T rying to think here.

Has anybody ever began a career — prep, college or pro, doesn’t matter — playing like a first-ballot hall of famer only to turn out a complete mirage?

Injuries and off-the-field-court-rink-course problems don’t count, so that eliminates Mark Fydrich, Kerry Wood, Bo Jackson, Michael Ray Richardson, Steve Howe, David Thompson, Louis Armstrong, Ralph Sampson, Tony Conigliaro, even Marcus Dupree and Charles Thompson.

Still thinking …

Joe Charboneau couldn’t hit a curve ball.

Rick Ankiel couldn’t find the plate.

Ian Baker-Finch couldn’t keep it in bounds.

David Duvall lost the drive.

But Sam Bradford doesn’t have to hit a curve ball or throw one. He’s a golfer, like Baker-Finch and Duvall, but he quit counting his strokes and putting everything out when he left Putnam City North to play football at Oklahoma.

So, if you’re waiting for him to stumble, pack a lunch.

He threw his first interception Saturday, but only after completing his first 11 passes, two of them for touchdowns, two others facing third-and-8 (48 yards where only Juaquin Iglesias could catch it) and third-and-17 (zipped in tight to well-covered Joe Jon Finley for 19 yards).

Those first 11 tosses made it 21 straight completions going back to Miami, one short of the program record 22 — his record — set between North Texas and Miami. He has the rest of his collegiate career to get to 25 and break the NCAA mark.

It’s an amazing story to be sure and still Saturday afternoon at Owen Field may have yielded yet another new and different chapter. Because after a career-beginning for the ages, here’s what Sam Bradford did against Utah State:

He got better.

The throws were more difficult, but he was no less precise. He was at his best facing third-and-long. He didn’t close as well as he started, true, but he threw three more touchdown passes, each of them on them on the money, he finished with 255 yards, 242 in the first half. But after all of that, just the fact he enjoyed another outing much like the first two is the biggest headline of all.

Sam Bradford, freshman novelty?

Not any more.

Sam Bradford, maybe the best quarterback in the nation?

Could be.

Let’s ask Bob Stoops.

“I’m not going to go into any of those types of questions,” he said.

Let’s ask it another way.

Three games in, is Bradford at least what he’s doing: 11 touchdowns, one pick, 80 percent completions, good decisions. Is he all that?

“He is what he’s doing,” Stoops said. “He is a good player and he’s playing in a great way right now.”

Good enough.

Offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson says he still has a ton to learn and more tests to pass, three games is only three games. It’s not like he’s had to dodge the kitchen sink just yet. Then again …

“He’s far from a complete player, but with his intelligence, work ethic, athletic ability, he’ll do nothing but continue to grow,” Wilson said. “Now that doesn’t mean he’s always going to have the same statistical numbers, but he’s going to get better and better every week.”

And with Tulsa, Colorado, even Texas — which had to hold on to get past Central Florida 35-32 Saturday — coming up, what on earth could better and better look like?

Leaving the how-good-he-might-become question and returning to the how-the-heck-did-he-ever-get-to-here question, the best answer yet was offered up by Malcolm Kelly, who caught two of Bradford’s touchdown passes Saturday.

It seems, perhaps, Bradford won the job from Keith Nichol and Joey Halzle and then went about getting a lot better.

“I just think when the reps got up (after he was named starter), then he kind of got the confidence and got in the groove,” Kelly said. “And he hasn’t come out of it yet.”

It remains lost on the man himself.

Bradford wants to talk about his line and his receivers and this time around, his running backs, who seemed to average an acre every time they touched the ball. The way he sees it, everybody’s playing well and he’s just doing what he’s doing.

“We’ve done a great job of just kind of playing in the system right now,” Bradford said. “And I’m going through my reads, trying to make smart decisions and just taking it one play at a time.”

It’s probably best that way.

Arrogance can be a virtue on the field of play, but modesty never stunted anybody’s development. And with that kind of thinking, with Bradford simply continuing to do what he’s doing, the question has changed.

No longer is it how long can he keep it going.

Now it’s why would he ever stop.

Clay Horning

366-3526

cfhorning@normantranscript.com