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Posted
1 hour ago, Jkwellborn said:


Well, Ced destroyed Mike Williams on a fucking int return and missed the rest of the game with a neck stinger or something I think that night. I’ve got it on VHS somewhere.

I think he hurt his knee on one of the first series in that Rose Bowl. I don’t think he missed the rest of the game. I remember him being out there but ineffective.
I remember reading or watching Mack talk about Cedric after that game.

RIP #32.

I think Ced’s stinger in that BigXiiCG really hurt his sophomore production. He was a different back after that injury. Still great, but I believe he could have been even better had that injury not occurred.

 

one of my favorite Horns, ever.

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Posted
19 minutes ago, MAUFRAIS said:

Pretty sure I remember benson making an important play right before Mangum’s field goal.

The kick doesn’t clear the crossbar if Ced doesn’t fight through contact in the backfield. I can make myself tear up on cue by telling the story if Ced’s final game and final carry as a longhorn. RIP

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Posted (edited)
14 hours ago, jimmyjazz said:

Man, we have had some running backs at Texas.  I know USC gets the "Running Back U" publicity, and theirs have been awesome, but . . . Earl, Ricky, Cedric, D'Onta, Bijan, Jamaal, Chris G, Roosevelt . . . holy shit.

Don’t forget Eric and the oft-injured Priest. 

Edited by ImissWallyPryor
Posted
12 hours ago, longhornmatt said:

He did hurt his knee early in the Michigan Rose Bowl, but he kept playing and had 20+ carries.  He wasn’t as effective as usual that game, but he was tough.  I think he had injuries his sophomore year, too (plus recovering from the neck injury at the end of his freshman year) but still had 300+ carries that season.

He was a uniquely tough runner.  I remember all the stats they would show at Texas and how he’d get like 60% of his yards after first contact.  He had one of the highest career carry totals in NCAA history, and pretty much all of those carries were violent.

That was what struck me the most while watching him his freshamn year on the 40 - the way he finished runs. I've never seen anyone finish runs the way he did, before or since, at any level. 

And re: the collision with Mike Williams, I have always thought he was never quite the same after that. 

Posted
18 hours ago, jimmyjazz said:

Man, we have had some running backs at Texas.  I know USC gets the "Running Back U" publicity,

probably not for literal decades.  prior to bush and lendale white was...ricky ervins?

in 21st century, texas has as much right to that title as alabama

Posted
4 hours ago, 52-80 said:

probably not for literal decades.  prior to bush and lendale white was...ricky ervins?

I was thinking all time.  Mike Garrett, OJ, Marcus Allen, Charles White, Sam Cunningham, Frank Gifford, Ricky Bell, Anthony Davis, plus Bush and Landwhale.  Pretty stout list.

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  • 8 months later...
Posted

Ced was the reason I got into recruiting. I don't remember where I heard it, but as a kid I vividly remember telling a friend that he was coming to UT, and I was fucking amped. That was the first time I had ever heard of "5 star" or whatever. I just remember how stoked I was. He delivered in every way imaginable. Ced, Ricky, and Bijan is just absurd. Then add in Jamaal, Priest, Metcalf, D'Onta, Brooks, and so on.

Texas is RBU. Fight me. 

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  • 11 months later...
Posted
15 minutes ago, Derka said:

🤘🏼🤘🏼🤘🏼

 

I'm thankful for Mack Brown, but I'm not his biggest fan. He's just not my kind of guy. But I will say he is very effective in these kinds of moments, and I'm very appreciative of him sharing this story.

I was, however, a HUGE fan of Cedric Benson. I remember watching him play for Midland Lee, particularly in the state championships. I didn't see all three, but I saw two of them. Remember that during their entire history Midland Lee had always been overshadowed by Odessa Permian. But Midland Lee was a powerhouse for Benson's 3 years on varsity, and Benson was a huge reason for it.

We all remember Benson as this big hulking back, but he wasn't that at all at Midland. I don't want to say he was skinny, but he was certainly lean. I don't think he ever got above 195 lbs. while playing varsity. Especially as a sophomore. He was deceptive in everything he did. He didn't look like he had a lot of wiggle. He never looked like Barry Sanders or Bijan Robinson. And yet, defenders could never seem to get a clean shot at him. He could make people miss in the hole as well as any running back I ever saw. He never had breakaway speed, but he often seemed to run just fast enough to score. He had the most incredible forward body lean I've ever seen in a running back. I felt like he lost a little bit of that as he bulked up, but maybe that was an optical illusion. He definitely had it as a freshman at Texas when he was still a little leaner compared to how he looked later on.

But in high school his torso looked like it was literally parallel with the ground as he ran. And he always went forward. He showed that too, at Texas, but in high school it was even more remarkable. I cannot tell you how often it looked like the defense had him tackled, and he'd somehow squirt through with that forward lean of his, and somehow make 5, 6, 7, 8 yards out of the carry. Sometimes more. It wasn't just once. He seemed to do that every time he carried the ball.

And he saved his biggest moments for the big time. He scored 5 touchdowns in each of those 3 state championships (13 runs and 2 passes). I loved watching Benson play in high school. One of my favorite players I ever got to see.

I wanted to pull my hair out with his recruitment. He wanted to go to Texas. Everyone knew he wanted to go to Texas. But Mack Brown didn't like his measurables. At a time when Texas was often offering kids earlier than anyone else, he wouldn't extend an offer to the most celebrated back in the state, even with a lot of alumni pressure to do so. Mack just didn't feel like Benson was good enough. It wasn't like Mack offered him right before signing day or anything. I believe Benson came to a camp to prove himself, even though he was a little indignant that was necessary. Finally Mack Brown reluctantly offered the guy that summer, bowing to pressure and the knowledge if he didn't offer him and Benson went on to be a star somewhere else there would be hell to pay. Benson immediately accepted.

Then he gets to campus and Mack Brown does his usual deal of not playing freshman. He often did the same thing. I remember pulling my hair out with Derrick Johnson when he got the same treatment. The famous 2001 game against OU Cedric Benson didn't get a single carry. We had Ivan Williams as our starting running back. It's the only game that season where he didn't have a carry. The next week against Oklahoma State he ran the ball 31 times for 131 yards (he'd run for 100 yards or more in the next 4 games, too) before finishing with his first of 4 1000 yard seasons. 

I'm not saying Cedric Benson was the greatest human being on Earth. I didn't know the guy personally. I know there were issues there. But he loved Texas, and he was a gamer. That guy could smell the end zone, just like Ricky Williams could. I'm glad I got to watch him both in high school and at Texas. I'm grateful he's a Longhorn. 

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Posted

I'm nowhere close to being a recruiting fanatic, but I knew about Benson in the day.  I went to see that Lee VS Westlake game at DKR.  Benson trucked Huston Street about 20 times but Huston always seemed to hang on for dear life.  Both were impressive.

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Posted
30 minutes ago, SL Xpress said:

Then he gets to campus and Mack Brown does his usual deal of not playing freshman. He often did the same thing. I remember pulling my hair out with Derrick Johnson when he got the same treatment. The famous 2001 game against OU Cedric Benson didn't get a single carry. We had Ivan Williams as our starting running back. It's the only game that season where he didn't have a carry. The next week against Oklahoma State he ran the ball 31 times for 131 yards (he'd run for 100 yards or more in the next 4 games, too) before finishing with his first of 4 1000 yard seasons. 

the younger fans who didn’t live through this have no idea how infuriating this was. i’ll 100% echo your sentiments from earlier- i’m thankful for Mack, and i’ll always be blown away by the way he treated me and my boy Sean, for those who remember that thread on TOS. still, he is not my kind of guy, and his whole “scared to death” persona drove me batshit crazy, and prevented a lot of talented players and teams from winning more. bob stoops couldn’t have asked for a better rival- we were always loaded, often favored, but just softer than shit, which started and ended with mack brown and all of his fears. i still cringe and get a little ragey every time i hear him talk about how he was like, “oh no, don’t say that Vince!” when Vince said, “we’ll be back.” he had a demigod for a quarterback and he was scared of his confidence. asinine.

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Posted
26 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

I'm nowhere close to being a recruiting fanatic, but I knew about Benson in the day.  I went to see that Lee VS Westlake game at DKR.  Benson trucked Huston Street about 20 times but Huston always seemed to hang on for dear life.  Both were impressive.

Someone look up the Statute of Limitations in the state of Texas cause we were robbed! 

Posted
1 hour ago, Derka said:

the younger fans who didn’t live through this have no idea how infuriating this was. i’ll 100% echo your sentiments from earlier- i’m thankful for Mack, and i’ll always be blown away by the way he treated me and my boy Sean, for those who remember that thread on TOS. still, he is not my kind of guy, and his whole “scared to death” persona drove me batshit crazy, and prevented a lot of talented players and teams from winning more. bob stoops couldn’t have asked for a better rival- we were always loaded, often favored, but just softer than shit, which started and ended with mack brown and all of his fears. i still cringe and get a little ragey every time i hear him talk about how he was like, “oh no, don’t say that Vince!” when Vince said, “we’ll be back.” he had a demigod for a quarterback and he was scared of his confidence. asinine.

He and Deloss totally enabled and culturally epitomized the "country club atmosphere" we became known for. If it hadn't been for striking gold with VY and Colt I think his legacy would have been very, very different and the trajectory of the program would have been quite grim.

Posted
3 minutes ago, chainsaw said:

He and Deloss totally enabled and culturally epitomized the "country club atmosphere" we became known for. If it hadn't been for striking gold with VY and Colt I think his legacy would have been very, very different and the trajectory of the program would have been quite grim.

While I doubt we'd have won a national title by 2005, we did go 11-2 in both 2001 and 2002.  Vince didn't kick ass in 2003, either.  Don't overstate it.

Posted
1 hour ago, jimmyjazz said:

I'm nowhere close to being a recruiting fanatic, but I knew about Benson in the day.  I went to see that Lee VS Westlake game at DKR.  Benson trucked Huston Street about 20 times but Huston always seemed to hang on for dear life.  Both were impressive.

Didn’t Huston say playing against Benson was a big reason he chose to play baseball?

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