Ten years ago Vince Young was preparing to embark on what would be perhaps the most memorable and historic season in the history of the Texas football program.

Young had to compete with Chance Mock before he became a starter, which didn't happen until the seventh game of his redshirt freshman season.

The Longhorns went 13-0, Young won the Maxwell Award as the nation's best player, finished second in the Heisman Trophy voting and gave perhaps the greatest championship game performance in college football history during Texas' unforgettable 41-38 victory over USC in the Rose Bowl.

But before he delivered a national championship to the Forty Acres, Young was like any other quarterback entering a college program. He had to find himself through competition and emerge among other talented scholarship quarterbacks.

Young began his redshirt freshman season in 2003 behind Chance Mock, but Young eventually made it a full-blown competition. After a loss to six games into the season against Oklahoma, the Longhorns made Young the starter. Young led Texas to a victory the next week against Iowa State, the first of 30 victories Young would eventually earn as Texas' starter.

To that extent, Young can relate to what Tyrone Swoopes and Jerrod Heard are about to go through when the Longhorns begin preseason practice Friday. Swoopes, the junior incumbent who started 12 games last season, and Heard, the highly-acclaimed redshirt freshman who won two state championships at the high school level, will continue their battle to be the signal caller Charlie Strong and the Texas coaches lean on to take the offense, the 2015 team and the program to another level.

In an exclusive interview with Horns247, Young said the best piece of advice he's offered both quarterbacks is to respect the battle. Never assume you have anything wrapped up, never consider yourself bigger than the team and always work to better the yourself and the Longhorns.

“I really feel like me and Chance did a great job with it because we respected it. It makes you better. I talked to them earlier this year about it,” Young said. “I said, 'You want to compete in this room because you never know what can happen to Tyrone or what can happen to Jerrod.' I brought up what happened to David Ash as an example. He got hurt and had his career come to and end, and I pray to God nothing like that happens to those guys, but you want to have friendly competition.”

The competition part of the current Texas quarterback battle is what Heard didn't start getting involved with in earnest until late into the 2014 season.

Shawn Watson and the offensive staff were said to have made the early determination it was better for the long-term health of the program to make sure, unless circumstances absolutely prevented it, that Heard was going take a redshirt year. The Longhorns managed to make it through the end of the season with Swoopes healthy, but Heard didn't exactly push for playing time with his effort for the majority of his redshirt season.

Heard reportedly didn't start to really compete for the starting job until late in the 2014 season and into the spring.

His performance in practice was said to have gone up several notches late in the year, specifically in the practices leading up the TCU game on Thanksgiving, which were said to have been some of his best of the year. He continued to make progress during the spring with Watson calling Heard's development the most important thing to have happened to the entire team throughout spring practice.

For Young, getting after it and preparing to play and win every day is an absolute must.

“It's good for Tyrone and it's also good for Jerrod, it's good for the rest of the team and it's good for the coaches because they want to see if you have that competitive nature in you,” Young said. “If they have it then the whole team sees, as well as the coaching staff, and they can depend on you. They can put you in and they can depend on you if they see it in camp and they see it overall and you were competing and were doing what you were asked to do and weren't crying and weren't moping and you were pushing Tyrone.”

Young backed up Watson's statement by mentioning hard work as the main positive he's seen from Heard since the start of spring practice. Young also said he's seen the same kind of drive and determination to prove oneself from Swoopes.

That's on top of a few other things Young has observed when he's had a chance to see both quarterbacks in action.

“One thing I've wanted to see out of Jerrod was to throw more. Just knowing his background from high school, he didn't have to throw it a whole lot and Tyrone was the same,” Young said. “With Tyrone, you can definitely see the growth part and he's more mature. He's got a whole year under his belt and you can see he's confident.”

Confidence has always been an issue with Swoopes going back to high school. Watson told him during the spring the one thing he needed to work on was his body demeanor and not appearing to be defeated after a bad play.

When things are good, he can put together performances like his 384-yard pasing performance against Oklahoma -- the highest total offense output in the history of the Red River Showdown. He also showed his talent the following week against Iowa State when he became the first Texas quarterback to throw for 300-plus yards and rush for 50 or more in consecutive games.

Does Swoopes have the type of confidence inside him to be able to inspire his teammates and lead them in the right direction?

When it's going bad for the 6-foot-4, 244-pounder it can snowball in a hurry. Swoopes turned the ball over six times against TCU, and then led an offense that tallied just 59 yards against Arkansas in the Texas Bowl.

Some have said Swoopes doesn't have the “it” factor Young and other great quarterbacks clearly possessed. Those who have it are born with it in most cases, but Young said it's something those blessed with enough talent can develop.

“To me, it's about respecting people and putting yourself on the back burner," Young said. "You always know who you are and what you need to do to be successful, but now it's your job to bring that out of people who feel like they don't have it." "If you can do that, to bring the best out of people, that's what I love about the 'it' factor. The respect, the loyalty, staying humble and always pushing the next man as well as yourself. You don't have to feel down about yourself and your game because you have that true confidence to do it, all they need is to bring the rest of the guys around them to do it.”

The question just about every Longhorns wants an answer to is who will emerge as the winner from a quarterback competition. The determining factor in Young's mind is having a grasp on how the coaches want the offense to operate, but at the same time, being able to make the plays when required to improvise.

“One of the things I want those guys to do is to not be a robot,” Young said. “Coach has taught you everything you need to know from the preparation, the plays, how to read and all this type of stuff. The reason why they brought you to the University of Texas, the reason why you're here is because you've got that 'it' factor and that's what we want to see.

“Do the things coach asks you to do, but those instincts nobody can coach,” he added. “That's what we want to see this year.”

The burnt orange faithful, and more so Strong and his coaching staff, just want to see consistent play from under center.

But if one of the two quarterbacks can manage to do the things Young talked about, the Longhorns could come out of this competition with a real answer at the position.