Quarterback Gilbert Transfers – Guess Where?

Gilbert in action (Photo courtesy of UT)

Garrett Gilbert played the biggest football game of his short life at last year's BCS Nation­al Championship Rose Bowl game, replacing an injured Colt McCoy despite having thrown only a handful of balls all season. (Should Mack Brown have given Gilbert more playing time during the regular season? Probably.) The youngster's gutsy performance in the Horns' 21-37 loss to Alabama in Pasadena will be remembered fondly by the Longhorn faithful his entire career – and life. Despite throwing four picks (as well as two touchdown passes), he kept the Horns in the game until late in the fourth quarter.

But if Gilbert gets the opportunity to play in a title game again, he won't be sporting burnt orange. With the news that the University of Texas is shutting down its athletics program due to budgetary constraints, Gilbert has agreed to a transfer, and – hold your hook 'ems – he'll be taking snaps as an Oklahoma Sooner.

When asked about his decision to play for UT's biggest rival, Garrett responded, "I feel the Sooners give me the best chance to return to the championship game and will help get me the recognition needed to fulfill my dream of being a first-round NFL draft pick, when that time comes."

He added, "Sam Bradford has a good chance of being drafted number one overall by the Rams in the upcoming draft [April 22], and when's the last time a UT QB went number one overall?" Realizing how this sounded, he did backpedal slightly. "But if I do have the good fortune of achieving my goals, coach Brown will be at the top of my list of those to thank," he added, narrowly avoiding some serious Capital City backlash.

Now the big question is: Will UT be the only Division I team to fold due to financial exigency? Meanwhile, other notable transfers thus far include: senior running back Vondrell McGee to Texas A&M, senior wide receiver John Chiles to the University of Houston (where he is expected to get a chance to play QB), freshman QB Case McCoy to Brigham Young, and junior RB Foswhitt "Fozzie" Whittaker to Alabama.

*Oops! The following correction ran in the April 9, 2010 issue: Due to editorial confusion, we mistakenly reported last week that the University of Texas was ending its football program (and all athletics programs), that the city of Austin would henceforth subsidize UT football, that several UT football players were transferring to other universities, and that Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium would be repurposed for academic functions and additional parking. We have since learned that we were mistaken. We apologize for any inconvenience and promise to never, ever, ever, make similar mistakes again – at least until April 1, 2011.