When it comes to any list that involves the best college football players of all-time, it is hard to imagine that the Longhorns wouldn’t be involved. Some very big names in the football world have come through the University of Texas. Legendary NFL coach Tom Landry, Hall of Fame quarterback Bobby Layne and Colt McCoy to name a few. These players played for top coaches in Dana X. Bible, Darryl K. Royal and Mack Brown.
247Sports put together their all-time greatest college football players list. One of the first names that many think of when it comes to Texas is a particular quarterback who played in an instant classic back in 2005. He comes in at number 44.
Number 44- Quarterback Vince Young
In the 2005 season, USC running back Reggie Bush beat out Vince Young for the Heisman, but in the following January’s BCS National Championship Game at the Rose Bowl, it was Young who turned in the MVP-winning performance, and led his Longhorns to a 41-38 win the over the Trojans, a thriller that was named the best bowl game of all time by the Football Bowl Association.
Coming in at 44 seems a bit low for Young but one can’t complain when being compared with some of the other quarterbacks on this list. The fourth-down run alone is still talked about as one of the best plays in college football history. Hard to believe it has been 14 years since VY raced to the corner of the end zone to give Texas their first National Championship in 35 years. Young is definitely deserving of being named to the top 50 college football players of all-time.
Young is the highest-rated recruit in Longhorns history with a perfect score. In fact he shares that honor with four other players, but he is the only one on offense. The former Maxwell and Davey O’Brien Award winner finished as the Heisman Trophy runner-up to Reggie Bush. Young is currently seventh- in career passing at Texas, third in total offense and one of only two quarterbacks to account for 500 plus yards of offense in a single game.