Norman — Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford put himself in position to be the No. 1 overall pick in next month’s NFL draft with Monday’s workout. But coaches, scouts and personnel people didn’t get a look at the entire package.
Bradford still hasn’t allowed himself to be clocked in the 40-yard dash or do a bench press for scrutiny.
“I put so much time into my shoulder that it was hard to get anything else in,” Bradford said. “I thought the shoulder and throwing was definitely the most important thing. I put all of my effort into that, and it paid off today.”
Bradford still has individual workouts scheduled with Washington next week and St. Louis the week before the draft.
Little help from his friends
Four of Bradford’s five receivers were former teammates. Tight ends Brody Eldridge and Jermaine Gresham, wide receiver Adron Tennell and running back Chris Brown caught the brunt of the passes.
“I thought they did a great job. I thought they made some great catches. They adjusted to some balls today,” Bradford said. “It just felt good to be out there with those guys. It’s been a long time since I got to throw to some of those guys, but I’m still very familiar with them. To have them out there with me was extremely comforting.”
Gresham, who is projected to be the first tight end taken in the draft, said he couldn’t imagine turning down the chance to catch passes from Bradford one last time.
“I just wanted to help Sam out,” Gresham said. “He’s a big reason why I’m at the point I am right now in football. I wasn’t going to turn that down. I was going to do everything I could for him.”
Motion change
Bradford’s throwing motion appeared to have changed a little since his last game. His motion was more over the top Monday than before.
Bradford said he didn’t think his throwing motion had changed, but he had been working on getting the ball out faster.
“I’ve worked on trying to quicken it up just a little bit. But I feel like I still have the same motion. That’s something I’ve really put a lot of time into,” Bradford said. “I wanted to make sure that coming back from the surgery I kept my motion. I feel like that’s one of the reasons I was so accurate. I felt like if I could keep the motion the same, it would really help me (stay accurate).”
Hard to watch
OU coach Bob Stoops watched Bradford’s entire workout Monday, but admitted it was tough to watch.
“About halfway through it, I turned to somebody and said, ‘Boy, I’m going to miss that,’” Stoops said.
Bradford only played in what amounted to seven quarters this past season due to the shoulder injury. Gresham didn’t play a snap due to a preseason knee injury. Even Eldridge missed the final four games with a neck injury.
John Shinn 366-3536 jshinn@normantranscript.com
