Catching up with Colt
[caption id="attachment_23421" align="alignleft" width="200"]
Colt McCoy. (Will Gallagher/IT)[/caption]
HALL: Video Blog - Texas commits on DCTF's Super Team
Earlier this week I was given the role of “commissioner” at the Colt McCoy Football Pro Camp. For those of you that don’t know, Colt comes back to host a 2-day camp for elementary and middle school kids every summer in Austin.
Each camper gets an autograph, a t-shirt, a team photo with Colt, in addition to coaching and nuggets of wisdom passed on from the man himself. Colt jumps in on activities to engage with the kids; he speaks to them on topics like being a good teammate at the beginning and end of every day. He was gracious enough to hand me the mic, literally, and invite me to say a few words as well.
As commissioner, my role and responsibilities were three-fold:
1. Be Brad McCoy’s right hand man — if I was commissioner then Coach McCoy must have been “governor.” I was to be his aide.
2. Supervise 7-on-7; be excited and encourage the campers in general.
3. Hang out with Colt.
As you might have guessed, I had the best job of the whole camp. Chance McCoy (the middle of the three McCoy brothers) told me so himself. Many coaches obviously agreed because several jokingly asked me, “How can I get your job next year?”
Jaxon Shipley was there, and Case was as well. The longer I hung around the more the entire event felt like a family reunion. I discovered many of the coaches working the event had personally coached Colt earlier in life. Jim Ned High School, which probably should be renamed McCoy High School at some point, was well represented as you might imagine. Colt wanted the same men who had invested into him as a young man touching the lives of the kids attending his camp.
I promised Brad McCoy, Colt’s dad, I would write this article.
I don’t know if he was kidding, but Coach McCoy told me he wanted “to see a post about all this” while we were at dinner on Monday night. The steak was so good I paused several times to give a low grunt and say things like “Wow… Just, incredible.” I’m pretty sure Brad wasn’t talking about an article on food, but the chocolate cake from Stories at the Hyatt Regency Lost Pines is worth ordering a second helping of. I know now from experience.
Also, I’d like to say thank you to Wing Stop for the all-you-can-eat wings they served us coaches for lunch. They were a sponsor for Colt’s camp, and the two boats of wings I secured for myself had me reminiscing of eating experiences gone by. I hadn’t eaten wings like that since my playing days; though I may be smaller now you know your boy can still dominate some wings.
[caption id="attachment_32454" align="alignright" width="300"]
Col McCoy. (Will Gallagher/IT)[/caption]
Beyond the food, what’s more important is the people. So much has changed in the seven years since I played my last game of football, but some things never change. The team has changed, the administration has changed, the role players have after football is over change. Many of my teammates are now husbands and fathers; we think about mortgages and car payments now instead of the menu at the dining hall and per diem.
Some things change, but in the best way Colt never has.
He lives in the spotlight because his athletic ability has taken him there. He’s earned every dollar, fan, and sponsorship that has come his way and more. I even think he’s one right situation and a few injury-free seasons away from being a pro-bowl quarterback. But besides all that, every time I see him I’m reminded: Colt is still the same salt-of-the-earth country boy from Tuscola, Texas he always was — only grown up and on football’s biggest stage.
Colt’s never stopped being the ultimate professional. When we didn’t play well as a team or block well as an offensive line, he always owned the responsibility himself. He never spoke out or threw anyone under the bus when he certainly could have. That didn’t change once he reached the NFL. He never complained about getting drafted by the Cleveland Browns or being thrown into the starting position before he probably should have been. Wouldn’t it have been nice to sit and have a year to learn?
He prepared to win, played through injuries, and never said a word when the Browns' new coaching staff drafted a replacement.
He waited his turn in San Francisco and D.C. In Washington, as a third-string quarterback, he was given no reps in practice — zero. Yet he still mentally prepared every week like he was going to start, breaking down film and opponents’ tendencies. That’s why he could be thrown in the second half of a game against the Tennessee Titans in 2014 and lead the game-winning drive in the 4th quarter. That’s why he could take the Redskins into Jerry World the very next week and beat the Dallas Cowboys on Monday Night Football.
It’s probably the only time in my life I cheered against my hometown team, but I’ll do it again if it happens this year too. Colt has never stopped being the hardest working man in the room. Nor has ever stopped being a loyal, reliable teammate you could entrust almost anything to. That’s Colt, he hasn’t changed.
Like all former Texas players do we talked about the Longhorns when we were together — specifically, how they’re looking for the upcoming season. Colt had this to say about Notre Dame and probable future starter Shane Buechele (as you know, Shane’s already begun drawing comparisons to #12):
“I know that Coach Strong has done a great job of bringing in the guys he wants, creating some discipline in there. I just think we need guys in there that know how to win. That’s why it’s so important for the team to win a few games early, to remember what it feels like, to beat a good team like Notre Dame when they come to town. I think we’ve been so up and down, we haven’t created that atmosphere like we should. If we can establish that early, then all the naysayers will eventually be quiet.”
“I want Shane to go out there and be himself, be who he is and show all of us what he’s capable of — if he’s the guy. I don’t really know who’s going to play, but I know from reports out there that he had a really nice spring. If it turns into wins, I’m all about it.”
Well said — whatever wins, I'm all about it too. That's the Texas way. Colt knows it as well as anyone.
Colt McCoy. (Will Gallagher/IT)[/caption]
HALL: Video Blog - Texas commits on DCTF's Super Team
Earlier this week I was given the role of “commissioner” at the Colt McCoy Football Pro Camp. For those of you that don’t know, Colt comes back to host a 2-day camp for elementary and middle school kids every summer in Austin.
Each camper gets an autograph, a t-shirt, a team photo with Colt, in addition to coaching and nuggets of wisdom passed on from the man himself. Colt jumps in on activities to engage with the kids; he speaks to them on topics like being a good teammate at the beginning and end of every day. He was gracious enough to hand me the mic, literally, and invite me to say a few words as well.
As commissioner, my role and responsibilities were three-fold:
1. Be Brad McCoy’s right hand man — if I was commissioner then Coach McCoy must have been “governor.” I was to be his aide.
2. Supervise 7-on-7; be excited and encourage the campers in general.
3. Hang out with Colt.
As you might have guessed, I had the best job of the whole camp. Chance McCoy (the middle of the three McCoy brothers) told me so himself. Many coaches obviously agreed because several jokingly asked me, “How can I get your job next year?”
Jaxon Shipley was there, and Case was as well. The longer I hung around the more the entire event felt like a family reunion. I discovered many of the coaches working the event had personally coached Colt earlier in life. Jim Ned High School, which probably should be renamed McCoy High School at some point, was well represented as you might imagine. Colt wanted the same men who had invested into him as a young man touching the lives of the kids attending his camp.
I promised Brad McCoy, Colt’s dad, I would write this article.
I don’t know if he was kidding, but Coach McCoy told me he wanted “to see a post about all this” while we were at dinner on Monday night. The steak was so good I paused several times to give a low grunt and say things like “Wow… Just, incredible.” I’m pretty sure Brad wasn’t talking about an article on food, but the chocolate cake from Stories at the Hyatt Regency Lost Pines is worth ordering a second helping of. I know now from experience.
Also, I’d like to say thank you to Wing Stop for the all-you-can-eat wings they served us coaches for lunch. They were a sponsor for Colt’s camp, and the two boats of wings I secured for myself had me reminiscing of eating experiences gone by. I hadn’t eaten wings like that since my playing days; though I may be smaller now you know your boy can still dominate some wings.
[caption id="attachment_32454" align="alignright" width="300"]
Col McCoy. (Will Gallagher/IT)[/caption]
Beyond the food, what’s more important is the people. So much has changed in the seven years since I played my last game of football, but some things never change. The team has changed, the administration has changed, the role players have after football is over change. Many of my teammates are now husbands and fathers; we think about mortgages and car payments now instead of the menu at the dining hall and per diem.
Some things change, but in the best way Colt never has.
He lives in the spotlight because his athletic ability has taken him there. He’s earned every dollar, fan, and sponsorship that has come his way and more. I even think he’s one right situation and a few injury-free seasons away from being a pro-bowl quarterback. But besides all that, every time I see him I’m reminded: Colt is still the same salt-of-the-earth country boy from Tuscola, Texas he always was — only grown up and on football’s biggest stage.
Colt’s never stopped being the ultimate professional. When we didn’t play well as a team or block well as an offensive line, he always owned the responsibility himself. He never spoke out or threw anyone under the bus when he certainly could have. That didn’t change once he reached the NFL. He never complained about getting drafted by the Cleveland Browns or being thrown into the starting position before he probably should have been. Wouldn’t it have been nice to sit and have a year to learn?
He prepared to win, played through injuries, and never said a word when the Browns' new coaching staff drafted a replacement.
He waited his turn in San Francisco and D.C. In Washington, as a third-string quarterback, he was given no reps in practice — zero. Yet he still mentally prepared every week like he was going to start, breaking down film and opponents’ tendencies. That’s why he could be thrown in the second half of a game against the Tennessee Titans in 2014 and lead the game-winning drive in the 4th quarter. That’s why he could take the Redskins into Jerry World the very next week and beat the Dallas Cowboys on Monday Night Football.
It’s probably the only time in my life I cheered against my hometown team, but I’ll do it again if it happens this year too. Colt has never stopped being the hardest working man in the room. Nor has ever stopped being a loyal, reliable teammate you could entrust almost anything to. That’s Colt, he hasn’t changed.
Like all former Texas players do we talked about the Longhorns when we were together — specifically, how they’re looking for the upcoming season. Colt had this to say about Notre Dame and probable future starter Shane Buechele (as you know, Shane’s already begun drawing comparisons to #12):
“I know that Coach Strong has done a great job of bringing in the guys he wants, creating some discipline in there. I just think we need guys in there that know how to win. That’s why it’s so important for the team to win a few games early, to remember what it feels like, to beat a good team like Notre Dame when they come to town. I think we’ve been so up and down, we haven’t created that atmosphere like we should. If we can establish that early, then all the naysayers will eventually be quiet.”
“I want Shane to go out there and be himself, be who he is and show all of us what he’s capable of — if he’s the guy. I don’t really know who’s going to play, but I know from reports out there that he had a really nice spring. If it turns into wins, I’m all about it.”
Well said — whatever wins, I'm all about it too. That's the Texas way. Colt knows it as well as anyone.
