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AUSTIN - Case McCoy talked first.

If he'd been at any other team's spring practice, or played any other position, or been at Texas at just about any time other than the second decade of the third millennium, that information would have been wholly insignificant.

But in this place, at this position, and in this time, there are no meaningless details. When McCoy beat teammate David Ash into the interview room after a Longhorns workout this week, it might have just been because he had a study hall to attend or was quicker in the shower.

In a quarterback controversy like the Longhorns have created, however, nothing seems so innocuous. At UT, where every public move is deliberated, putting McCoy in front of the cameras before Ash easily could've been intended as another subtle reminder that despite the overwhelming perception, McCoy is no backup.

And then McCoy's words, which sounded an awful lot like his head coach's, reiterated the same message.

"Nothing's been given to anyone," McCoy said.

Because UT's quarterbacks give interviews so rarely and because we're now in the second year of Mack Brown's staff's continual evasiveness about committing to one or another, each of McCoy's words carried weight. And it wasn't much of a stretch to assume "anyone" meant "Ash."

Still no hint

Ever since the sixth game of last season, when Ash played the entirety of a loss to Oklahoma State, the vast majority of evidence has pointed to Brown and offensive play-caller Bryan Harsin believing in Ash as their quarterback of the future. He started six of UT's last eight games, including the Holiday Bowl, where he was named the most outstanding offensive player.

But at no point has either Brown or Harsin acknowledged that Ash is even the slightest bit ahead of McCoy. When pressed repeatedly about the issue last week, Brown spent an hour employing the verbal contortionism of a politician trying to avoid a debate question.

Read more from the original source:
UT notebook: Speaking of QB job, mum's the word