Senior Day: Dallas Griffin

Dallas Griffin is exactly the kind of well rounded athlete that every coach hopes he can recruit to his program. In his years on the 40 acres, Griffin has excelled on the field and even more so in the classroom. Dallas has been able to balance football life, as he saw significant time in over 30 games, and his academic life, as he was able to maintain an almost perfect GPA and gain admission into UT's MBA program.

Dallas came to Texas, as a 4 star recruit, from (my hometown) Katy, TX and attended Taylor H.S. He also excelled in Track & Field, winning the 2003 Texas State Championship in shot put and the 2002 Championship in discuss.

Throughout his RS-freshman and sophomore year, Griffin saw limited time on the field, usually in mop up duty. Luckily for him, Vince Young and the offense provided a lot of opportunity to see early time in games that were well decided. And just as Griffin's had work was showing up on the field, his hard work in school was being recognized as well. Dallas was named as a 3-time Academic All-American and earned the Provost's Award for posting a 4.0 GPA in 2004 and 2005.As a Junior, Dallas began to see more playing time as he became the primary backup for Lyle Sendlein. He saw time in 8 games and even received the award for Most Improved Offensive Player on the Texas team.

Finally, in his senior year, Dallas was tabbed as the starter at center. He played well all season, as he and his line-mates tried to replace a line that was filled with future NFL players. Texas' running game continued to improve all season as the protection for McCoy got better and holes began opening up for Jamaal Charles. His best moment probably came when Charles rushed for 216 yards in the 4th quarter against Nebraska.

Unfortunately, Dallas career ended in the 1st quarter of the Oklahoma State game as he suffered season ending damage to his knee. Griffin will not get to play in his final game at DKR, but it can be said, without a doubt that his college career will go down as an well-rounded success.