Colt McCoy's advice for first-time starter Arch Manning: 'Buckle up and go play.'
Over the course of his college career, Colt McCoy made 53 starts for the Texas football team.
The first of those starts came Sept. 2, 2006. As the heir to Vince Young, McCoy completed 12 of his 19 passes in a 56-7 win over North Texas. He threw for 178 yards and three touchdowns while also running for a score.
McCoy, who owns most of the major passing records at Texas and is one of six players to have had his jersey retired by the football program, was officially inducted Friday into the Texas Athletics Hall of Honor. During a brief chat with local reporters, McCoy was asked what he remembered about that first start.
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Recalled McCoy: "I remember that coach (Mack) Brown told me that I was going to start, but that (Jevan Snead and I) both were going to play. I was like, that's fair, I guess, I feel like I should be the starter.
"I went out there and I started and I played the whole game or most of it. ... I just remember thinking to myself, I was like, all right, I've got about two series to make sure this happens. I guess the rest is history."
Since McCoy left Texas following the 2009 season, 11 quarterbacks have made their first start for the Longhorns. A 12th will do so Saturday night as Arch Manning fills in for an injured Quinn Ewers against visiting ULM. A redshirt freshman and former five-star recruit, Manning accounted for five touchdowns after Ewers strained his oblique in the second quarter of last week's rout of UTSA.
Does one of the greatest quarterbacks in school history have any advice for Manning ahead of his first start?
"I would just tell him: 'You'll remember this for the rest of your life,'" McCoy said. "It's your first time to go start in the stadium for UT. I would just walk out and take a picture in your mind of all the fans that are yelling and screaming and enjoy that, and then just buckle up and go play. Got to go out there and have some fun, that's what I always tried to do."
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This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Former Texas QB Colt McCoy shares advice for Arch Manning
