Everyone knew it was coming.

The day Garrett Gilbert took over as quarterback at the University of Texas was going to be a celebration for Lake Travis fans. It would be a ‘Horns’ hero coronation for the kid that led the Cavaliers to football dominance in the state of Texas.

A week ago today, he took over abruptly, and suffered a loss in the first four-quarter game of his college career. It also happened to be the national championship.

But the funny thing was that back in Lakeway, Gilbert was still a hero, and his performance was seen through a different set of glasses.

“I texted him at halftime,” Lake Travis head coach Chad Morris said. “And I said something along the lines of, ‘I know you’re not going to see this until after the game, but I want you to know how proud we all are of you and what you’re doing.’”

Barbara Walls, presenting the Perry Walls award at Sunday night’s banquet commemorating the Lake Travis football season, had a similar take on the young quarterback’s debut.

“Many people in the country thought one thing when No. 12 left that game Thursday night,” Walls said during the award presentation. “But they didn’t know what we know about No. 3.”

And even those in person felt differently.

“I couldn’t believe it,” Lake Travis linebacker Ian lazarus, who had traveled to Pasadena to watch his former teammate in person, said. “It was crazy to see him come out and play, and I thought he did a great job. It was incredible.”

The final score and the stat line did Gilbert no favors, and the uninitiated probably turned skeptical in the course of just a couple of hours. But having seen Gilbert play in 34 high school football games in person, the loss to Alabama reminded me of just one of those games – a 2007 loss to Westlake. In that game he continually rallied Lake Travis, but overwhelmed or overcommitted in some of the biggest moments of the game, he threw a few ill-advised passes. It happens to every quarterback. The fact is that with the whole world doubting him and his teammates, Gilbert stood tall in front of 100,000 and started to make a name for himself. A name that didn’t have anything to do with the miscues he made along the way. The score and the stat line weren’t used as indictments against him in the columns and recaps that came afterward, and only a few mistakes were recalled because – all things being equal – there wasn’t a whole lot more he could do. He threw two touchdown passes, had Texas within three points with three minutes to go and seem poised to make one more march down the field.

“When we got the ball, I really felt like he was going to take us down the field and score,” Longhorn head coach Mack Brown said.

He wasn’t alone.

I had been running on the treadmill since the second half had started. I figured I needed to do something other than pace around my apartment nervously. As I eclipsed mile six, Gilbert hit Jordan Shipley for their second touchdown connection of the game and it hit me – I couldn’t get off that treadmill for fear of jinxing the game. So I kept running (and hoping).

When he was sacked and the ball sputtered away into the hands of an Alabama defender, I turned the treadmill off. I had run nine miles and felt bad for No. 3.

No longer covering his every move and every game, I threw out objectivity and texted him. “Great job, man. Made Horns and LT fans proud. It’s only going to get better from here.”

Around 11 p.m. Pacific, he texted back.

“Thanks a bunch, I appreciate it.”

I’m sure it was one of hundreds of texts and calls he got that night, but he took the time anyway.

It’s just the kind of person he is and always has been. That’s why every Lake Travis fan knows what everyone else doesn’t.

The Horns are in good hands.