Think back. Think back to January of 2006, a special time when the University of Texas won a national championship — and Matt Leinart lost a national championship.

Things have changed since then. Leinart is now the backup quarterback of the Houston Texans, H-Town's favorite son Vince Young is presumably wallowing (in a strip club, perhaps?) in Philadelphia as the Dream Team's third stringer and the University of Texas is trying to rebottle McCoy lightning that may have never existed. Along those same lines, Chris Ogbonnaya — former Texans practice squad member, ex-UT running back and Houston's third favorite son — will make his first career NFL start for the Cleveland Browns Sunday.

Against the Texans. At Reliant Stadium. Back in his hometown.

Perhaps you never even heard of Chris Ogbonnaya. Or perhaps you take objection to my notion that he is Houston's third favorite son — behind Vince Young and Clyde Drexler but in front of Carl Lewis and Howard Hughes. Whatever your stance, thanks to Peyton Hillis' recurring agent . . . er, hamstring . . . problems, Ogbonnaya will be a key part of the Browns' offense against the Texans.

Ogbonnaya has come a long way since his high school days at Strake Jesuit, where as a freshman, he was prodded onto the field by a coach who used the tactics of a cheap car salesman. Spotting Ogbonnaya, the coach told him that he "looked like a pretty good athlete" and asked him if he was going out for football.

"My dad's a doctor and he says football is dangerous," Ogbonnaya replied.

"You're playing."

"But I don't have any clothes."

"We'll get you clothes."

"I don't have any shoes."

"We'll get you shoes."

The rest, as they say, is history. Ogbonnaya certainly wasn't the first kid who was essentially forced into playing high school football, but he may have been one of the best. He played four fantastic years of football for Strake, and was known off the field for his spot-on Chinua Achebe impression (really). He went on to modest college glory at UT and later, NFL practice squad purgatory.

Ogbonnaya now finds himself in Cleveland, the jewel of northern Ohio, re-teamed with Colt McCoy and set to take on the Texans who were his teammates two weeks ago. It's a strange set of circumstances to play the most important game of your career — bearing the standard of the Forest City (yes, that's Cleveland's nickname) — against your hometown.

Few expect Sunday to be a repeat of 2006 — when Vince Young publicly shamed the franchise that had no need of his services in a Titans' win. As mentioned earlier, a lot's changed since 2006, but Cleveland is still Cleveland. The Browns are hurting bad enough to start a running back who two weeks ago was the Texans' No. 5 guy at that position.

Wade Phillips' defense is building a reputation for physical play, and it is unlikely the Texans will be seeing anything from Ogbonnaya they haven't seen during practice last season or this summer. The outlook for Cleveland's football team this Sunday is the same as it is for the city's economy: Grim.

That's not to say that it won't be a special day for Ogbonnaya. Even the high school coach who cajoled him onto the field in 2000 couldn't have imagined he would come this far.