Published: October 15, 2007 05:01 pm            

McCoy’s passionate post-OU speech inspired No. 19 Longhorns

AUSTIN — Texas quarterback Colt McCoy looked bitterly disappointed and angry when he walked off the field after the Oklahoma loss. Turns out he was.

When he got to the locker room, the quarterback decided it was time to speak his mind, to vent his frustration with losing and to show the kind of leadership expected from his position. His passionate speech immediately after the game grabbed the attention of his teammates and coaches, and the Longhorns responded with a 56-3 win over Iowa State last weekend.

“It was needed,” wide receiver Quan Cosby said Monday. “It picked everybody up.”

The 28-21 loss was the second in a row for the No. 19 Longhorns (5-2, 1-2 Big 12) and dropped them to their first 0-2 start in conference play since 1956.

“I felt like I’m going to be playing here a long time,” McCoy said. “It was time for me to step up and make sure everybody’s still committed, everybody’s still dedicated and that’s important in a leader. Everybody felt the same way and got back on the same page.”

McCoy is in his second year as the starter. Although he was arguably the Longhorns’ best player as a freshman, it was clear he was following the lead of older, more experienced teammates in the huddle and the locker room.

This season has been a struggle for McCoy and the Longhorns. Through six games, he has as many interceptions as touchdowns (10).

After a four-turnover game in the loss to Kansas State, McCoy played well against Oklahoma with 324 yards passing and two touchdowns, but still came up short in a bitter defeat.

That loss put Texas’ season on the brink. In an emotional post-game locker room, with coaches and school administrators looking on, McCoy spoke his mind.

“He was very aggressive with (his teammates),” coach Mack Brown said. “That’s the first sign of that type leadership I’ve ever seen out of him and I saw that again on Saturday. I think he finally knows it’s time for him to take over and be in charge. He said all the things I would have said.”

McCoy said he just wanted to end the losing streak.

“You have to earn respect. You can’t just call yourself a leader. Leader’s a tough word,” he said. “We have a lot of guys on this team who are very well listened to, very well respected by everybody, but I thought at that point somebody needed to step up and say this is where we need to go, this is what we need to do.”

McCoy said he quoted a passage from the Bible to make his point.

“Forget what is behind, strain toward what is ahead,” McCoy said. “It’s time we start doing the right things and playing well.”

McCoy backed up his words with a huge day against Iowa State, passing for four touchdowns and running 44 yards for another. Texas’ first offensive play was a 58-yard TD pass to Jordan Shipley.

Senior wide receiver Nate Jones said McCoy’s speech earned him even greater respect among his teammates.

“He’d always sit down and tell me certain things, and he just didn’t know how the team would react if he got up in front of everybody and spoke,” Jones said. “For him to get up in front of everybody and say what he said, it really made this team come together and go on and fight and be behind him like he’s going to be behind us.”

        

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