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August 8, 2009

Meet the Sooners

By Eric Dama

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An estimated 14,000 fans showed up for Meet the Sooners Day at the University of Oklahoma's rugby fields Friday, according to Kenny Mossman, senior associate athletic director for communications.

The event gave fans of all ages the opportunity to meet their favorite Sooner football players and receive an autograph.

Because of the number of people and the limited time, those in attendance had varying plans on how to spend their time.

"We only came for Sam Bradford. He's obviously the most sought after," said Cole Jeter, who estimated there were 200-300 people in front of him when he got in the line outside the gates (which opened at 10:30 a.m.) with his son, Damon, a little before 9 a.m. "We have a Heisman helmet, and it's signed by all the OU Heisman winners excpet Bradford and Jason White. We were hoping to get Sam's autograph today."

But at 11:15 a.m., the Jeters, who drove up to Norman Friday morning from Fort Worth, still had a couple hundred fans in front of them.

Around the same time, one security guard at the back of the quarterbacks line announced it was a three-hour wait from where the line was at the time -- not pleasant news considering the entire event only lasts an hour-and-a-half.

"I don't think we're going to make it," Jeter said while standing in line. "It's a great turnout; unfortunately, there's just too many people and the players would have to be out here forever to get to everyone."

Others took the divide-and-conquer approach.

Justin Pearce and his son Zane, of Purcell, met up with Zane's friend Logan and his mother at 10:15 a.m. outside the gates.

Pearce took the two boys, age 10, through the special teams line and the linebackers line, while Logan's mother waited in the line for Bob Stoops.

"We had to split up. We figured that would be the only way we could get the boys to see everybody they wanted to," Pearce said.

The best deal, however, went to OG--E Sooner Kids Club members, who were allowed to enter with their parents at 10 a.m., half an hour before the general public.

Ryan Sharp, of Lawton, arrived at 8:30 a.m. to stand in line with his son Mike, a member of the kids club.

The pair was halfway through the line for the defensive backs a few minutes before 11:30 a.m., but they had already gotten autographs from the offensive line, special teams, assistant coaches and running backs.

"The ones I wanted to get to was DeMarco Murray and the running backs," Mike said. "It was the second most dynamic group of players and it wasn't nearly as long as the quarterback line."

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