Oklahoma Sooners

Football

Sam Bradford

Success has Followed Bradford

OU quarterback excels athletically, academically

July 21, 2007

NORMAN, Okla. - If you're the envious type, despite his humble and understated manner, it's easy to dislike Sam Bradford.

Sports and academics have always come quite naturally to the Oklahoma redshirt freshman. He was that kid that batted clean-up in baseball, played quarterback in football and took the last shot in basketball.

Then he had the nerve to go win the spelling bee.

An all-stater in football, Bradford, who had a 4.2 grade point average at Oklahoma City's Putnam City North High School, also averaged a double-double while playing for the basketball team. Just the other day, he carded a 63 at a local golf course.

Bradford has never had to worry much about making the team or the grade; he just concerned himself with peak performance. "I've been pretty blessed," he admits.

That's what makes the here and now so interesting. Bradford is locked in a three-way battle to be OU's starting quarterback. Competition of that kind isn't foreign to Bradford, but it's not routine either.

"When I was a sophomore in high school I was in a similar situation to this at quarterback," he said. "And when I played AAU basketball I was with Athletes First so our team was loaded. I had to work hard to play at all in those situations, but I've never been in competition like this one I've been in for the last year."

True freshman Keith Nichol and junior Joel Halzle could probably tell similar tales. Rarely is there a conversation now about Oklahoma football that does not include the quarterback position and the names Bradford, Nichol and Halzle.

Bradford is mostly oblivious to the speculation.

"I listen to my Ipod in the car, not the radio, and I don't read the paper or magazines," he said. "I stay as far away from it as possible. I'm here. I see what happens every day. I really don't need someone who isn't here telling me what's going on."

Apparently what's going on is healthy competition. All three candidates are good students (Bradford is angling towards a career in corporate law), good athletes and good characters.

"Our chemistry is really good," Bradford said. "We've been positive with each other. You can always learn from whoever is out there and that's what we've tried to do.

"(Joey and Keith) are both easy-going, good guys. You don't have to worry about them saying something behind your back. That makes it so much easier."

Bradford's perspective on the quarterback job is shaped by the fact that he grew up in Oklahoma. His dad, Kent, lettered as an offensive lineman at OU in 1977 and 1978.

"I can pick out my dad in some of the conference championship pictures," Bradford said. "He had an afro. Sometimes he gets on me about my hair being too long and I ask him, "Have you seen any of those pictures?"

The hairstyles may have changed, but not the legacy of success in OU football. And Bradford knows the gravity of the calling.

After watching the Sooners for years, he might now find himself in the driver's seat. Not only is there pressure to win the job, there is pressure to perform if the job is achieved.

"They're different kinds of pressure," he said. "When you're competing for the job you're putting pressure on yourself because you want to be that guy. When you actually get out there, you play for OU and you're representing so much more. Everyone is watching and wanting you to be successful so now instead of putting pressure on yourself, there is a whole team and all those fans.

"Growing up here and seeing the tradition I know you can't go out there and just win seven or eight games. That isn't going to cut it around here."

Fortunately, no player has to go about that task alone. OU head coach Bob Stoops has long preached the team concept and it was that theme that carried the Sooners to their fourth Big 12 title last year despite changing quarterbacks one day before the team reported in August.

The next quarterback that wins a conference crown at Oklahoma will be the fifth different Sooner to do so in the Big 12 era.

"Coach talks all the time about how the guys around you are going to make you look good," Bradford said. "We have so many weapons that you can't load up on one person or one part of our team. It's such a great situation. From our line to our receivers to our backs there is someone that can make a play. It's really a relief to have that many playmakers."

Bradford said he'll spend the remaining preseason focusing on footwork while cleaning up a few reads. Otherwise, from arm strength to conditioning, he says he feels great.

Beyond that, he'll face the ever-focusing microscope of public scrutiny with the words of his father ringing in his ears.

"He told me there are going to be thousands of people that are going to say thousands of things and it really doesn't matter," Bradford recalled. "He said that if you give it your best, it doesn't matter what anyone says."

Bradford's best in the past has been pretty good. Good enough to perhaps turn a few others green with envy.

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