SAN ANTONIO — Who will it be? When will the decision be made?
Oklahoma didn’t bring a quarterback to Big 12 Football Media Days Monday to answer those questions, but any of the coming season’s starting candidates wouldn’t have known the answers, anyway.
Instead, Sooner coach Bob Stoops, wide receiver Malcolm Kelly, tight end Joe Jon Finley and even cornerback Marcus Walker were peppered with the queries in rapid-fire fashion.
All gave the same answer.
The race continues.
“We believe that that position needs to have the confidence of the team, needs to have the respect of the team in the huddle, in the locker room,” Stoops said. “You only get that through your time on the field. And they haven’t had the time yet.”
The “they” in question are quarterbacks Sam Bradford, Joey Halzle and Keith Nichol. None has played a significant down of college football. And, in Bradford’s and Nichol’s cases, an insignificant down of college football.
The mystery surrounding the trio is the reason a cloud hovers over what, potentially, could be a very sunny season.
But how big a cloud is it?
If you ask the Sooners, it’s not a cloud at all. It’s more like a morning fog that drifts away as the sun comes up.
During his stint on the dais, Stoops pointed out that all four of OU’s Big 12 titles have occurred under a different starting quarterback. Josh Heupel was under center in 2000. Nate Hybl was forced into duty after an injury shortened Jason White’s 2002 season. White was back under center in 2004 and Paul Thompson was calling the signals last season.
Only White and Heupel avoided preseason quarterback races.
That’s why Kelly, who figures to catch a lot of passes from a yet-to-be determined player, isn’t concerned with the situation. The fact all three went through spring practice paints a better picture than the one OU faced when Rhett Bomar was dismissed from the team on the eve of OU’s first preseason practice.
“We won a Big 12 championship last year with a quarterback who hadn’t been a quarterback for six months,” he said with a laugh. “Nobody knew he was going to be the quarterback until the first day of two-a-days. Now we have three guys who have been training since the spring and know they’ll be the quarterback.
“I know if we had a quarterback last year who we built a bond with in three weeks and won a Big 12 championship, there’s no limit to what we can do (this seeason).”
No problem is too big that it can’t be overcome.
The adversity appeared to snowball last season.
The dismissal of Bomar and offensive lineman J.D. Quinn looked like a crippling blow in August. But the Sooners still arrived in Oregon 2-0.
OU should have remained undefeated, but a series of blown calls against the Ducks prevented it. Then Adrian Peterson went down with a broken collarbone, missing eight games. The Sooners, though, continued to win.
“What happened last season proved that our program isn’t about any one guy and that we can overcome,” Stoops said. “Our guys learned that last year.”
What happened last season still doesn’t answer the question of who will be OU’s starting quarterback. Practice begins Aug. 2. The answer will come some time before the Sept. 1 season opener against North Texas.
The Sooners feel there is no wrong answer.
“We have that confidence. Oklahoma football is going to win,” Finley said. “It doesn’t matter who is back there as long as we play as a team. That’s what Oklahoma football is all about.”
John Shinn
366-3536
jshinn@normantranscript.com
OU Sports
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