Texas Football: 3 most underrated quarterbacks in program history

While the former Texas star quarterback and the 6-foot and 200 pound James Brown gets plenty of lauding for his efforts in the mid-1990’s as the starter on the Forty Acres, he still doesn’t get all the credit and recognition he deserves. During a time period where Texas was still really building up to national prominence under former head coach John Mackovic, Brown was doing something special.

The final year for Brown as the Longhorns starting quarterback was also the last for Mackovic on the Forty Acres. Mackovic and Brown spearheaded the Longhorns to a rather subpar record of 4-7 (2-6 SWC). That down season where Brown registered just five passing touchdowns to 11 picks is why he wasn’t selected in the following 1998 NFL Draft.

However, Brown did play professional football in different regards until 2008. Most of his playing days in the professional football landscape came in the Arena Football League throughout the early-to-mid 2000’s. But he did plenty of great things to help guide the Longhorns in the mid-1990’s, and received two All-SWC honors and was the SWC Offensive Player of the Year in 1995.

During his college career in total, Brown posted 7,628 passing yards, 59 total touchdowns, 37 interceptions, 7.0 adjusted yards per passing attempt, and a 128.4 passer efficiency rating. Take out that down senior campaign for Brown, and his passer efficiency rating is closer to around 145 or 150, which shows how good he really was during his college career.