Posted: Fri, 26 Feb 2010 10:29 AM - 11,304 Readers

By: Mike Finger

The same night Colt McCoy's shoulder was knocked out of whack, something broke inside Mack Brown, too.

Only one of those wounds has a timetable for healing.

“I don't think I'll ever recover from it,” Brown said earlier this month of Texas' loss to Alabama in the Bowl Championship Series title game on Jan. 7.

There's a difference, however, in recovering and moving on, and Brown's Longhorns have proclaimed themselves ready for the latter. By the time the first hit is delivered in the first workout of spring practice today, it will mark the page-turning occasion seven weeks in the making.

“Kids turn it faster than the coaches,” Brown said Thursday. “I'm going to try to do it (today) in the morning.”

Making that process easier is the enthusiasm generated by what figures to be another preseason Top 10 team. The most obvious storyline over the next month of spring practice will be the development of sophomore quarterback Garrett Gilbert, who was thrust into the title game after McCoy's injury and nearly led the Longhorns to a stirring comeback.

After completing only one of 10 passes for minus-4 yards in the first half, Gilbert went 14-of-30 for 190 yards and two touchdowns in the second and had the Longhorns within three points before fumbling deep in his own territory in the final minutes.

In receiving his first meaningful UT playing time during the most important game a college player can experience, there were a couple of ways his immersion into big-time quarterback pressure could have taken him.

“If he was fragile, it would have really hurt him,” Brown said. “I've seen absolutely nothing since that game to think he'll take a step back.”

Gilbert's performance also gave him a head start on the biggest jump Brown says a quarterback can make during the offseason — leadership skills. If he hadn't played against Alabama, he'd likely be spending much of this month trying to earn his teammates' respect.

Gilbert, a 6-4, 212-pound former high-school All-American from Lake Travis, is the clear-cut starter at quarterback, with senior Sherrod Harris and freshmen Connor Wood and Case McCoy competing for the No. 2 job. Both Wood (a Second Baptist product) and McCoy (Colt's younger brother) enrolled in school early to participate in spring drills.

Brown said if Harris wins the backup job, both freshmen might be able to redshirt. But the more likely scenario is that Wood or McCoy emerges as the second-stringer and the other takes a redshirt.