From his early childhood helping out his high school football coach dad on the sidelines to his 14-year career in the NFL, former University of Texas star quarterback Colt McCoy has learned much from the game he loves: You train hard, put your heart into it, and when you get hit, you keep going and don’t complain. After an elbow injury in January 2023 ended his NFL career, McCoy, 38, appreciates all that football gave him. “I definitely have a heart of gratitude for being able to play that long, for the people I met, the relationships I made,” he says. “Now I’m taking it slow and being mindful as I navigate what I want to do next. I don’t have it fully figured out yet, but it’s really close.”
Even as McCoy figures out his next move, he’s got his hands full. He just moved to a farm outside of Fort Worth with his wife and four young children, he’s broadcasting for NBC Sports’ Big Ten college football, and this September, he was welcomed into the Texas Athletes Hall of Honor at UT, a return to his alma mater that his kids loved even more than he did. “As much as I was thankful to be inducted into the Hall of Honor, I was equally as happy to see the joy of my kids as they experienced a UT game for the first time and the crowd and going out on the field and doing cartwheels,” he says.
Now that he’s hung up his cleats, Colt gets more time in his other uniform: jeans, boots and a favorite flannel or pearl-snap. Here McCoy shares his wardrobe picks for fall football season and beyond, as well as a few tips on how he stays healthy after so many years of racking up touchdowns with some 250-pound linemen chasing him down.
The 1969 and the Darrell by Poncho Outdoors
McCoy’s romance with Poncho, a Texas-based outdoor shirt company, began on a quail hunting trip in 2019. “A friend had an extra [shirt] and he gave it to me. So I wore it and I was like, man, I can’t take this thing off. The feel of the shirt, the details, the sunglass cleaner at the bottom . . . I grew up on the farm and being outside hunting, fishing, that’s sort of where I get my escape. And I felt like this was the coolest shirt I’ve ever had.” Now, he’s an official partner of the brand. If he’s going to a UT game, church, a rodeo, or a date with his wife, Rachel, he generally grabs one of Poncho’s Western style pearl snaps, like the burnt orange 1969, the company’s biggest seller. In cooler weather, he either goes for the Darrell, a new burnt orange denim number, or a flannel. ”When the weather starts to turn, flannels are my favorite. I think I’ve got every single one.”
Texas Boot Company
When McCoy needs a new pair of boots, he heads to Bastrop. That’s where Marc Conselman, an Army veteran turned custom bootmaker, runs the Texas Boot Company, a shop that offers the most original boot selection McCoy has ever seen. “He makes a lot of unique custom boots in that he combines different types, whether it be elephant or ostrich or hippo or whatever it is, with different colors of soles and the upper part of your boot,” he says. He even wore a pair of TBC ostrich boots, along with his trusty Wranglers, to the Hall of Honor induction. “That’s sort of my getup. I feel like I could put on some Wranglers and some boots and a Poncho, and I pretty much fit in anywhere I go in Texas.”
Wranglers Cowboy Cut Original
When it comes to his Wranglers, McCoy sticks to the original—no funky slim-fit, tapered-leg derivations for him. The classic cowboy cut, made for ranch life, fits well on bodies that ride horses, bale hay, and play football. “I got a weird-shaped body—bigger legs, bigger hips—and so for whatever reason, only the original cut works for me. It’s not as bendy or stretchy.”
Momentous
Healthy habits helped McCoy survive all those tackles in the NFL, and after many broken bones, surgeries, and concussions, McCoy still prioritizes taking care of himself. Although he can’t stand protein drinks—“I’ve drank so many protein shakes in my life that I think if I drank another one I might throw up”—he gets plenty of animal protein in his family’s homegrown meals. Rachel cooks using eggs from their own chickens and meat from a small cattle business McCoy helps run with his dad; he processes two steers a year to feed his family. McCoy also hunts. “I love to deer hunt. I’m definitely not just a killer, but I’ll usually harvest one or two deer a year, and we eat a ton of venison.”
To add a little boost to this diet, McCoy gets his extra omegas, creatine, and a multivitamin from Momentous, the health-care brand promoted by neuroscientist and health-care guru, Andrew Huberman. “I like that the products are all American-made and fully certified with the NSF [National Science Foundation]. So it’s safe to take when you’re in the NFL, when you’ve got to be very conscientious of what you take, how you take it, and when you take it.”
Burns Cowboy Hats
McCoy grew up in Buffalo Gap, a tiny town outside of Abilene, and despite multiple residences during his time in the NFL, he kept a home in Austin throughout. He’s 100 percent Texan, but his hats come from Utah. “The best cowboy hats I have are made from Burns, a small shop up in Park City, Utah. They’ve made me cowboy hats for years; they have the size of my head, they shape them how I want, and they do a great job. Some of the cowboys and hatmakers here in Texas might be upset with me, but I got introduced to them years ago, and anytime I’ve needed a cowboy hat, I just call them. But hey, maybe this will lead me to a good cowboy hat in Texas. Somebody will read this and say, ‘Hey, why don’t you let me build you a hat?’ ”
