Horns247 Board

KXAN report I just saw said that Mack Brown went out of his way today to say that the competition is still open despite reports from the AAS (Kirk Bohls). KB up to his usual pot stirring.

This. Kirk's journalistic integrity is really stretched with this story. Why would he write that a person that talks to the players said that GG was the starter and then say it's very secret (and the players wouldn't know). Also, I don't believe Mack and Harsin would lie about the QB job being open. GG may win it, but Bohls' is really stretching it to make a story. Does anyone on this board know of any player or coach confirming what Bohls wrote? I certainly don't.

I find this whole situation very similar to the Denver Bronco's situation about 3 years ago (Plummer/Cutler/Quinn). At the time, the local ESPN talk radio host, Alfred Williams, went on a tirade about it. [Note that Alfred Williams is excellent at conveying the essence of what it makes to make a team work. When he speaks of specifics about what a team or player needs to do, he is usually right on the money.]

His general thought went something like this. Not every team needs a Manning, Elway or Brady. That's nice. But what they really need is a player that everyone [and he heavily emphasized EVERYONE] could BELIEVE in. I suppose this is just another way of saying the QB needs to be a leader. But he explained it with a depth and importance I had never really appreciated. As you know he's a hall-of-fame Linebacker. He preached on and on about how important BELIEVING in the QB was to the morale of the D. Yes, the D.

He also noted how important the QB's decision-making skills are. Everyone wants to look at the tangible arm strength and footwork. But the decision-making is often more important - especially in those 4-5 crucial moments in a game where the QB is called upon to do what ever it takes to convert a 3rd and 5.

In essence, its far better to have the QB that can throw the wobbly pass to the wide-open receiver under pressure (McCoy/Wood) than the QB that throws the laser into double-coverage (Gilbert).

I am hopeful that a spring and summer of seasoning will yield a miraculous turn-around in Gilbert's decision-making and he becomes the leader and winner we all saw in high school. However, at this point, I am skeptical. And as to the original topic of the thread, I highly doubt Mack has secretly named Gilbert the starter.