debuts had near the significance that Gilbert's did.

Still, Gilbert could not crack. He'd just lived a dream moment, playing in a college atmosphere he would never top, performing better than almost anyone could have expected. But that didn't change the fact that dozens of teammates in the locker room and thousands of Longhorns fans around the country wished he never had to play in the first place.

“It was a little bit surreal at first,” Gilbert said this week of his emergency relief effort in place of injured UT quarterback Colt McCoy on Jan. 7.

Two months after the title game, it's clear that processing it has taken some time. Just as in California, he says all the right things — during one half-hour interview on Tuesday, the sophomore from Lake Travis used the phrase “learning experience” eight times, “learn from it” three times and “stepping stone” four times — but his comments remain guarded.

When someone asks about dropped passes by his receivers in the title game, he says the team played as well as it could. When someone asks whether he thought he proved something to the older members of the Longhorns by leading a second-half rally, he says it was just a learning experience. When someone asks whether he's getting more comfortable answering these kinds of questions — because as the starting quarterback at UT, it's going to be a big part of his life for the next three years — he manages his first smile, gives a nervous chuckle and swallows before uttering one word.

“Kinda,” he said.

Tuesday was the Longhorns' first open practice of the spring, and his first chance to show off the leadership skills that UT coach Mack Brown said are a priority this offseason. Brown said his performance against Alabama — when he went 1 for 10 for minus-4 yards in the first half before going 14 for 30 for 190 yards and two touchdowns in the second — will do wonders in terms of winning over the veterans.

“Obviously,” wide receiver James Kirkendoll said, “everybody knows he brings a lot to the table.”

Even so, Gilbert said he works every day to win the players' trust. And he has no interest in mimicking Vince Young or McCoy.

“I'm trying to be myself,” Gilbert said.

And hoping that gets a little easier every day.