John Shinn
Brody Eldridge’s statistics aren’t mind-blowing. In fact, they’re hardly impressive. Seven catches by a tight end in two seasons aren’t many in any offense, much less one that regularly throws the ball over 25 times a game .
But the praise Oklahoma’s coaches toss the junior’s way flows like water going down Niagara Falls.
“Brody Eldridge is the best offensive player on our team,” offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson said.
That’s hefty praise, considering the Sooners have two potential Heisman Trophy candidates in quarterback Sam Bradford and running back DeMarco Murray. Guard Duke Robinson is coming off a consensus All-American season. Jermaine Gresham could very well be the best pass-catching tight end in the country.
But Wilson isn’t going out on a limb by himself.
“You just watch him and you can learn so much,” Gresham said. “He’s probably, hands down, the best player on the team.”
Eldridge doesn’t play a statistics game. Nothing he does sticks out on the postgame stat sheets. Catches are rare. The next touchdown he scores will be his first as a Sooner.
The lack of identifiable statistics doesn’t bother him. Eldridge has carved out a niche for himself by doing the little things coaches crave and the untrained eye usually misses or ignores.
“You’re not running the football or protecting the quarterback without what he does at that position,” OU coach Bob Stoops said. “He’s consistently the best blocker we have on the team. All those nice runs everyone oohs and ahhs about look incredible. But they usually happen because Brody usually knocks somebody off their feet of clears them out of the way to make room for it.
“It’s an unheralded position, but he does it as well as anyone I’ve been around.”
Most don’t think of tight ends that way. To many, tight ends are just big wide receivers. Most come to college having been wide receivers in high school.
Eldridge didn’t.
“I came in as a defensive end,” he said. “The reason I was moved over was because they thought I could block. The only way I was going to get on the field was to block. That’s what I worked on.”
Eldridge’s blocking ability had become the stuff of legend around the Switzer Center by the end of his freshman season in 2006. Just about every defender on the roster has a story about a collision with the 6-foot-5, 265-pound Eldridge.
Most players just shake their heads when the topic comes up.
“He can hit,” defensive back Lendy Holmes said.
Opponents know, too. The Big 12 coaches named him all-conference at fullback last season. He didn’t have a single carry.
This could be the year he shows more skill to go along with his brute force. Last season, the tight end pass plays were mostly split between Gresham and Joe Jon Finley.
Finley is in training camp with the San Francisco 49ers. The opportunity to add catches is there.
“I’ve worked on it a lot this summer. Maybe with Joe Jon gone, I will get out in a few more pass routes,” Eldridge said.
If he doesn’t, Eldridge is content to go on being the least known most valuable player in the Big 12.
The praise he gets from coaches and teammates provides plenty of fuel.
“All it does is drive me more,” Eldridge said. “When they say that, it gives me proof that I can do what I need to do out there.”
John Shinn
366-3536
jshinn@normantranscript.com
