WACO, Texas — When you think about Baylor football, Robert Griffin III is the first name you think about.
But maybe, you would associate him with the Texas Longhorns, had they not made a mistake.
The Copperas Cove native was a hot recruit coming out of high school, but some college programs viewed him more as an ATH (athlete) more than as a quarterback. This meant they thought he might be a better wide receiver or defensive back.
The Longhorns wanted RGIII as an ATH, but he had no interest in that.
"Every coach that offered me as an athlete, Texas was one , LSU was one when Les Miles was there," Griffin said. I [told them] I respected them and I appreciated the offer, but I'm going to have to go ahead and decline. I didn't want to string anybody along because I knew I was gonna be a quarterback and I was gonna play quarterback."
During his first season at Baylor, Texas played RGIII for the first time, and they realized they may have messed up.
"My freshman year at Baylor, we were playing at Texas," he said. "After that game, [I] played pretty well, Mack Brown came up to me and said 'man, we really messed up when we didn't give you that offer as a quarterback, didn't we?'"
Clearly, regret had set in for the former Texas Longhorns coach, but he didn't stop at just admitting it, according to Griffin.
"He actually offered me a scholarship on the spot in the middle of the field after the game to transfer for Texas and play for him," Griffin said.
Of course, the Baylor QB didn't take Brown up on that offer. He ended up winning the Heisman in 2011 and was drafted 2nd overall by the now Washington Commanders.