SAN ANTONIO — Wide receiver Malcolm Kelly will catch passes from Oklahoma’s third starting quarterback in three years this season. But that doesn’t mean he’s forgotten about one of the old ones.

Rhett Bomar will play for Sam Houston State this season. Kelly said Bomar’s tarnished image doesn’t change the fact that fans of the school in Huntsville, Texas, will see a very good quarterback.

“Rhett is a great quarterback. People can say whatever they want to about him, but the boy can play,” Kelly said. “That spring and right before the season was getting ready to start, he had grown so much. He was a complete quarterback. He could run the ball. He could throw precision passes. He could throw the deep ball. Whatever you wanted, he could do it. He could get it all done.”

When Kelly arrived at OU prior to the 2005 season, most figured Bomar and Kelly would become linked in the same way former quarterback Jason White and Mark Clayton became during their explosive run through the 2003 and 2004 seasons.

But Bomar’s dismissal ended any chance of that happening.

Kelly said the two have spoken a few times over the last year and he holds no ill will against the Sooners’ former quarterback.

“A lot of people want to knock him, but I’m going to give it to you straight. He was a great quarterback,” Kelly said. “A lot of people make mistakes and he made a mistake. But it still doesn’t take his talent away.”



Changing the past

OU fans will get a chance to rewrite history … at least in the world of video games. EA Sports NCAA Football 2008 has been running a commercial featuring former Sooner running back Adrian Peterson.

The premise of the ad is the chance to replay last season’s Fiesta Bowl. In the commercial, a Sooner brings down Boise State’s Ian Johnson before he can convert a two-point conversion, on a Statue-of-Liberty play, and complete the Broncos wild victory.

OU tight end Joe Jon Finley said he’d seen the commercial and liked it.

“It looked better than what really happened,” he said. “It’s a pretty good commercial.”

However, cornerback Marcus Walker was actually on the field for the famous play and doesn’t want to re-live what happened.

“I guess we can win it in that one, but it doesn’t change anything,” he said.



All healed

Kelly missed spring practice due to a knee injury he suffered in the Fiesta Bowl. He said he’s 100 percent and ready for preseason drills to begin.

He hasn’t missed anything during offseason workouts with teammates.

“I’m doing everything in 7-on-7. I’m catching the ball in traffic. When the ball’s in the air, I go up and go after it,” he said. “I haven’t been hesitant at all. I don’t really worry about it.”

OU coach Bob Stoops also said linebacker Ryan Reynolds is expected to fully recover from the knee surgery he suffered in the spring and should be ready in August.



Turn back the clock

The NCAA has reversed the timing rules it employed last season to help speed up college football games. After a one-year absence, the clock will stop on changes of possession and after kickoffs and punts.

Stoops was one of many coaches who didn’t like last season’s alterations and is glad things are returning to normal. He believes fans will like it, too.

“You think of the people who travel to our games. Not just us, but across the country, coming to the game,” he said. “They don’t want to see a quick game. They’re not looking to be out of there in two and a half, three hours.”

But he did offer a suggestion for speeding things up.

“Still waiting for them to shorten halftime a little bit,” he said. “That’s the worst part of the game for me, sitting there for 20 minutes.”



Splitting time

When Adrian Peterson was healthy, he got just about every carry over the previous three seasons. But Stoops said the carries will be spread around this season.

Allen Patrick, Chris Brown and DeMarco Murray will also split time in the backfield.

“Adrian could play 60 snaps or more,” Stoops said. “These guys, I just don’t feel their body types through, hopefully, 14 games will be able to. So, in the end, we look to use them, each of them, 20, 25 snaps in that kind of way.”

John Shinn

366-3536

jshinn@normantranscript.com