Teems look to replace departed stars

~ Texas will be trying to replace Vince Young, while Kansas has big holes to fill on defense.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Mack Brown has lost his star quarterback from a national championship team. But the Texas coach still has his sense of humor.

Asked how the early departure of double-threat quarterback Vince Young has affected the Longhorns' offensive game plan, Brown deadpanned: "We probably won't have more structure, but we also won't have too many third-and-30 scrambles for first down. I called a lot of those, and they were pretty exciting."

Behind Brown's wisecracks, though, there's a genuine concern. And he's not the only Big 12 coach wondering how to replace key players from a bowl team. Kansas and Colorado, whose coaches both spoke at Tuesday's media day, are in the same situation.

Young left for the NFL after his junior season, when he led the Longhorns to a 13-0 record capped by a 41-38 victory over Southern California in the BCS title game. Partly because Brown had expected him to stay for another year, and partly because Young's grip on the position was so tight, Texas has no proven replacement.

"Any time we'd bring a quarterback recruit in, Vince would not miss a pass," Brown said. "It was the most incredible thing I'd seen in my life."

Once, Brown said, Young had been throwing horribly in practice -- until a recruit showed up.

"He hit 10 straight passes in a scrimmage," Brown said. "They called down from the press box and said, 'How's our recruit doing?' I said, 'He left after No. 6.'"

That leaves Texas with redshirt freshman Colt McCoy and freshman Jevan Snead as the most likely successors to Young -- possibly in tandem, Brown said.

"We'll probably have to play both guys," he said. "Colt's just been there longer. It's been a very difficult thing for Jevan to come in in January and be pushed into the offense. It's something we will just have to put together on the run."

Kansas graduated its entire linebacking corps of Nick Reid, Banks Floodman and Kevin Kane -- the heart of a defense that led the Jayhawks to a 7-5 mark that included a win over Houston in the Fort Worth Bowl.

Departed linebackers

Going into fall drills, coach Mark Mangino said, Kansas' top three linebackers are senior Eric Washington and sophomores Joe Mortensen and Mike Rivera.

Center David Ochoa said the three should be up to the task.

"Those guys are just mean," Ochoa said. "Where Nick and Kevin and Banks got around a lot with their experience and intelligence, our linebackers now will just hit you in the mouth and let you know about it. They might overplay and make a mistake, but they're going to go 100 miles an hour."

New Colorado coach Dan Hawkins takes over a team that played in the Champs Sports Bowl -- but also lost its last four games by a combined 149-32, including a 70-3 thrashing by Texas in the Big 12 title game which led to Gary Barnett being forced out.

Hawkins lost quarterback Joel Klatt, who threw for 2,696 yards and 14 touchdowns as a senior, and had likely replacement James Cox hampered by injuries in spring drills.

But unlike Brown and Mangino, Hawkins has his team's most notable player coming back, even if it's only for a few snaps each game.

Senior kicker Mason Crosby was 31-for-31 on conversion attempts last year and had five field goals of 50 yards or more. He decided against turning pro -- and part of his reward, Hawkins said, will be a chance to break the collegiate record for the longest field goal.

The NCAA all-division record is 67 yards, shared by Russell Erxleben of Texas, Steve Little of Arkansas, Joe Williams of Wichita State and Tom Odle of Division II Fort Hays State.

Ove Johansson of Abilene Christian, which then played in the NAIA, holds the all-college record with a 69-yarder in 1976.

Those kicks all came off tees. Martin Gramatica's 65-yarder for Kansas State in 1998 is the longest without a tee.