Brown and Gold matters more for UW players
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LARAMIE, Wyo. (AP) — As kids, the Gipson brothers dreamed in shades of burnt orange.
Alvester Alexander and Kenny Browder aspired to wear helmets branded with the Longhorn logo, too.
The childhood hopes of suiting up in University of Texas gear never came true for the four athletes from the Lone Star State.
But Marcell Gipson, Tashaun Gipson, Alexander and Browder get to share the same field with their one-time favorite Division I team at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday when the University of Wyoming hosts the No. 2 Longhorns at War Memorial Stadium.
"Even growing up playing PeeWee and Pop Warner, and especially when the colleges start coming around (to recruit), UT was one of the biggest things on your mind," Cowboy sophomore cornerback Tashaun Gipson, whose family still lives in Dallas, said.
"It was like, 'I hope I'm good enough to get in to Texas.' It's always been a big thing for the kids down there in Texas."
The group of Longhorn-fans-turned-Wyoming-athletes' anticipation for the game is bigger than the state of Texas itself.
"Next to the Dallas Cowboys, they're probably the biggest thing down there," junior cornerback Marcell Gipson said of the Longhorns. "Pretty much everybody on that team is a celebrity in the state of Texas.
"I could probably go through and name almost all the players on their roster, to be honest. It's pretty huge to play out there against them."
Browder — a freshman backup to Marcell Gipson from Round Rock, Texas, which is 17 miles from Austin — saw many contests from within the massive confines of Darrell K. Royal Texas Memorial Stadium.
"It's a real big influence," Browder said. "Watching the Texas games, it made me want to play Division I football."
From eighth grade until his junior year, Browder helped man the concession stands as the Longhorns locked heads with some of the nation's top teams.
"I was never working," Browder said. "I was always out watching the guys play."
Alexander — a true freshman running back from Houston whose first collegiate carry went for a 44-yard touchdown last week in the 'Pokes' 29-22 win over Weber State — took a realistic approach with his football future.
The Longhorns turned into an impractical choice.
"When I was little, I wanted to go to there," Alexander said. "As I got older, I saw how the recruiting went with Texas and was like, 'Probably not.'
"They bring so many good guys in, and I want to play. I'd probably be sitting there until I was a senior."
The Longhorns' two deep is filled with touted former high school prospects, most of whom are homegrown talent. Even with nine other FBS schools in the state, almost 93 percent of UT's roster (103 of 111 players) is from Texas.
So in many ways, the Gipsons, Alexander and Browder — along with Lone Star State natives and UW freshmen Larry Mitchell (Fort Worth), Seth Gilkey (Palestine) and Caleb Hundley (Boerne) — Saturday's historic meeting is a reunion of sorts.
"I know a couple guys on their team," Browder said. "A couple guys played in the same district, and a couple guys went to the same camps I went to."
"That's what will make the game that much more interesting," Tashaun Gipson said. "Knowing like, 'Hey, I know this guy,' or, 'Hey, I've heard of this guy before,' it'll just be a cool experience for us."
Intense experiences on the gridiron against widespread quality competition prepped the Cowboy Texans to contribute in the Mountain West Conference.
Pigskin at any level is essential to life in the Texas. According to the National Federation of State High School Associations, 160,893 prep players participated in football during the 2008-09 school year — 56,669 more than the next closest state.
"High school football in Texas is pretty much like a lot of Division II and Division III football," Tashaun Gipson said. "We take it very serious down there.
"Friday night when the lights come on, it's go time. It's just a football environment. From southern Texas to western Texas to eastern Texas to Texas all around, it's just a big thing."
"There'd be 15,000 people just at one high school game down there," Marcell Gipson said. "Texas football as a whole, I don't think there's any state like that."
"Everywhere you go, it's football," Alexander said. "It's a football state."
"That's the way to go," Browder said. "That is the sport to play in Central Texas and Texas period. If you play football in Texas, you're doing good."
Bringing the spirited parts of home to Laramie is almost as exciting as Saturday's game. Along with the renowned opponent, many of the UW Texans' families and friends are coming to the Equality State, making the weekend that much more special.
"Everybody we grew up with is coming to the game to show their support," Tashaun Gipson said. "With most of them being from Texas, a lot of them are Texas Longhorn fans, so we don't know how that's going to play out.
"But it's going to be something really cool, and I'm just looking forward to it."
And even if Texas leaves town victorious, brown and gold is still now more meaningful than burnt orange.
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Information from: Laramie DailyBoomerang - Laramie, http://www.laramieboomerang.com
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