The father-son account Growing Up Colt: A Father, a Son, a Life in Football (978-1-616-26659-2, $24.99) demonstrates the power of Christian parenting and sports success in the life of NFL Quarterback Colt McCoy. Written in alternating voices by the Cleveland Browns player and his football-coach father, Brad McCoy, with Mike Yorkey, the book releases this month from Barbour Publishing.

The pair talks about the formative events of Colt's football experiences—he won the 2008 Walter Camp Award and was the 2008 Heisman runner-up—along with the foundational principles of their family and faith, which has helped keep Colt and his siblings grounded. 

In the sports world, though Colt was a high-school and college football great, not everyone believed the young quarterback had what it took to make it in the NFL. In fact, he was considered a bit short to be a quarterback playing at that level. 

Although Cleveland drafted him, he was third string, and in his first year only got a shot at leading the team after the team's first two quarterbacks succumbed to injury. But his chance came against the Super Bowl-winning Pittsburgh Steelers, and as a rookie, he proved to his coach, team and fans he could handle the pressure of the big game.

Growing Up Colt talks of lessons taught and learned by father and son, and the role that the family's faith played in Colt's personal and spiritual growth. The book details four principles that parents Brad and Debra practiced in raising Colt and his siblings: prepare your children for the path, not the path for your children; prepare your children to do their best; prepare your children to be leaders; and prepare your children for open and closed doors.

In his growing-up years, he started as the water boy for the high school team coached by his father. The McCoys also reveal the factors that went into Colt's decision to play at the University of Texas in Austin, and the inside story of what it was like for Colt to become the player many perceive to be the school's greatest-ever quarterback. 

The book examines Colt's NFL rookie season, and the preparation required to be ready to take the field in any game. The McCoys also talk of how difficult it was to lose the 2010 Rose Bowl, when the dreams of winning a national championship were dashed by a hit only three plays into the BCS Championship Game. Colt recovered quickly, though, and just days after the loss, he went on to successfully propose marriage to his girlfriend, Rachel.

Aside from football, the book also talks of Colt's first deer-hunting trip with his father and his brief stint as an amateur bull rider. Acknowledging that Colt is not perfect, the book also looks at times when his parents were forced to discipline him for his behavior. 

For more information, visit www.barbourbooks.com. To order, call 800-852-8010.

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