In Tebow's shadow, McCoy makes his mark

In the summer of 2005, the wondrously-named Colt McCoy arrived in Austin from Tuscola, Texas, a town of 714 that had never produced a Division I athlete. At 179 pounds, his most abundant asset was ambition.

“I want to be the best you’ve ever coached,” he told offensive coordinator Greg Davis.

Yeah, right, Davis recalls thinking, I’ve got Pee-Wee Herman here.

Four and a half years later, McCoy holds just about every Texas passing record. What’s more, with 45 victories in four years as a starter, he’s the winningest quarterback in college football history. More still: With another win in Thursday’s BCS title game, he’ll redefine the era.

It is often said, and accepted without much argument, that Tim Tebow is the greatest player in the college game has ever seen. Perhaps he is. But before he throws a pass against Alabama, McCoy has already thrown for almost 4,000 more yards and 24 more touchdowns than Tebow, who has won a single championship as a starter. Yes, Tebow won the Heisman, while McCoy is a perennial candidate. Then again, having won this year’s Chic Harley, Davey O’Brien, Johnny Unitas, Maxwell and Walter Camp awards -- not to mention the Sporting News College Athlete of the Year -- McCoy’s trophy case isn’t exactly barren.

You say that Tebow is the better runner. Of course, he is. There’s never been anyone like him, a quarterback built like a linebacker. But I find as much, if not more, to admire in a guy who matriculated at 179 pounds -- “a skinned squirrel,” as McCoy says, in his Texas vernacular.

“Are you saying I’m small?” he asked Tuesday morning.

McCoy keeps saying he’s 215. But the truth is, he doesn’t look his listed weight of 210, and I wonder how he’s managed to start 52 consecutive games.

“As a quarterback, I understand that I’m going to take shots,” he said. “I understand that the coaches need me to run the ball. So I bust my tail in the weight room.”

“Never missed a start for us, and he’s taken some vicious hits,” said coach Davis. “He’s extremely strong.”

As a testament to that strength, consider Memorial Day weekend, 2006. McCoy heard screams across a lake in West Texas, prompting him to swim approximately 300 yards to a dock, where a 60-year-old man was having an epileptic seizure. Then, the hard part: getting the man to the ambulance, which was waiting at his house -- about 175 yards up a rocky cliff.

That was McCoy’s first and last rescue mission. But today -- four years and 30 pounds later -- its success explains his strength as a virtue. McCoy has rare fortitude, the ability to imagine himself triumphant no matter the circumstances -- as a makeshift EMT or an undersized freshman trying to replace Vince Young. For all his professed humility -- “I hate to be talking about myself” -- Colt McCoy is possessed of unnatural self-confidence. That’s something you can’t develop in the weight room.

“I prepare my body for the hits I take,” he said.

Sure, but I’ve seen enough heavyweights to know that an eternity in the weight room won’t endow you with a chin.

“I don’t know what to say,” said McCoy. “It’s just a knack to play the game.”

In his last trip the Rose Bowl, he held the clipboard for Vince Young. “You’ll be here someday,” Young told him, as he got ready to take the field for the game-winning drive against USC.

Four years later, Young looks like a minor prophet. Now McCoy gets the same chance his predecessor had -- to win a title at the Rose Bowl against an undefeated, top-ranked opponent. The coincidence may prove historic. A Texas victory may force you to reconsider what already feels like the Tim Tebow era.

Of course, Texas has no shot at all without an excellent game from its quarterback. McCoy will tell you as much.

As a freshman his coach told him, “You have to win, and you have to make your teammates believe that you’re going to win.”

Looking back, said McCoy, “That’s what I’ve done in my time here. Nobody’s won more games.”

Looking forward, I asked him about the pros.

“I’d like to keep this about the national championship,” he said.

Still, there’s been a lot of talk about Tebow in the NFL, and not much about Colt McCoy.

“I’m a winner,” he said. “I’ll say that.”