"HE'LL BE READY"
By Danny Reagan / Abilene, Texas
On a scale of 1-to-10, Colt McCoy is between a 7 and an 8 on being back to 100% ready to play.
That's the assessment from father and former coach Brad who saw his oldest son over this past weekend.
"He's a lot more upbeat and up-tempo than right after the Kansas State game, so I'd have to say his mental condition is even better than his physical," said Brad. "He knows he has more time to heal, and that he'll be ready to play."
Colt and long-time friend and Longhorn teammate Jordan Shipley attended the playoff game at Abilene's Shotwell Stadium Saturday between Brad's Graham Steers and Midland Greenwood.
"They lean on each other," said Brad, noting that Jordan has had his share of injuries in the past as well. The two have been buds since about the 5th grade when Brad coached at Hamlin and Bob Shipley (Brad's old ACU football teammate and Jordan's dad) coached at Rotan.
In Brad's eyes, the two young men right now seem to mirror the psyche of Longhorn team as a whole.
"They're disappointed they're not playing in a BCS bowl, but at the same time they're kind of excited knowing they'll be playing close to home in front of a lot of fans. They're still a really close team."
If you tried to access AlamoBowl.com Sunday afternoon after 5 p.m., you probably didn't get to the "clogged" site because so many people were hitting it in search of tickets.
Brad says Colt has put a lot of the burden on himself for the losses at the end of the season.
"If I hadn't gotten hurt ..." is what Brad has heard from his son more than once. But as we all know, several Longhorns have had injuries this season, so that guilt doesn't need to be on any one person's shoulders - doesn't need to be on anyone's, actually. Injuries happen.
"The main thing is it's obvious that he's getting better," said Brad of his son.
Season Over: It's pretty obvious to Coach McCoy why his Steers lost to Greenwood, 34-10.
"Emotionally, we just couldn't get back up after the Sanger game the week before (a four-overtime thriller)," he said. The Steers were only behind 14-10 at halftime.
"We were pretty beat up anyway," said Brad, "but they were a lot bigger and stronger than we were. We just couldn't get anything going. Uncharacteristically, we just ran out of gas."
Taking a Chance: Now that Brad's middle son Chance has played his final prep game, Abilene Christian University still looms large in the wide receiver's future.
"He's still being courted by SMU, Oklahoma State, Tulsa and three or four others, but he thinks it's kind of cool that he might go to my alma mater. And, of course, it's close to home, so he likes that," said Brad.