Texas Is Looking to Follow the Leader

But After Young's Departure, Who Will That Be?

In Austin, there's a flurry of activity surrounding not only the selection of a leader for the Texas football team, but the kind of leadership he will provide. Will his challenges be loud and aggressive or quiet and unobtrusive? Is it better to conquer by force or to sneak up under the radar? Leaders can be calm, vocal, playful, serious. They talk a big game and play bigger or they can just play. But they must guide.

The Longhorns enter September pondering the loss of their leader, but not the sense of lost leadership. Some have described Vince Young's departure as a void that needs to be filled. It is not just a debate of starting quarterbacks, but a town hall meeting on who will be next.

The end result will be much more organic than the eldest child inheriting the estate or a young royal ascending to the throne. In fact, Texas's leadership this year may come from not the singular, but the plural.

Senior right tackle Justin Blalock called it leadership by committee. A similar sentiment exists on defense. Senior safety Michael Griffin looked to last season as a way to predict how this year's defensive leadership will evolve.

"On the defense we didn't really have a leader; we had a team leader last year, but on the defense we all just sort of worked together," Griffin said. "We had a lot of seniors, a lot of veterans, on the defensive side of the ball."

Much remains the same.

Griffin said the secondary came to Texas together as freshmen and has been working out together for the past four years. It's a team chemistry that allows them to lead by example But it's not just the secondary that had decided that its whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

"The linebackers all hang out and the D-line all hang out, and we all work to feed off each other," Griffin said. "If one person gets a big hit, then we're all competing to get a bigger hit."

Offensively, Blalock predicts a similar structure. He reckons there might not be someone quite as outgoing as Young, but a variety of players can lead and motivate in different ways. Blalock calls running back Selvin Young levelheaded and able to get everybody focused on playing football. The linemen, however, take a different approach.

"We just lead by example," Blalock said. "We don't have the opportunity to talk as much."

Much of the leadership discussion actually stems from the Longhorns' quarterback shift from Vince Young to either (or both) Colt McCoy and Jevan Snead.

During Texas media day, Mack Brown called the situation new and fresh.

"This is what college coaching is all about," Brown said. "It's taking what you have available and making it work."

First there is McCoy, who worked as the No. 3 quarterback while redshirting his freshman year. While at Jim Ned High in Tuscola, Tex., McCoy was coached by his father. Then there is Snead, a freshman who finished his career in Stephenville, Tex., with a 23-2 record as a starter.

There are questions regarding quarterback management, division of playing time and when one will emerge over the other. Though a starter must be decided (McCoy has taken more snaps with the first team), Brown could very well play both quarterbacks. So the conversations continue.

Brown said last year's anthem was "Take dead aim." He called the approach risque, but its result was both precise and declarative. Brown has titled this season along similar lines, but with less kick. The simple (and seemingly common sense) message -- "Do what you can do" -- is applicable to the leadership discussion.

It is easier to approach a situation with predetermined roles and a sense of leadership, whether it arrives through a bevy of players or through a new quarterback. But as the theme goes, the players cannot be anything other than themselves and so the true leader may emerge not in camp, but during the team's Sept. 9 game against Ohio State.

"It's who gets the team riled up and ready to go, I think that will show right there who's ready to lead," Griffin said. "And then in a big game against Ohio State, whoever steps up in that game and keeps pushing the team, whatever the situation is, they'll be the leader for the rest of the year."