FAYETTEVILLE -- Colt McCoy felt the pressure. Texas' junior quarterback felt the weight of the Longhorns' 2007 hopes on his shoulders. And, at first, he didn't respond well last season, one year after earning national freshman of the year honors.

Texas coach Mack Brown watched McCoy make awful decisions and throw interceptions throughout his team's 4-3 start in 2007. McCoy didn't possess as many weapons from, as Brown put it, "a supporting cast that won the (2005) national championship," and the then-sophomore initially slumped.

"We were trouble in some games early and probably gave him too much to do as a staff," Brown said. "I think he felt that and tried to win every game on every play."

But then, McCoy settled down. He embraced changing his role from big-play maker to game-manager, and the result was a six-game winning streak to close last season. His continued improvement has shown in Texas' first two games this season. McCoy completed 44 of his 58 passes for 510 yards with seven touchdowns and one interception in victories over Florida Atlantic and Texas-El Paso.

His performance Saturday in El Paso earned him high praise from a pretty good judge of quarterbacks.

"Other than (Florida's) Tim Tebow, he is probably going to be the best quarterback we'll see all year," Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino said. "He seems very poised. A year ago he used to take off and run and make all kinds of yards and that scares the heck out of you. He can still do that. But the other day, to move around and keep his vision downfield and made some throws down the field, that concerns you.

"He looks more mature as a quarterback."

McCoy would agree. He stayed in Austin all summer to work with offensive coordinator Greg Davis and practice with Texas' young wide receivers. The benefits of becoming more familiar with his targets were evident last Saturday, when he completed his first 13 passes and threw touchdown passes to four different receivers.

"I worked with coach Davis on a lot of different things, especially in the spring," McCoy said. "We worked on staying in the pocket, letting the pocket develop without leaving early. I've just gone back to doing the little things right. Coach Davis has asked me to just play the game, to just play the game, not do anything special and take of the ball."

Despite his focus on remaining in the pocket, McCoy has shown he won't hesitate to tuck the football and run. Petrino was especially impressed with McCoy's ability to "move around, keep his vision downfield and make some throws down the field."

Arkansas' defenders are being warned of McCoy's elusiveness.

"He's very slippery," Arkansas freshman defensive end Jake Bequette said. "I think he's underrated in athleticism. The guys from UTEP really seemed like they had free shots on him a few times and he would just escape and run for a first down. We're really going to have to emphasize containing him and getting consistent pressure."

McCoy didn't handle that kind of treatment early last season, but Brown said he thought his quarterback was better off because of the experience.

"It's probably the best two-year scenario he could have to get ready for this year," Brown said.