When Matthew McConaughey visited a Texas Longhorns practice last week, he insisted he didn't come to preach but rather to have a conversation with players.

That conversation turned out to be mostly one-sided as McConaughey, a University of Texas alum, posed a question to all the young football players: "Ask yourself, man, when you look in the mirror tonight, just say, 'Why do I play this game?'"

Whoa. That's a pretty deep question that players probably weren't expecting to hear at practice that day. But don't worry, McConaughey comes to the rescue by providing an answer.

"At the end of the day, every single one of you has really only got to be playing for one person," McConaughey says.

He goes on to say that once everybody on the team has looked themselves in the mirror at the end of the day and played their best for themselves, it makes things a whole lot easier to play for the guy next to them and the university.

Along the way he imparts some ancient McConaughey wisdom to the kids. He said some of his best work as an actor has come from when he pushed himself to be even better than he thought he could be. And he thinks he can be pretty darn good.

Then came the Q&A. For the record, McConaughey's favorite movie to have worked on is Mud. And that chest-beating scene from The Wolf of Wall Street? Totally not in the script.

Turns out McConaughey ended up preaching after all.

Photo: Erik Thureson