Texas Longhorns Football: Most Career Starts

by hayzer13 on Jul 13, 2011 12:25 PM CDT

Bumped from the Fan Posts.

The post about (four-year starter) Blake Gideon and Robthecob's question on that post got me thinking about what other football players were 4 year starters and played in and started the most games at Texas.

After the jump is a list of the most starts by Texas Longhorns football players, using MBTF as the source.

Colt McCoy started 53, duh.
D.D. Lewis started 51 games (every game + 4 bowls), which was the record at the time.
Justin Blalock started all 51 games of his career. MBTF says he broke Dan Neil's record, but I'm showing D.D. did first
Casey Hampton played in 54 (probably a record?), started 47.
Michael Huff played in 51, started 50.
Dan Neil started 49.
B.J. Johnson played in 51, started 47.
Ricky WIlliams played in 49, started 47.
Roy Williams played in 50, started 42.
Rashad Bobino played in 52, started 45.
Phil Dawson played in 49, and I believe started them all.
Dusty Mangum missed only 2 games, due to injury.
Rodrique Wright played in 50, started 45.
Derrick Johnson played in 50, started 40
Rod Babers played in 50, started 40.
Bobby Layne, assuming he started all his games, only started 41.

What other players might I be missing?

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Comments

Where is Earl Campbell on this list?

"you can't be a great defense in a casual manner!" Manny Diaz

by Snide Aside on Jul 13, 2011 1:18 PM CDT reply actions

If he started every game of his career, he'd be at 47.

This list isn’t meant to be a complete leaderboard, because I only went with what info I found on MBTF, (which has much less information on the pre-Mack era). It also wasn’t pulled from a complete list there. I picked and choosed names from the All-Time Letterman page and grabbed the data from their bios.
Also, since I knew they played fewer games, there would be no way players from before the 90’s reached 50 games.

by hayzer13 on Jul 13, 2011 1:29 PM CDT up reply actions

Earl was hurt a good part of his junior season

And seasons then were 11 games with no conference playoff. Max he could have played (or anyone else in his era) was 48.

by edsp on Jul 13, 2011 2:02 PM CDT up reply actions

Yeah, Earl's knee injury had him missing pretty much an entire season.

And that was before medical redshirts, I believe.

by robthecob on Jul 15, 2011 2:53 PM CDT up reply actions

No, med redshirts were around

One of Earl’s younger, twin, brothers got a medical redshirt a couple of years later. Sixth-year status was extremely rare in those years, but it happened on occasion.

by edsp on Jul 16, 2011 12:16 AM CDT up reply actions

Thanks. Didn't realize you could take a medical redshirt back then.

The first guy I remember playing 6 years was a solid little QB (for a resurrected program) from SMU:

Quarterback Ramon Flanigan became SMU’s all-time leader in total offense (7,437 yards) and touchdowns responsible for (57) with a solid senior season in 1997. He was granted a sixth year of eligibility prior to 1997 (for multiple knee injuries) by the NCAA. – Wikipedia

Then, Shipley, of course, became the poster child for all that is good in the NCAA granting 6th-years.

by robthecob on Jul 20, 2011 2:55 PM CDT up reply actions

Freshman

Earl was at the cut-off where Freshman didn’t play. He only played 3 seasons correct?

by Eskimohorn on Jul 13, 2011 4:42 PM CDT up reply actions

No, he played four seasons -- nt

by edsp on Jul 13, 2011 5:23 PM CDT up reply actions

Kyle Hix?

by stonehorn on Jul 13, 2011 1:43 PM CDT reply actions

played 51, started 39.

I did look him up, but tried to only add players who started 40+. There were several linemen who were in the high 30’s.

by hayzer13 on Jul 13, 2011 1:46 PM CDT up reply actions

OT Jonathan Scott

From MB-TF . . . 50 career games, 44 starts (half his RS freshman season as a reserve) . . . missed one game that year to injury.

by edsp on Jul 13, 2011 2:07 PM CDT reply actions

Benson had quite a few starts

by kmitschke on Jul 13, 2011 2:17 PM CDT reply actions

50 games, 44 starts

and that’s about as bad an oversight as I could have had. Skipped right over him.

by hayzer13 on Jul 13, 2011 2:25 PM CDT up reply actions

Had he started all 50 ...

… there’s a chance we mighta had one more national championship.

by robthecob on Jul 15, 2011 2:54 PM CDT up reply actions

Ricky didn’t start every damn game of his career?…

And a kicker missed 2 games to injury.

Amusing.

by UT_BKC on Jul 13, 2011 2:49 PM CDT reply actions

Ricky was behind some scrub named Holmes

I don’t think he even got drafted.

by Horncasting on Jul 13, 2011 4:35 PM CDT up reply actions 3 recs

And Shon Mitchell was the headliner tailback over both of those big boys.

The talent stable back then was pretty amazing.

by robthecob on Jul 15, 2011 2:56 PM CDT up reply actions

•Bobby Layne, assuming he started all his games, only started 41.

Does this include his freshman year? If so, were freshman eligibile at that time?

by ole tnhorn on Jul 13, 2011 3:34 PM CDT reply actions

He was a 4-time All-SWC QB

But I don’t how it worked back then.

by hayzer13 on Jul 13, 2011 3:44 PM CDT up reply actions

Freshmen were eligible during WWII

Dunno when the rule went back to three years eligibility . . . I know UT fielded a freshman football team from the mid-1950s until freshmen became varsity eligible around 1972.

by edsp on Jul 13, 2011 4:41 PM CDT up reply actions

For Sure Giddeon Will Set the Record

For most starts where he was harshly criticized and sworn at. I actually like Blake and think he is underrated, but if you read some blogs it is as if Muschamp was brilliant – but only an idiot could have started Blake.

Change isn't good or bad it just "is". Don Draper of Madmen

by realmccoy on Jul 13, 2011 6:21 PM CDT reply actions

My opinion not that it matters:

Blake is a solid player. Not really good, not really bad. As for his starts I think we all can agree that best available is not equal to best ever. And that’s what his career will be to me. Best available.

by owenh on Jul 13, 2011 7:17 PM CDT up reply actions

He was fine his first two years

Very poor as a junior

by miketag on Jul 14, 2011 3:36 AM CDT via mobile up reply actions

I thought he wouldn't set the record

due to our lack of a bowl game last year.

by jmptexas on Jul 13, 2011 8:47 PM CDT up reply actions

He has 39 starts so far, I believe

Texas went 12-1 his freshman year (13), 13-1 his sophomore year (14), and 5-7 last year (12). 13 + 14 +12 = 39. To tie Colt, he’d have to get 14 starts this year, which would mean a Big 12 South championship and obviously a bowl bid.

Um, it doesn’t really matter to me, but I’d be thrilled if he tied Colt, mostly because of the conditions that would be required for that to happen.

QB Garrett Gilbert was the Beavis & Butthead episode of the 2010 college football season. Even when things were going well there was always one bad decision that meant he wasn’t going to score.
http://cfn.scout.com/2/1070636.html

by burntorangehorn on Jul 14, 2011 6:53 AM CDT up reply actions

There is no Big 12 South this year

Max of 13 games, including the bowl game, this season.

by Horncasting on Jul 14, 2011 8:38 AM CDT up reply actions

Ah, that's right

Still not used to that idea.

by burntorangehorn on Jul 14, 2011 9:00 AM CDT up reply actions

Yeah, always wondered who those folks would have chose to start in front of Gideon.

There just wasn’t any other good options besides him. Even as an average player, that kind of record will be nice.

by robthecob on Jul 15, 2011 2:59 PM CDT up reply actions

Roosevelt Leaks

thought he would have a bunch of starts but couldn’t find it on the Mack site.

by TCB Orange Dino on Jul 13, 2011 11:47 PM CDT reply actions

Not certain

But Leaks may have been part of the last recruiting class that had a freshman team. I think he was 1971-74, but I could be off by a year or two. Like Earl, he had injury issues that cost him field time.

by edsp on Jul 14, 2011 9:56 AM CDT reply actions

Hayzer, thanks for rounding up all this info! Good follow-up post.

What about Cory Redding? I thought he started from Day 1 and then that graduating class ended up having the most wins ever, at the time. What about Winfred Tubbs, the present-day commentator? I thought he started quite a bit.

by robthecob on Jul 15, 2011 3:02 PM CDT reply actions

Thanks

I was shocked to learn that Redding only started 38 out of his 52 games. He was an incoming freshman the same year I was and I thought he was starting then too, but it was Cedric Woodard and Aaron Humphrey. Redding’s first start was in the Cotton Bowl that year, due to Humphrey’s suspension. In re-looking this up, turns out I left off Aaron Humphrey, who started 44 of 48 games.

Winfred Tubbs doesn’t have a bio on MBTF and I don’t know enough about those years to remember. I did learn from his wikipedia page that he “is perhaps best known for his appearance in the arcade football game NFL Blitz.”

by hayzer13 on Jul 15, 2011 3:45 PM CDT up reply actions

Well, if I've got the right former UT linebacker, I think Tubbs is a pretty weak commentator.

On the field, however, he was a terror. Surprised that Redding & DJ didn’t both start from Day 1. Your list also confirmed that I had thought BJ Johnson had more starts than Roy Williams. Thanks, man. Great post!

by robthecob on Jul 15, 2011 4:05 PM CDT up reply actions

Whose the Tx player who started out on

Your weekly football show and now is part of Fox Sports crew?

by miketag on Jul 16, 2011 3:36 AM CDT via mobile up reply actions

Starts is a product of skill, of course

But also, opportunity. Maybe more that than skill. Who gets hurt. Whims of coaches. Poor recruiting. Trick personnel package.

A skilled player might play as a true freshman and start fewer games than a slightly less skilled player who redshirts and then has little competition for starting status in his career.

Also, the UT site is kinda silly sometimes. If you check several recent seasons, you’ll see a fullback listed as the starter, though the last time we used a fullback on a regular basis was 2004. I recall one game where we opened in (could be wrong on the terminology) the Q-package. John Chiles was listed as a starter. Believe he got fewer than 5 snaps that day.

by edsp on Jul 16, 2011 12:22 AM CDT reply actions