The legendary Longhorns QB just can’t seem to get things right lately.
Vince Young was, and still remains, a legend at Texas. But his name has taken a few hits over the last few years, including this past weekend after he was fired from his part-time job at his Alma matter for poor performance, something Young never struggled with while he was playing for Texas.
In his three years as the Longhorns starter under center, Young amassed 6,040 yards passing with 44 TDs, and 3,127 yards rushing with 37 TDs. In his junior season, he threw for 3,036 yards with 26 TDs, ran for 1,050 and 12 TDs and led the Longhorns to a perfect 13-0 record and a national title victory over the USC Trojans, a game which included his 9 yard TD run with: 26 seconds remaining to give Texas the win.
Young would win numerous accolades that season, including the Davey O’Brien award, All American honors and finished second in the Heisman voting to Reggie Bush. He would be drafted with the 3rd overall pick by the Tennessee Titans in the 2006 NFL Draft and things appeared to be bright for the Longhorns legend.
But after have two good seasons, the injury bug started to make its appearance more frequently, plaguing him to the point where he lost his starting spot to Kerry Collins. Yet Young persevered, earning his spot back and leading the team to eight our ten victories as the starting QB. That year he also finished third in the voting for NFL Comeback Player of the Year and made the Pro Bowl again after replacing Phillip Rivers.
Injuries got to him again in 2010. After having his thumb banged up in week 11, and being held out for the remainder of the game, Young had a blow-up with Coach Fisher, threw his shoulder pads in the stands and stormed out. He was benched for the remainder of the season and then was kicked off the team. He would play for Philly for a short time and then bounced around the league with different teams, but he never regained the position or talent which he had for the first few years of his pro career.
Injuries were just one of the problems which plagued Young over the last thirteen years. Erratic behavior, financial miscues, the death of Steve McNair and DWI arrests also contributed to his downward spiral.
But news of him returning to Austin in August of 2014 gave fans hope that Vince could straighten his life out in the place where he had his biggest success.
This weekend, sadly, we learned that those hopes were dashed as Young was fired from his job as Neighborhood Longhorns development officer and a football camp specialist.
In that role, Young was “responsible for alumni relations and raising money for low-income students and first-generation college students.” But apparently, the former Longhorns QB hadn’t been doing his job, had poor communication with his supervisors and even failed to show up for work.
According to Hookem.com, Young was fired for “poor work performance and ‘failing to maintain standards of conduct suitable and acceptable to the university,’ according to school documents.” Apparently Young hadn’t been performing up to par and, coupled with two DWI arrests which happened while he was employed by the school, little choice was left in the matter and the university decided to part ways with one of the biggest names in Longhorns’ sports history.
Hopefully, Vince is able to pull things together and eliminate the demons which seem to have plagued him over the last decade. But he’s obviously not worried about it and wants everyone to know that what we read isn’t a reflection of the person he really is. Let’s hope that the real person shows up before something serious happens.
Yes sir!! please don't believe what u have read or seen about me I'm am not the person they portray me as. Love big guy… https://t.co/WaOvivPnP5
— Mr. Young (@VinceYoung10) March 9, 2019
