You're Welcome, GG

I'm sure other draft analyses will come later, but for now, I really want to extend my congratulations to Garrett Gilbert for representing the Longhorns in the draft.  The 6'5, former 5 star recruit was drafted in the sixth round and was the only player from Texas to make it off the board.

Coming in as the heir apparent to legend Colt McCoy, Garrett Gilbert spent his formative years getting his redshirt burned in order to throw no significant passes, playing in the national title game unexpectedly, and playing in a confused offense built on "power running," which had neither "power" nor "running."   Though these experiences battered his psyche and put him in almost impossible situations to succeed, he didn't die, and what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.  I mean, how many true freshman quarterbacks have the unique privilege of getting their first real action against one of the best defenses in the country in the national title game?  Starting at arithmetic is stupid; throw people into calculus and let the cream of the crop come to the top.  Footbawl is for the strong, and building depth so that you can redshirt freshman QB's is silly.

To round out his skillset from high school, which was centered around spread passing, Gilbert was expected to run an offense that nobody on the team knew how to play and the coaches didn't know how to build.  This lack of supervision gave ample opportunities for creativity as receivers were covered, pockets collapsed, and running games got vaporized.  He learned to throw with large linemen in his face and on the run from blitzing defenders.  Gilbert continued to learn valuable lessons as a true sophomore as he burdened the responsibility of the entire offense sucking like no other Texas offense before.

As a junior, GG had to learn a new offense and battle through more disappointment when he was benched in favor of true freshman David Ash and sophomore Case McCoy.  It was the right move because after that, the staff had nothing more to teach him, so he transferred to SMU.  There, he had to learn how to regain confidence and play in a normal offense, valuable traits for any future NFL quarterback.  Things started rocky there as well, but Texas had already taught him that things could be much, much worse.

In his final season, Gilbert threw for over 3500 yards with a 66.5% completion percentage and a 21/7 TD-Int ratio, finally culminating his journey to becoming a decent college QB, though he still otherwise failed to show the moxie of Case McCoy and his 11/13 TD-Int ratio.  We started the process and allowed SMU to finish it.  In the sixth round, Gilbert was selected by the St. Louis Rams.

You're welcome, GG.  I hope you realize how much Texas did for you as you realize your dream of getting drafted by the NFL.  You've done us proud.