The lone star state welcomes back two of its own, Vince Young, QB for the Tennessee Titans and Bobby Reid, former QB for Oklahoma State University.

(Yes, the Bobby Reid whose love for the game was questioned in an editorial that sent Okla. State Coach Mike Gundy into a rant—”I’m a man, I’m 40!!”)

High expectations were set for both of the Houston graduates for their college careers, but in the past 4 years the hype has died down as their recent experiences are unparallel.

 Galena Park North Shore was where Reid attended school and led his team to a State Championship win his senior year. He was named the Houston Touchdown Club’s Offensive Player of the Year, and was named the all-Greater Houston, all-district and the district’s Most Valuable Player. He was named to both the national and Texas Top 100 recruiting lists. Reid chose Oklahoma State and redshirted his freshman season.  

Young spent his high school career at Madison High in the papers. Parade and Student Sports named him the National Player of the Year. The Sporting News ranked him as the top high school prospect, and he led the Texas state roster in 2001 as the 5A Offensive Player of the Year. The University of Texas signed him right away in 2002 and redshirted him as a freshman.

At the University of Texas, Young was a star on the field and left school a year early to pursue an NFL career. Reid’s life after high school has been quite the opposite. He has only truly succeeded in underachieving. Arriving to Oklahoma State with equally high expectations and hype now has controversy swirling around him.  

Vince Young’s stint in Texas is spurred by a promise to his mother to return to Texas after he skipped his last year of school to enter the draft. Reid is returning to Texas to finish his final year of eligibility at Texas Southern University. Texas Southern is near his family and close to home where hopefully he can stir up some of the magic he brewed up during his high school career.

Reid received his undergraduate degree this year at Oklahoma State where his football career has been a little bit less than perfect. Being demoted to backup quarterback was not even the most frustrating part of this year. His name also became a part of one of the most hit YouTube videos as his OSU coach Mike Gundy defended Reid from local writers. Still worse, was his questionable love for the game.  

“It was the worst thing I ever went through.” Reid said. “Sometimes I didn’t even want to get out of bed.” 

 Reid applied for the 2008 NFL Draft after the disappointing season and after much though and a few conversations with Texas Southern University’s Head Coach Johnnie Cole he had a change of heart. Reid decided to play his final year of eligibility with the Tigers of Texas Southern.  

When entering the NFL, Young made a promise to his mother to receive his degree that was made when he left college early for the NFL. He returns to The University of Texas and has enrolled as a full time student, taking 15 hours this spring. He is roughly two semesters shy of his degree in liberal arts and plans to finish by the spring of 2009.

This semester wraps up on May 13^th and Young will head back to Tennessee to work with new offensive coordinator Mike Heimerdinger who replaces Norm Chow. On field practices are tentatively set between April and June.

The city of Houston has been rooting for Reid since he left for Oklahoma State and seem to be excited about him ending his career in his home town.

The return to Houston and being welcomed into a new system might be exactly what Reid needs. He will be given the ability to fall in love with football again, and prove that he is the outstanding talent that he was expected to be.

It seems almost unfair to compare the two but both were held in very high regards early in their careers and similar beginnings have led to much different paths for two of Houston’s beloved quarterbacks

As of now Reid and Vince have gone in opposite directions as far as on the field accomplishments but both return to Texas for very admirable reasons.

This fall Young will be one semester short of his undergraduate degree and Reid will be making his debut as a TSU Tiger. Both men seem to be taking steps for their respective futures.

Young’s future does not have as many questions as Reid and he appears to doing everything right on and off of the field.

Can Reid revive his once promising football future?

We’ll know shortly.