By John Shinn
Sam Bradford won the right to be Oklahoma’s starting quarterback. But what exactly he’s won remains a mystery to the redshirt freshman from Oklahoma City.
That’s the thing with the Sooners’ quarterbacks this season. Neither Bradford, junior Joey Halzle nor freshman
Keith Nichol have a proven track record of success.
They don’t really have a proven track record of anything at the college level. It was one the reasons the quarterback competition became such a long process.
Bradford was the best of the three in practices and scrimmages. It was enough to give him the starting job.
“He has nice size and I think he sees well. And I think he can make all the throws, as far as deep and intermediate,” offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson said. “He can move well and plays on the run. I think he is probably one of the more composed guys.”
But there’s a level of trust that must exist between the quarterback, the coaching staff and the team. There’s a difference between thinking a quarterback will do the right thing and knowing it.
In the end, speculating about the Sooners’ offensive success is like putting a motor together and not having any gasoline. There’s no way of knowing if it will run without the key ingredient.
There’s a wide-spread belief quarterback play is that final ingredient for the eighth-ranked Sooners. Bradford will be surrounded by championship-level talent on all four sides.
“Offensive line, tight ends, running backs, wide receivers. Every position you can think of is going to be a weapon this year,” he said.
But those weapons become muzzled without an effective quarterback.
Josh Heupel and Jason White put up incredible numbers in their seasons as OU’s starting quarterback. Fans remember the great plays they created, but coaches also remember the disasters they avoided.
“The thing they had, they both played really smart,” Bradford said. “They took care of the football. I think that’s one of the biggest things. If something is not there, you can’t force it.”
Composure in tough situations is what a defines a quarterback. Bradford is untested in that regard.
Bradford has all the other tools to follow the trail Heupel and White blazed. He’s 6-foot-5 and 220 pounds. He has a strong right arm, but is nimble enough to get out of the pocket and make something happen.
He’s ready to put all those tools to use when the Sooners open the season at 6 p.m. Saturday against North Texas at Owen Field.
Bradford’s excited about the opportunity. He also knows the pressure of his position is enormous.
“I’ve seen all the great teams here. I’ve seen OU win,” he said. “I think now it’s my responsibility to go out there and help this team win football games.”
The Sooners think he will. But no one knows for sure.
“My coach said that if you have hope in one hand and put pile of something in the other hand, you have the same stuff,” Wilson said. “He needs to transfer that to Saturdays and we will not know until we get out there.”
Bradford’s job is to remove the doubt.
John Shinn
366-3536
jshinn@normantranscript.com
