From great unknown to latest of greatest
NORMAN, Okla. — Just before the current season got under way, a local reporter was questioning one of the coaches about a Sooners football team that returned a cast of defensive playmakers, a stout offensive line, a wealth of talent at receiver and tight end, an experienced kicker and a bunch of great running backs not named Adrian Peterson — and then the subject finally turned to quarterback.
That was the great unknown.
Much had been made of the diligent work that Sam Bradford had done with the scout team last season, and even more eyebrows were raised by his bowl game preparations and play in spring practices.
But surely this redshirt freshman reeking of potential was no Colt McCoy.
"Yeah, we know," the OU assistant coach said of Bradford. "He's better."
Now that's a mouthful, even if said with as much hope as conviction.
Bob Stoops' staff couldn't have been sure in August that five games into the season, the Sooners' new quarterback would be leading all of college football in passing efficiency and moxie.
And few realistically thought Bradford would be outplaying his Texas counterpart so soon. But Colt McCoy ranks a pedestrian 62nd in passing efficiency and has thrown seven fewer touchdowns and five more interceptions than Bradford.
In truth, Bradford's very good, but he's had a lot of help. Of the string of impressive quarterbacks who have learned at Stoops' feet — and that includes a Heisman Trophy winner and a runner-up, a Rose Bowl MVP and a Big 12 championship-producing player who converted from quarterback to receiver and back again — Bradford could be the best. But, as offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson reminded, "He's a long way away from saying he's (the next) Jason White."
Not yet anyway.
Of course, Bradford's keeping better company than Colt McCoy these days, which is no small reason for his meteoric rise. The OU offense he directs scores 54 points a game and ranks 10th nationally in yardage. Colt McCoy's unit tops 33 points each week, and the 35th-rated Texas offense churns out yardage in bits and pieces, not clumps.
Everyone in crimson and cream is so sold on Bradford that — had it not been for last week's setback in Colorado — we're sure they were completing plans to erect a statue of him right next to the one of White that was unveiled outside Oklahoma Memorial Stadium before Bradford went out and picked apart Miami.
"He's played like we hoped he would," Stoops said.
"He is very smart," Wilson said.
"He gives us a lot of faith in a hostile environment," Sooners linebacker Lewis Baker said.
"He's very mature for his age," cornerback Marcus Walker said.
Not mature enough to handle the media, however — OU has curiously shielded him from interviewers, save for postgame settings. But don't be misled into thinking he'll melt the first time he rides the bus to the Cotton Bowl and encounters angry Texas fans.
Like his predecessors here, Bradford came with great advance billing, though not on the order of some. The Sooners landed Josh Heupel when new OU coordinator Mike Leach found him at Snow Junior College, one of the greatest finds in history. They got top-10 stud Nate Hybl on the rebound when he didn't win the job at Georgia and transferred. They snatched up White when Stoops took the OU job one minute and beat a path to Bradford's door in Tuttle, Okla., the next.
Neither White nor Heupel stuck in the NFL. Hybl spent a couple of years on the Browns' roster, and Leander's Paul Thompson — who was lured here with the promise of playing quarterback, a job he finally got last season when Rhett Bomar was kicked off the team — was the last cut by the Packers in August. White's two bum knees killed his chances with the Titans, and Heupel's elbow killed his chances with the Dolphins. He's now Oklahoma's quarterbacks coach.
"Maybe we're getting the most out of 'em," Stoops said, "because maybe they're not the most pure, legitimate, NFL-style quarterbacks."
They are developing Bradford rapidly. They're also lucky to have him.
Long dialed up this versatile athlete from Oklahoma City's area code who was so good at basketball, golf, baseball, and even hockey that his high school coach said he could have played at the NCAA Division I-A level in four sports. OU can be glad Michigan's Lloyd Carr was out of the country and incommunicado or a zealous Wolverines recruiter might have landed Bradford. Texas Tech and Kansas, too, were in on the chase, but OU was in his blood.
They're getting a very high rate of return from Bradford.
"He's the anti-Rhett Bomar," said broadcaster Dean Blevins, a former OU quarterback who played with Sam's father, Kent, a one-time Sooner lineman.
The Sooners are hoping so, considering Rhett Bomar lost to Texas in his only Cotton Bowl outing. And just maybe, Bradford will be even better than Colt McCoy.
Saturday or someday.
GAME SIX
19-Texas vs. 10-Oklahoma
When: 2:30 p.m. Saturday
Where: Cotton Bowl, Dallas
TV: ABC Radio: KVET (98.1 FM, 1300 AM); KWNX (1260 AM, Spanish)
Records: Both teams are 4-1, 0-1 in Big 12
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