With what he did from 2007 through 2009, Dezmon Briscoe still holds the Kansas football single-season and career records for receiving yards and receiving touchdowns. He helped KU win an Orange Bowl to end the 2007 season, was offensive MVP of the Insight Bowl in 2008 and earned third-team all-America recognition in 2009.
Briscoe remains a Jayhawk at heart, he says, so when this year's Red Raider Club Kickoff Luncheon was wrapping up, he didn't bother participating in the Matador Song.
That he was standing there in the Memorial Civic Center, though, shows the influence of Joey McGuire. The Red Raiders' coach led Cedar Hill to a 16-0 season and the Class 5A Division II state championship in 2006. Twenty years later, five players from that team
— four living in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, one in Houston — came out to Lubbock to support their old coach.
Briscoe turns 37 on Monday, Aug. 31, and his five years on NFL rosters ended in 2014. Nevertheless ...
"All he's got to do is get up there and talk," Briscoe said of McGuire. "I want to pad it up right now and get to it, you know what I'm saying? McGuire's one of one. You love him. He's always been a people person. He's always looked out for his family. He's always looked out for everybody that's been around him — the players, the coaches, the staff, everybody. I've said it before: Y'all have got one of the best coaches in the nation."
So there the Cedar Hill exes were: Briscoe, star quarterback Will Cole, defensive tackle Cameron Thompson, linebackers Marvin Charles and Tremaine Reeves, all grown men now, making time on a weekday to show up for their old coach. Reeves and Charles came up with the idea.
"Kind of a new tradition that we're starting," Reeves said, "just to come kick off the season and support coach McGuire."
They came out the day before, went to eat with Joey McGuire's wife Debbie and checked out the Womble Football Center.
Back up. They actually started this last year, surprising their old coach. Three former players made the first trip, among them Chris Francis, a linebacker who was Class 5A defensive player of the year in 2006 and played at Baylor.
Back then, the Cedar Hill Longhorns were loaded. They had 12 college Division I signees, including Josh Thomas, a defensive back who played six years in the NFL. Cole had one of the greatest seasons in Texas high school history, rushing for 2,966 yards and 41 touchdowns, throwing for 1,606 yards and 21 TDs, going off for 290 rushing yards and 5 TDs in the state-title game.
Like Briscoe, Cole has mixed loyalties. He spent 2 1/2 years at Oklahoma State.
But Joey McGuire is a people person and a motivator, Cole said, was their coach since their freshman year and, even now, you can't help but follow along.
"I'm a college football fan," he said, "so to watch Texas Tech was something I was going to end up doing anyway, but coach McGuire helped me be more supportive with Texas Tech rather than just watching them. Now I actually (root) for them. I want them to win. I want them to do good. I know some of the kids that he's recruiting.
"So I've been more in tune with Texas Tech because coach McGuire's here, but I definitely watch them — all sports, really. I watch the baseball team, the softball team and the basketball team. I'm Texas Tech right now. We're going to ride the ride with Texas Tech all the way down."
McGuire recognized the Cedar Hill exes from the stage.
When he came to Thompson, a 275-pound defensive tackle 20 years ago, McGuire said, "He thought he was a basketball player. He looked like Charles Barkley. I told him every day, 'You need to be playing football.' He finally listened to me. He went and played at Rice. He got his master's degree from Rice, so obviously I was right."
McGuire's Cedar Hill teams won state again in 2013 and 2014, beating Katy both times. The 2006 team alone, though, went undefeated in going the distance.
Reeves sees what Cedar Hill did then being similar to where McGuire's program is now. Last year, the Red Raiders won the Big 12 and lost in their College Football Playoff debut, he noted. The year before Cedar Hill won state, the Longhorns won district and lost in the first round of the playoffs.
"But we kind of smelled blood in the water," Reeves said, "and we were a super close team, very disciplined. Even now you can see, 20 years later, we're still just as close. Everyone picks up each other's phone call at the drop of a dime or answers each other's text message instantly. Even Joey. He's so responsive to everyone, but us included. It's really the love for one another and wanting to see each other succeed is the big difference."
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Stars of Cedar Hill's 2006 state champs come to town for Joey McGuire
