NEW YORK – Former Longhorn quarterback Vince Young was among 13 players and two coaches inducted into College Football Hall of Fame on Tuesday night at the National Football Foundation’s awards dinner in New York.
- Helped win Rose Bowl against USC
- Broke NCAA rushing, passing season record
- Came in 2nd place in Heisman voting
Young put up dizzying dual-threat numbers at Texas before it was common in college football.
He wasn’t the first star quarterback who could tear apart a defense with his legs and his arm, but he set new standards at Texas. In 2005, with the college football world transfixed on USC taking a run at three straight national titles with running back Reggie Bush and quarterback Matt Leinart, Young was being promoted by Texas as both Trojans stars rolled into one.
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Young passed for 3,036 yards and 26 touchdowns that season and ran for 1,050 and 12 scores, topped off by 450 total yards and three scores in a memorable Rose Bowl performance that took down USC and made the Longhorns national champions. Young was the first player in NCAA history to rush for more than 1,000 yards and pass for more than 2,500 in a single season.
Since then, 20 quarterbacks have done it, including last year’s Heisman winner, Kyler Murray, who along with Clemson’s Deshaun Waston are the only players with 4,000 yards passing and 1,000 yards rushing in a season. Imagine what Young could have done in today’s offenses.
“Everybody says you came (up) too early,” Young said Tuesday.
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Young finished second to Bush in the Heisman voting and then used it as motivation to go out and win the national title.
“I was really pissed about losing that Heisman. I really wanted to bring that Heisman back to Texas,″ Young said.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.