Daniel “Colt” McCoy always appears to be having a good time on the football field. Off-the-field, he always says the right things and people that know him have said he is a great guy. That’s why its tough to see him taking his first NFL start this season against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
McCoy played four seasons at the University of Texas where he won more games than anyone in NCAA history (45). He was a tremendous college quarterback completing 70.2% of his passes and throwing 112 TDs compared to only 25 INTs. He was named “National Freshman of the Year” by Sporting News. In his junior year, he finished second in the Heisman Trophy race to Sam Bradford. During that season, he set the NCAA record for completion percentage by completing 76.7% of his passes.
In his final season, McCoy led the Longhorns to the BCS Championship game against the Alabama Crimson Tide. Unfortunately for McCoy, he was injured on the fifth play of the game and could not return. In an interview after the game, McCoy spoke about the injury,
“I’ve taken tons of hits like that. It just caught me the right way. I really don’t have any pain. I never had much pain.”
“I could throw the ball, I just had no idea where it was going. I could feel all my fingers except my thumb. My arm felt like a noodle.”
The injury caused McCoy to drop to the 3rd round of the NFL draft. He was chosen by the Cleveland Browns with the 85th selection. He landed in a perfect situation. The Browns had just signed Jake Delhomme and traded for Seneca Wallace. McCoy was going to be able to learn the NFL game on the sideline for his first season and still have an opportunity to start in the near future since we all know how great Delhomme can be.
Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it, McCoy will get his first NFL start earlier than expected. Injuries have sidelined Delhomme and Wallace, forcing McCoy to be the starter in the Browns’ Week 6 game against the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Steelers are not opposing quarterback friendly. Lamarr Woodley and James Harrison like to bring the pressure, and they are pretty good at it.
Hopefully, McCoy will find some success against the Steelers’ 20th ranked passing defense. One thing is for sure, the Steelers’ first ranked rushing defense will force McCoy to try and beat them.
Sorry Colt. It might be a long game.
[Photo Credit: NFLSpinZone.com]
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