Texas football: 5 great Longhorns who were NFL busts
Not every Texas football great found success once in the NFL.
It’s been the better part of a decade, if not longer, that Longhorns fans and the general public have been waiting for Texas football to be “back.” And while they have had some success over the past few years, they haven’t been able to get back to the heights they last enjoyed in 2005 when they won the fourth National Championship in school history, the three others coming from 1963-70.
Even with the rollercoaster nature of the Longhorns, they have never been short on talent. When you’re a program with the history of Texas football, that’s never going to be a surprise. But even still, many players who have went to Austin with a ton of hype lived up to it while in college.
At the same time, not every standout from the program went on to enjoy the same amount of success at the next level. These five players, in particular, never became quite what they were in college once they reached the NFL.
Colt McCoy was taking his redshirt year when the Longhorns went on to win the National Championship in the 2005 season. The following season as a redshirt freshman, however, McCoy took over as the starter and wasted little time making his mark on the program. He set the school record for touchdown passes in a season, throwing for 2,570 yards, 29 scores and only seven picks while leading the team to a 10-3 overall record.
As a redshirt sophomore, the Longhorns again went 10-3 under the watch of McCoy but the signal-caller had some slip-ups, throughout the year. His touchdown total dropped to just 22 and his interception total went up to 18. However, he bounced back with the best season of his career. Completing 76.7 percent of his throws, he threw for 3,859 yards, 34 touchdowns and eight interceptions and rushing for 11 touchdowns as well. He finished second in the Heisman voting as Texas went 12-1 and won the Fiesta Bowl.
In his final season in the program, McCoy continued to succeed, throwing for 3,521 yards, 27 scores and 12 interceptions. He also led the Longhorns to the BCS National Championship Game again, though they fell to No. 1 Alabama. Even still, McCoy ended his career as Texas’ all-time leader in passing yards (13,253) and passing touchdowns (112), both by huge margins.
Even with how prolific he was in college, McCoy wasn’t selected until the third round of the 2010 NFL Draft by the Cleveland Browns, largely due to his noticeable lack of size. While he made 21 starts in his first two seasons, his lack of success was notable and he’s only played in 18 total games in the eight seasons since.