Texas Football: Top 15 all-time Longhorns quarterbacks

Top All-Time Texas Football Quarterbacks – Number 5: Bobby Layne (1944-47)

Career stats: 965 passing yards, 9 TDs, 7 INTs, 54.8 completion %, 138.9 passer rating, 96 rushing yards, 2 rushing TDs

Put simply, Bobby Layne was one of the brightest stars to ever shine for the Longhorns. It was a different day and age in which he played for Texas, but he enjoyed unprecedented success as a passer during those days.

There’s a reason he was named to four straight All-Southwest Conference teams and earned All-American honors as a senior. When his time at Austin was said and done, he owned nearly every passing record in the book. I think it’s easy to understand why he sits securely in the Top 5 Texas gunslingers in history.

What truly set him apart was his performance during the 1946 Cotton Bowl. In that decisive victory over the Missouri Tigers, Layne scored all 40 points for Texas. That included scoring four touchdowns, throwing for two more and kicking four extra points. On that day, he essentially was the team.

Guys like Layne don’t often get the credit they deserve because they played so long ago. It’s also worth noting that the above statistics only show his production from his 1947 senior season, as his numbers weren’t collected prior to that. While we may be missing a piece of the puzzle, there’s no denying that he was one of the greatest to ever don the burnt orange.