Tag Archives: Upper Deck UT 2011

NFL, University of Texas

McCoy, Colt

udut11 mccoyCard: University of Texas Upper Deck 2011, “The Real Win” book
Acquired: In Person 6/15/2013, H-E-B Book Signing
See Also: McCoy, Colt (2)

Colt McCoy is considered a Longhorn Legend. During his reign at quarterback under the stewardship of head coach Mack Brown at the University of Texas, McCoy set multiple passing and NCAA records. The starting quarterback for the Longhorns from 2006-2009, Colt had big shoes to fill after the departure of Vince Young.

Starting as a true Freshman, McCoy was 217 of 318 for 2,570 yards, 29 touchdowns to 7 interceptions. Accolades begun with being named College Football News Big 12 PotY and also as QB of the “All Freshman Team”.  With his role as starting quarterback firmly established, he’d throw for 3,303 yards and 22 touchdowns his Sophomore year in 2007. Finally back to the National stage in 2008, Colt threw for 3,859 yards, competing a national high 76.7% of his passes, for 34 touchdowns, to only 8 interceptions. The team cruised to wins over 3 ranked opponents, included #1 ranked Oklahoma, but UT finished 3rd in the national rankings. McCoy set many school records including: most career wins, most career passing yards, and most career touchdowns. The AP named Colt Big 12 PotY, he finished as a runner up (to Sam Bradford) for the Heisman that season, and won the Walter Camp, Davey O’Brien, Johnny Unitas Golden Arm, Manning, Maxwell Awards. Angered over their snub for the National Championship, the Longhorns channeled their frustration into a 24-21 victory over Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl. Colt threw for over 400 yards and won the Offensive Player of the Game Award. In 2009, McCoy matured as the true leader of the Horns offense. He threw for 27 TD to 12 picks, and again led the nation with a 70.6 completion percentage as the team went 12-0.  With a date against Alabama for the National Championship, the Longhorns looked to challenge the Crimson Tide. Unfortunately Colt pinched a nerve in his throwing shoulder early on and watched from the sidelines as the team fell to the Tide, 37-21. I still feel that if McCoy had not been injured the season would’ve ended with a different National Champion, but I digress. Subsequently, the school has retired Colt’s number 12 from use. He set the NCAA record for most career wins at 45 and finished with 13,253 yards and 112 TDs.

mcoyBecause of his injury, Colt did not participate in the 2010 NFL Combine. He spent much of his time rehabbing with a target date set for the UT Pro Day workout. The responses were generally mixed with coaches being impressed by his general footwork, his ability to hit targets, and taking on all the various challenges and throws that QB prospects are required to make successfully. Many scouts though did not like his ‘average size’ and felt that his arm strength was not well measured. At some point before the draft, the Cleveland Browns under then head coach Eric Mangini, and GM Mike Holmgren became enamored with the signal caller.   The fans were even more enthusiastic about Colt, and desperately wanted him as their quarterback of the future. As both Bradford and Tebow went off the board early, Browns fans bit their nails feverishly until the Browns finally pulled the trigger in the 3rd round (#85). The franchise was ecstatic to have him.

He’d go in as the #3 behind newly signed Jake Delhomme and career backup Seneca Wallace. The Browns immediately had problems at quarterback with both injury and ineffectiveness limiting both Wallace and Delhomme. Colt would be forced into the lineup by week 6. After a trial by fire against the Pittsburgh Steelers where he threw for 281 yards and a touchdown, in a 28-10 loss, Colt showed what he could do by racking up wins in the next two weeks versus the New Orleans Saints 30-17 and the dominant New England Patriots 34-14. In both games, Colt ran a efficient, yet unspectacular offense, minimizing his mistakes, and completing high % passes. He’d share time with the two quarterbacks throughout the 2010 season with perhaps his best game coming against the Cincinatti Bengals in a 19-17 loss, where Colt finished 19 of 25 for 243 yards and 2 touchdowns.

2011, was a year of immense highs and lows for Colt. Handed the keys to the franchise, Colt came out and started right away for the Browns. A lot of excitement surrounded the team after they got off to a 2-1 start, but the team then dropped 5 of the next 7 games. While the team was competitive in quite a few of the games- losing contests against the Rams by 1, the Bengals by 3, Jacksonville by 4, and the Raiders by 6, it was in week 13 of that season that McCoy’s future with the franchise took an odd detour.

mem13 mccoy bookDuring a 14-3 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, Colt suffered a monster hit from linebacker James Harrison. Colt- visibly shaken, returned to the sideline and then back out onto the field to throw 2 errant interceptions. It was later revealed that he had suffered a severe concussion, and played the majority of the game in a fog. Things got even more complicated when McCoy suffered the indignation of sports pundits, and then his family jumped into the fray to Colt’s defense. Colt spent the rest of the season on the bench, but his response was a lightning rod on team, league, and medical staff’s, underwhelming response to the severity of concussion risks.  On top of that, former players had recently sued the league about their response to concussions, making the NFL and the Browns look stupid. McCoy spent the rest of the season on the bench. He finished the season 4-9 with 14 touchdowns to 11 interceptions.

In the offseason, Eric Mangini was fired by the franchise. Hand picked offensive minded Pat Shurmur was brought in to coach the team in 2012. Making a quick read, Shurmur decided to draft 29 year old quarterback Brandon Weeden in the first round. While the team tried to make it appear that there was a quarterback competition between Colt and Weeden, it was obvious to all they had already handed the starting job to Brandon. Colt still put on a good show and supported Brandon, despite Colt’s superior preseason. McCoy got little playing time in 2012. He played during a 34-12 loss to Denver in largely mop up duty, throwing for 79 yards and a touchdown.

With new ownership in hand for the Browns, Pat Shurmur was one and done. Also gone was GM Mike Holmgren. The Browns hired Rod Chudzinski, and signed veteran Jason Campbell to back up Weeden.  After debating on what to do, it was obvious that McCoy was now expendable to the team, so the Browns opted to trade him to the 49ers for a few late round draft choices, where as of 2013 he backs up Colin Kapernick.

I had gotten wind through the Texas Autograph Club’s message board system of an appearance by Colt at a local grocery store to sign copies of his book “The Real Win”, that he co-wrote with his Pastor. Getting there about 30 minutes early, I was surprised to find the line was already fairly long, and a message on the posters there stating “COLT MCCOY WILL NOT SIGN OUTSIDE ITEMS”. I got a bit panicked and a bit annoyed, -because I really hate that mentality, but in the end Colt was more than happy to sign his UT card (and a book that I gave to my friend Josh) after we had missed out at his football camp last year. I still have a UT card or two more that I’ll need to track him down for, but in the meantime, I am quite happy with this addition to the HoF.

The verse selected by Colt is from Colossians 3:23- “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters,”.  Colt is religious, and his book represents that, but he doesn’t wear it like a badge, and I respect that.  Considering that guys like Tim Tebow have this entourage following them around, Colt does it without the controversy, and I consider this more ‘securely Christian’ than preaching the word at everybody in everything you do.

NFL, University of Texas

Leaks, Roosevelt “Rosey”

Card: UT Upper Deck 2011, UT Upper Deck 2011 AA
Acquired: TTM 2011, C/o Home
Sent: 11/30/11   Received:  4/16/12  (139 days)

UT is a machine when it comes to cranking out quality runningbacks. While some point to recent names like Ricky Williams, Priest Holmes, and Cedric Benson, take a look at Roosevelt Leaks, -the man who made Earl Campbell play second fiddle for his Freshman season.  Leaks was a consensus All American in 1973 and set the school record for most yards rushing (since broken) with 342 against SMU.  A team captain and MVP, Roosevelt set an SWC mark with 1,415 yards rushing that season and was named the MVP of the Conference.  Today he is ranked 7th all time on the school’s rushing chart totaling 2,923 career yards and was inducted into the Longhorn Hall of Honor in 1985.

The Baltimore Colts needed a presence at fullback and felt that Roosevelt fit the bill, taking him in the 5th round of the 1975 draft. Considered the first guy in the weight room and the last one out, Leaks over his career was utilized as a short yardage back but was also a punishing blocker. His best season came in 1976, where he ran for 445 yards and 7 touchdowns.  After 5 seasons in Baltimore, Roosevelt signed with the Bills in 1980. He’d experience a small renaissance scoring 6 touchdowns in 1981 and 5 touchdowns in 1982 while blocking for RB Joe Cribbs.  In the end, Roosevelt finished his pro career with 32 career touchdowns, before retiring after the 1983 season as a Buffalo Bill.

He’s retired to the Austin area, where he resides today,  is an active member of his chapter of the NFLPA, and a real estate developer.

G/Gs 107/59    Car  663    Yds  2406    Avg  3.6     Td  28    Lg  42
Rec  71    Yds  590    Avg  8.3    Td 4    Lg 27


NFL, University of Texas

Metcalf, Eric

pset90 metcalf pset91 metcalf stclub93 metcalf sco90 metcalf
Cards: ProSet 1990, UD UT 2011 Icons, UD UT 2011, SkyBox 1992, GameDay 1992, ProSet 1991,Fleer 1990, Stadium Club 1993, Score 1990, Score 1991 90+ Club

Acquired: In Person 1/30/2012, 1300 The Zone 3rd Base Appearance
Failure: TTM 1992, C/o The Cleveland Browns, TTM 2010 C/o Home

gday92 metcalfThird time is a charm right? Well Eric Metcalf has been an idol of mine since I was a kid, and I had tried twice before -and failed to acquire the elusive runningback/return man/wide receiver out of the University of Texas. Meeting Metcalf in person was a treat for me as he had been on my list obviously for a long time.

I believe that the first college football game that I attended at Darrell K. Memorial Stadium, was a game with the Longhorns against the Arkansas Razorbacks. While the Longhorns lost, amidst their late 1980’s slump, Metcalf dominated doing everything for the Longhorns and by the time he graduated, Eric was the school’s all time leading receiver. Metcalf finished his career as a local Longhorn athletic legend playing even baseball and running track.

The Cleveland Browns became enamored with his athleticism, and Eric was drafted in the first round, during one of the greatest modern era drafts of all time -1989. Metcalf provided a speedy spark for the Browns on offense. The do it all back lined up at runningback or receiver and provided incredible mismatches for linebackers in the flat. He also returned kicks too, and then flr90 metcalfafter the departure of Gerald McNeil to Houston, as a punt returner as well. Spending his first 6 seasons in Cleveland, there were some spectacular highlight reels of Metcalf in action during a Monday Night Game against the Bengals where he made 3 players miss before  galloping into the endzone untouched, or his famous one man army against the Raiders in 1992 when he scored all 4 of the Browns touchdowns to beat LA. Eric finished his career in Cleveland with 9108 combined yards, 5 punt returns and  2 kick returns for touchdowns, 11 tds rushing and 15 receiving.

In 1995, Eric played for the Atlanta Falcons, under the Red Gun of head coach June Jones and gunslinger Jeff George. He’d fit right in under the Run ‘N Shoot variant, recording 104 receptions for 1189 yards and 8 touchdowns. After a down year in 1996, Eric would be traded to the San Diego Chargers where he spent one year with Kevin Gilbride. He’d lead the NFL with 3 punt returns for touchdowns that season and earn his second All Pro honor. He’d go one and done with the Chargers and head out to Arizona after San Diego traded him and 2 first round choices in 1998 to grabsky92 metcalf Ryan Leaf during the draft. Eric finished the season with 1837 yards from scrimmage. 1999, Eric spent with the Carolina Panthers, recording 456 YFS, and 2001 with the Washington Redskins setting the NFL record after returning his 10th career punt for a touchdown. After a short stint with the Packers in 2002, Eric decided to hang up the cleats. At the time of his retirement Eric Metcalf, the do-it-all back from the University of Texas had 17230 all purpose yards in his NFL career which was good for 5th all time.

I had recently been complaining to Josh about there not being enough player appearances for autographs around town. The newspapers used to run aggressive advertising about player appearances but I was fretting that times had changed and this was no longer the case. While reading the sports page that day I had seen that Eric was making an appearance at a local bar with 1300 -The Zone ( AKA The Longhorn Station). I went out of my way to get out to the event so that I could meet Eric. I walked in at 5 where the radio team and Rod Babers were set up, only to find Eric Metcalf and Charlie Ward sitting off by themselves away from the hooplah. utud2011 metcalfAfter confirming that- those were indeed both of those players and that they were not being mobbed for autographs, I proceeded to meet Eric, and acquire his autograph on as many of his cards that I could. Disappointingly, I didn’t have another ProSet 1989 card of him, and even stopped on the way into town to cull one from the local card dealer. When I spoke to Eric, I told him that I had tried multiple times in the past to write him but had not had any success. He shrugged his shoulders and said that he was normally pretty good about that, and he offered to sign as many cards as I’d like. (- I had 11.)  I sat there for a while and shot the breeze with Metcalf. When I told him that I felt that the 1989 draft was probably one of the best modern day drafts of all time- his eyes lighted up in agreement. We talked about the numerous HoFers from that draft, and I told him that his numbers were deserving to be among the hall. I told him how I remembered his shellacking of the Bengals on Monday Night Football, and we talked about his career in glorious retrospective. Among the laughs he got out of it was how he returned a kickoff for a TD against the Oilers, even though I had told him that I had hoped they would kick it nowhere near him. He sco91 metcalfchewed the Oilers up for some 200 yards returning that day, but the Browns lost 41-17 or something horrendous like that.

Eric was the honorary captain of the USA v. The World Football game held annually in Austin. As the girls who were trying to inform fans of the event approached the table to talk to us, I acted as though I had no clue what was going on and that Eric was not the ‘MC of the event’. I let her do her spiel and then asked her if she knew who I was. I then told her that, “I, was Eric Metcalf.” I then told her all about Eric’s illustrious career, and even got up to try to imitate one of his moves. All the time Eric was laughing at me, and told the poor girl not to listen to me.  She still had no clue who Eric was, but said that we didn’t look old at all. Eric and I sat there for a few minutes more and talked until more fans started arriving. He quipped to me that he didn’t need to say anything and that I should just be his publicist, since I knew everything about him already. I even recounted the teams he had been on in his career. (We both casually forgot his Green Bay and Carolina stints.) After about 20 minutes of bantering around and then meeting the subdued Charlie udut2011icons metcalfWard, I got a photo with Eric and hit the road, a very happy camper. It was indeed a very successful experience.

Eric enjoys coaching track now in the Seattle area. I asked him if he ever thought about coaching football, and he told me that, “Coaching track is much easier than football ever was,” And then laughed. Frequently Metcalf comes to the area, 3-4 times a year for alumni and other events around town. He is extremely approachable and very kind to fans.

In entertainment and media, Eric was a dominating running back in Tecmo Super Bowl for the Browns. I IMAG0473enjoyed playing as the Browns because I built the offense to work around him. I’d start him at both return man jobs, and at runningback. If I was unable to rush for very many yards, I’d stick him out at receiver. Among the plethora of players that they got wrong on that game, Metcalf sticks out as one they completely nailed.

Here is Eric’s exhaustive statistical line:
G/Gs 179/77     Pr  351   Yds  3453  Avg  9.8    Td 10   Lg 92t
Kr 280   Yds 5813   Avg 20.8   Td 2  Lg 101t
Rush 630  Yds 2392   Avg 3.8    Td 12   Lg 55
Rec  541   Yds  5572   Avg 10.3  Td 31   Lg 69

Part 1 of 4 from Eric Metcalf’s highlight reel:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wafxQ63iwMg&feature=related