 "Photo: Jeffrey McWhorter")
Norton wins Muschamp's week one Hard Hat Award
Fiery new defensive coordinator Will Muschamp has added an extra incentive for the Longhorn defense this season: the player with the biggest hit that week earns the new Hard Hat Award.
This week's honor went to Jared Norton for his hit on the goal line against Florida Atlantic receiver Lester Jean at the beginning of the third quarter.
"I had my eye on the No. 3 receiver that play and recognized the screen right away," Norton said. "I didn't get there at first, but when I did, I just drove my feet through and kept moving because that's what coach Muschamp has really emphasized in practice."
Norton was named co-starter with senior Rashad Bobino at middle linebacker and played 40 snaps in the ballgame but was not out there for the first play. Bobino got the start and had 36 snaps at the position. Muschamp said practice determines which player will get the start.
Defenders give Muschamp 'Band-Aid' Award after cut
With Muschamp giving Norton an award, the linebacker and a few of his teammates decided to return the favor by drawing up an award and presenting it to Muschamp. The award, with a name not suitable for print, is nicknamed the "Band-Aid Award."
At the beginning of Saturday's game, Muschamp got a cut on the side of his face. According to Norton, Muschamp likes to punch his clipboard. After the defense gave up a big play on third down, Muschamp decided to give his clipboard a knuckle sandwich, and it bounced back and hit him in the face.
"You just never know with that guy," Norton said. "He's crazy."
After the game, at the press conference, when a reporter asked Muschamp about the cut on his face, Muschamp licked his hand and wiped over it. Senior defensive end Brian Orakpo was sitting right next to him.
"The man is fiery, and he didn't care at all that he had that whole 'Scarface' thing going on. He just wiped it off his face," Orakpo said. "Sometimes I don't think he's human."
Shipley, Davis search hard for McCoy's first game faults
After Colt McCoy rushed for 103 yards and went 24 of 29 for 222 yards and three touchdowns on Saturday, becoming the only Texas player besides Vince Young to rush for over 100 yards and throw for over 200 in a game, Mack Brown said it was probably the best game he had ever seen McCoy play.
But offensive coordinator Greg Davis and senior wide receiver Jordan Shipley were not afraid to criticize the junior quarterback.
Davis said he gave McCoy a negative grade on the 9-yard touchdown pass he threw to Shipley while on the run. The offensive coordinator said McCoy had senior running back Chris Ogbonnaya open while still in the pocket and should have made the throw then.
"Any time you get out of the pocket and start scrambling, it distorts your view of things and makes things harder," Davis said. "When everybody is telling you how great you played, you need to have somebody bring up ways you can improve to put things in perspective, and that's what I'm doing."
McCoy is also in Shipley's doghouse. On a reverse pass that Shipley threw incomplete in the second quarter, McCoy missed his block and allowed Shipley to rush and get rid of the ball too quickly as well as take a big hit. The play was a zone read turned into a reverse, so McCoy's responsibility was to block the linebacker that would chase him on the read, according to Davis. He didn't do it.
"That was a funny deal," Shipley said. "He whiffed on the block. Next time, we'll get that one squared away. I saw Quan wide open, but I knew a guy was coming and couldn't get a grip on the ball in time."
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