In 1997, a goofy, Opie lookin' kid played quarterback for a Catholic powerhouse in Baton Rouge. Though he was not the physical prototype of a quarterback, his knowledge of the game and ability to read the defense made him difficult to stop.
This kid grew up with football in his blood. His dad was president of the Alabama Alumni Association and even named his son after their star player, Major Ogilvie. Little Major saw as many Tide games as possible and wished to someday play for their team.
As a senior in high school, however, Alabama chose not to recruit him. Two teams from Texas did: Texas and Texas A&M. After a campus visit, Major gave the Aggies his verbal commitment to play football in College Station. It was only after the coach that recruited him no longer worked for the Aggies that he started to have second thoughts about playing for A&M.
John Mackovic then made one of the most important calls of his life (the first probably being "Roll Left") and forever changed the course of history at the University. He convinced Major to play for the Longhorns. The Aggie Community thought they'd never miss what they never really had - until Major Applewhite became Major Applewhite.
[I still like to mention to my in-laws how different things would be down in College Station if that one coach had remained on staff. To their credit, they claim that they never liked him anyway and continue to call him Private Applesauce.]
Applewhite achieved hero status his freshman year when he led Texas to an improbable win over the Cornhuskers in Lincoln; he achieved sainthood when he was benched in favor of Simms a few years later.
It was during this time period where many took for granted that someday he would again roam the sidelines of DKR, but as head coach, not second string quarterback. This dream was put on hold as Applewhite took jobs at Syracuse, Rice, and then Alabama.
Maybe I'm going a bit overboard with this statement, but today could be one of the most important, albeit symbolic, days in Texas Longhorn history.
And maybe the coincidences are just that, but this isn't the first time Texas has entrusted an out-of-state coach who wore number 11 while playing college football with major responsibilities. Royal was 32 years old at the time; Applewhite is 29 but rumors have been rampant that Brown will retire before he turns 60, the same year Applewhite will be 32.
Welcome back, Major. We hope you stay for a while.
