Two UT Recuits who changed thier minds

[Bill in Sinton]

They both decided to go to OU rather than UT. One was Adrian Peterson who great up as a Horn fan but decided his senior year that he would have a better chance at the NC at Oklahoma and even though he had a good career at OU and a great NFL career he never got that NC and lost to us 2 out of three years. Guess who won the NC in 2005 that he could have been a part of?
The other was Marcus Dupree who played at OU two years. He started in 1982 and had a good year. He had chosen UT but later for whatever reason switched to OU. On 30 on 30 he said he was really hurt when OU won the NC in 1985 because he would have been on that team his senior year had he stayed there. But would he? Remember he may have had a great junior year and had already gone pro and been paid a large sum of money. But his best bet would have been on the 1983 UT team when we lost the NC by one point to Georgia in the Cotton Bowl 10-9. Had he been on that team we would no doubt have been able to have got at least a td and won the game and the NC. So he also missed his chance at an NC had he come here. Ironically it was the UT game that year where he was injured and a week later left OU.
Will we be writing about the same thing about Westerman in a few years? I hope so even though I hope he has a good career except where it adversely affects UT.

 

[coolhorn]

Spilt milk.

 

[Burnt Orangeman]

at least one mammal is required

to provide the milk. spill, then cry

 

[HatDaddy]

He is an O lineman...nobody cares.

 

[22 HORN]

No doubt?? Well who really knows if MD would have been healthy and productive enough to get a TD vs Georgia......conjecture!!!

 

[IvanDiabloHorn]

A dropped screen pass cost us the title.

 

[Branyon]

I recall we had a long gainer shortened or called back early in the game for a hold, not to mention three missed field goals. Of course, with the wind it might have been a good idea to pull McIvor and run Moerschall at QB for more than a couple of plays (which resulted in a first down). Plenty of what ifs in that painful game.

 

[kbrown]

We had Edwin Simmons in 83 until he got hurt. Had he been available against Georgia...well we'll never know

 

[IvanDiabloHorn]

I also remember the Georgia center tackling Leiding on the run
for the touchdown at the end of the game.

 

[tholly]

We remember Peterson and Dupree. Soon, as an OL going to a soon to be 8-4 GatorBowl type team the next 3 yrs, no one will remember Winchestermans name. No disrespect but true. I'm sure in about 3 1/2 yrs, when I see his name in the 3rd or 4th round of the draft, I'll say "That's the kid that almost...."

 

[IB ROC N]

I believe our linebacker who was tackled on that TD run was Mark Lang.

 

[GemStateJim]

The important thing to note from these examples is not what hardships or successes the recruit endured after spurning Texas, but that Texas got along just fine without them.

No single recruit is going to make or break this program, particularly an offensive lineman, so why continue obsessing over this?

 

[UTis2much]

In reply to:

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[AustinBat]

Westerman is now totally irrelevant to UT football.

 

[SWHorn]

In reply to:

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[IvanDiabloHorn]

I B Roc N, Now that I think about it, I remember seeing it happen and I may have just thought it was Leiding as he seemed to be in every tackle that day. I know that missed call cost us, because Georgia wasn't getting into the endzone on the ground any other way in that game.

 

[warrior]

A young man has the right to change his mind up to signing date. I have no problem with that.

 

[Bill in Sinton]

I agree Ivan. If the penalty had been called as it should have been that would have shifted the momentum to our defense and a big letdown to our offense. I don't know if the penalty would have been 15 or 10 yards then but with that setback I don't think they would have made the first down much less a td against our great defense.

 

[Bill in Sinton]

I think Georgia made the td run on second down but I am not sure. Can anyone confirm or correct? I wish a link was available for us to see the td run although painful it would be interesting to see the non call foul. Then instead of the Georgia Joke it's 10 to 9 in Texas they could say Georgia 3 Texas 9 Santa Claus 7.

 

[Horn-N-LA]

I can't wait for the UT Network where they undoubtedly replay that game and we'll know for sure.

 

[blonthang]

Darryl Shepherd (sp?), top-rated QB in Texas HS football in 1976, verballed to UT.

Switched to UH (I think OU, aggy, and Tceh might have also been in his regional tour of "commitments" following his regneging to UT).

He wound up driving a brand new TransAm around campus at UH that 1977 fall.

UH had a top-25 team, pretty nasty team under Yoeman in 1977. Texas was already ranked No.1. coming off that 5-5-1 DKR final year, and to respond to the expected demand, the UH-UT game was moved from the Astrodome (UH's home field at the time) to Rice stadium (bigger facility).

I was there. Earl was sick, stumbling through a typical workman 150-yard game or such, fighting the flu.

The Koogs cheerleaders put up a banner along the sideline: "Darryl is our Shepherd, thou shalt not get."

Never forget it.

3rd quarter or such, still a tight, hard-fought game, the UH QB goes out with an injury. Shepherd is put in by Yoeman, and man, I SWEAR I saw blood dripping from the UT defensive linemen's eyes.

He took the snap and was DESTROYED by, IIRC, 3 or 4 UT linemen, LBs, DBs, etc. and also IIRC fumbled the ball from the hits.

He trotted off, slumped shoulders, little to be heard of after that game, although I think he went to Tceh but it didn't work out.

Karma is a *****.

Hook 'em

 

[IvanDiabloHorn]

I remember that banner. I also remember Earl tipping Bevo over and Coog fans fuming about playing Rice stadium. Seems to me we had a choice of where to play them and made them playat Rice Stadium. I think it was a concesstion UH had to make in order to join the SWC.

 

[kbrown]

Didn't Darrel Shepard actually sign with OU? If I remember correctly Darrel Royal went to his home to do the signing and he was not there.

 

[blonthang]

kb,

Fired up the Googlemachine and found the following:
The Link

From the link above:

"The stark irony that unfolded before 33,816 fans was Shepard, who in 1978 was banned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association from playing in bowl games for the University of Houston. The NCAA did not approve of the method by which Shepard had financed an automobile."

"Shepard's transfer to Oklahoma met resistance from the rest of the Big Eight conference, but eventually he became the Sooner quarterback midway through the 1979 season. And Saturday, he romped through his last amateur football game with the ultimate dramatic flair, burying the Cougars with whom he began his college career five seasons back."

It went past me that he did actually wind up playing elsewhere after getting booted from UH by the NCAA.

Gotta love OU's consistency, even back then. Guy gets a new car and then NCAA bans him from bowl play for that school ---- no problem, "Come on up to Norman!!!!

Many beers, many lost brain cells ago.....forgot about his OU stint.

 

[kbrown]

I remember hearing rumors back in the day about Shepard and OU. After he had transferred to ou he was the starting qb in 81 yet for some reason Kelly Phelps started and played the entire game against us. We kicked their *** 34-14. I do remember there were rumblings that Texas had the dirty on ou's recruitment of Shepard so they didn't play him in that game. The whole Shepard deal stunk all the way from his high school recruitment throughout his career.

 

[I_Dont_Exist]

Akers first stop on NSD was to sign Shepard as I recall at the high school. He was nowhere to be found and appeared later in the day at a press conference in Houston to sign with the cougars. He was flown in on a private jet owned by a UH alum which became a factor in the probation.

The article about the game is incorrect in saying he became the starting QB in 79. He was at UH two years and sat out that year as a transfer. Thomas Lott was still the QB. Kelly Phelps was the starter for virtually all of 80-81 but Shepard did play. He even came in for one snap against the horns in 81when Phelps had to leave for a play because he required assistance on the field. It was a simple handoff with no incidents and Phelps came back in.

 

[kbrown]

I think I'm gettin Darrell and his brother woody's timelines a little confused!!! Too much time has passed! Both were dooshes I think it is safe to say!

 

[Texas Rugby]

Sammy Baugh was on campus with a baseball scholarship. While watching UT football practice he decided he wanted to play football and transferred to TCU. The rest, as they say, is history.

Y. A. Tittle was also committed to Texas and was on campus before he switched to LSU.

What a legacy of QBs that would have been.

 

[Bill in Sinton]

I once read a story about Shepard when he was first committed to the Horns before he changed. Shepard's mother called him about wanted a new car for her son at a local dealership and she called him requesting "financing." Coach Royal told her she needed to get in touch with a bank loan officer and she then told him "I don't think you know what I mean."

Of course he did but unlike many of his fellow coaches Mr. Royal played by the rules.