IRVING -- Sophomore quarterback Garrett Gilbert could be difficult to locate this season for those familiar with the Texas Longhorns' offensive scheme.
Gilbert is being asked to take snaps from under center, so the Longhorns can revive the highly ranked ground game they enjoyed before Colt McCoy began directing what evolved into strictly a spread offense with the one-time Heisman runner-up in the shotgun.
"When you have instances come up when you lose a quarterback -- and we lost Colt in the Kansas State game his first year and the Alabama game last year -- you're putting your backup quarterback under a tremendous amount of pressure if you can't run the ball," Texas coach Mack Brown said Wednesday at the Big 12 media days. "We will go back and work harder to get the ball downhill from the tailback spot. We'll have the quarterback under center more."
Texas gained two first downs rushing and 64 rushing yards after McCoy went down in the first series of the BCS title game with a shoulder injury. That left Gilbert, who had thrown 26 collegiate passes entering the game, on an island as he tried to move the ball against the Crimson Tide's top-ranked defense.
"The fact that we put a young quarterback in that is inexperienced without being able to run the ball has cost us two potential championships," Brown said. "So we need to get back and be able to do that."
Brown and the Longhorns won a national title in 2005, a year in which they were second in the nation in rushing. Quarterback Vince Young helped pad those rushing statistics, but take away his 1,079 yards and the Longhorns still had nearly 500 more yards rushing than last season's team that finished with 2,066, good for 61st in the nation.
"We did a lot of self study and found out we had more explosive plays when the quarterback was under the center in the running game as well as the tailback being right behind the quarterback," Brown said. "When Colt took over we started throwing the ball so much that we have not been as aggressive in the running game as we would like."
Tre' Newton led the Longhorn tailbacks in carries last season with 116, averaging only 39.4 yards a game. That was nearly 20 yards a game from being in the top 10 in the Big 12.
With rushing numbers last season that dwarfed what they put up in 2004 and '05, the Longhorns spent much of the spring getting back to the style that fueled a 26-1 record and a national championship over the 2004-05 seasons with Young at quarterback.
The Longhorns say they love the return to smash-mouth football, but it took some adjusting, especially from the highly-touted quarterback out of Lake Travis who said he hadn't taken a snap under center since "probably Pop Warner."
"The biggest thing is getting my feet out of there, so the linemen don't step on them," Gilbert said. "It was an adjustment, but I enjoy the way we can run the ball which sets up the play-action pass. That stretches the field out."
The Longhorns' tight ends will spend more time run-blocking, and they've started using a flex tight end -- a receiving tight end that can also block on the outside or from the fullback position. Barrett Matthews (6-foot-2, 230 pounds) and Madisonville's Chris Whaley (6-3, 245) auditioned for the new job in the spring.
Newton, Fozzy Whitaker and the rest of Texas' running backs should benefit the most from the new scheme.
"We have unbelievable talent at our running back position," Gilbert said. "All of those guys have done a good job of moving downhill and making cuts and being consistent, and then they get there explosive plays."
The added emphasis on running the ball doesn't mean the Longhorns won't still employ their spread offense. Gilbert, who has yet to start a game, says he expects to be under center about half the time.
"You are still going to see the same passing game," he said. "We'll spread it out and get three or four wide receivers and sling the ball around. But we feel if we put a little more emphasis on the running game, it will help us be more successful and dynamic as an offense."
UT's offensive linemen welcome the opportunity to attack the defense rather than sitting back and protecting all game.
"We feel it will help us in the long run if we can establish the running game," starting left tackle Kyle Hix said. "Instead of a quarterback and five receivers every time, we're trying to make it easier on ourselves."
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NOTES -- When Brown wasn't talking up the running game Wednesday, he was deflecting any potential war of wards over Nebraska's 1-minute alumni support video Red Out that ended with the slogan: "Wear Red. Be Loud. Beat Texas." "I think it's a compliment to us for a program like Nebraska to be talking Texas this time of year," Brown said. "The thing I do know is Nebraska was going to be ready to play Texas regardless of a video. The fans were going to be excited about Texas being there regardless of the video, and none of that stuff matters after you kick it off." Texas defeated Nebraska 13-12 on a last-second field goal in the Big 12 Championship last season. The teams meet in Nebraska on Oct. 16.
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