Sam Bradford: Newest Enemy of the Nation

by Peter Bean on Aug 23, 2007 12:04 PM CDT in Texas Longhorns Football

Josh Huepel, Jason White, Rhett Bomar (snicker), Paul Thompson. Texas fans will forever recognize those names because we hate Oklahoma. Deeply. And now, a new name to add to the list: Sam Bradford.

The Evil One named Bradford the team's starting quarterback for the season opener after the redshirt freshman tortured the Oklahoma defense during their fall scrimmage. Bradford beat out Joey Halzle and Keith Nicholl for the job.

Longhorn fans may want to enjoy the prospects of facing an OU team quarterbacked by a redshirt freshman, but Colt McCoy's historic redshirt freshman season make a wait-and-see approach more prudent. Redshirt freshmen don't usually play great football, but some are more ready than others.

Bradford is a 6-4, 210 pound quarterback from Oklahoma City who signed with the Sooners in 2006. In high school, Bradford completed 59% of his passes his senior year, including 19 touchdowns. However, he threw 15 picks, an incredibly high number at any level, but especially in high school.

Bradford sees himself as a quarterback in the mold of Oklahoma's last Heisman Trophy winner. "I see myself almost like Jason White. I'm a dropback passer who likes to stay in the pocket. But if I need to make plays with my feet, I'm comfortable throwing on the run."

White, you assuredly remember, absolutely torched Texas during his stay as quarterback for OU. His ability to make plays with his feet, throwing and running, befuddled Texas, especially during White's 2003 Heisman Trophy season. 65-13 anyone?

If Bradford is anything like White, the Sooners should have a vastly improved offense from a year ago. Still, the jury is very much out on Bradford. Playing well in a scrimmage is a good sign, but it's not the same as a real game. And it's definitely not the Red River Shootout.

Bradford will get five tuneup games (assuming he keeps the job) before the big showdown October 6th.

Y'all getting excited yet?

--PB--

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Their scrimmage was in the..

pouring rain. Most of Bradford's passes were dink and dunks. I think both of his TDs were to the fullback.

Most redshirt frosh do not play like Colt. Mack had uncanny luck with Colt's accuracy and moxie last season. The average RF plays like Bomar.

OU will know in week 2 how well the rest of the season goes. Miami may not be elite anymore, but their defense will snuff the life out of a shaky frosh.

I'm guessing if Bradford is sucking by the time the RRS rolls around they'll put in the freshman wonder recruit Nichols and let him develop.

Cats and dogs sleeping together.

by EYESofBEVO on Aug 23, 2007 1:11 PM CDT reply actions

Wielding the hook

on a quarterback in mid season hasn't been B. Stoops' style, so I think we'll see Bradford for the whole season. In the RRS, the key will be UT's running game - if we can run, especially in the red zone, we reduce the impact of OU's best strength, their secondary, by forcing a safety up - vs. OU's running game - if they can run, Homer Simpson could be the quarterback and it wouldn't make a difference.

by burnt in ny on Aug 23, 2007 1:28 PM CDT reply actions

Actually Thompson got the hook

and so did Hybl.

I don't think Stoops would see this as a do or die season. They could be rebuilding with so many young guys on both sides.

Cats and dogs sleeping together.

by EYESofBEVO on Aug 23, 2007 1:57 PM CDT up reply actions

Hybl

Didn't he get replaced by white after he tore up his knee in the 2001 RRS? I remember thinking they were screwed when he went down and then White can in a beat us.

by Wells on Aug 23, 2007 5:01 PM CDT up reply actions

No...

No. I don't remember why Hybl got pulled, but Hybl never had his knees blown out.

BUT...

You're right. Hybl DID get pulled in that game. White came in, and we beat texas. Jason White Blew out one knee against Alabama. The other team OU played when Jason White blew out his OTHER knee was against Nebraska. Although, I can't remember which game was the first knee and which game was the second.

by SoonerEmpire on Aug 23, 2007 5:08 PM CDT up reply actions

Some kind of injury

Stoops refused to disclose any details of Hybl's injury, but he appeared to be favoring his left side.

2001 Game Recap

by Wells on Aug 23, 2007 5:14 PM CDT up reply actions

Left Arm or Left Shoulder...

Okay, I just finished watching a few minutes of the game (I recorded it onto dvd when it originally aired). It was in the 2nd quarter with about 10:30 left in the half when Jason White replaced Hybl. What happened was Hybl took a BIG hit while passing for a first down. He landed awkardly on his left side. He was favoring either his left arm or left shoulder. But it wasn't his knees and/or legs.

From that point Jason White took over and Hybl never entered the game again. Hybl stood on the sideline wanting to go back in, but was never allowed to. I had to watch those few minutes of that game to remember exactly what the scenario was.

by SoonerEmpire on Aug 23, 2007 5:45 PM CDT up reply actions

You are a true fan

how many OU games are in your library?

How many UT fans have you tried to tear their balls off for coming into the wrong bar?

by Wells on Aug 23, 2007 6:27 PM CDT up reply actions

Library...

Just guessing here, but I probably have around 6 or 7 full seasons of games collected. Then I also have various different games from the 70's, 80's, and 90's. It's really not that much compared to other people I know.

As for the second question? Let me preface it by saying that I hate texas just as much as texas hates OU.

HOWEVER...

The "grabber" in that bar is an absolute piece of crap! Rivalry is one thing. Loving your school and hating your biggest rival is one thing. But physically assaulting a fan of the opposing school just because he happened to be showing pride in his own school by wearing a ut shirt is completely wrong. Especially taking into consideration that the texas fan did nothing to provoke it.

It's people like this that make entire fan bases look bad. Truth be told, however, I believe 99% of all fans of all schools are good fans. Every school has their bozo's - ut included. But this guy needs to serve jail time!

by SoonerEmpire on Aug 23, 2007 6:39 PM CDT up reply actions

Good collection

I am impressed. I don't know many Texas frans who's collection goes much beyond the last two Rose Bowls.

Yea, the grabber has a problem. It is not just that he started a fight without provocation, he also did the one thing that I think 99% of all men would agree should not be done in a fight.

Sucker punches, hair pulling, scratching and even a kick to the nuts is 100 times more acceptable that tearing someones sack, that is just wrong.

by Wells on Aug 23, 2007 9:30 PM CDT up reply actions

thanks

::starts making Bradford voodoo doll::

by SelimSivad on Aug 23, 2007 1:43 PM CDT reply actions

The QB isn't my worry,

its the RB, and I dont mean Patrick. Murray looks like super fast Emmitt Smith - fast through the hole and slippery as hell. In their spring game he had 100 yds on 4 carries, and in the scrimmage he had 100+ on 8 carries. This may be the game where we let our young athletic linebackers earn their scholarships, b/c I have doubts as the how well the older guys will do. Interestingly enough, the land thieves have the #1 DTs from the past two years, DeMarcus Granger and Gerald Mccoy, plus a couple of 5 star LBs in Ryan Reynolds and Mike Reed. I wonder if they suck really bad or if Murray is that good.

by DogTown on Aug 23, 2007 2:40 PM CDT reply actions

Texas

shut down a better back last season in Adrian. Look for more of the same in the running D this year. The Passing D is the only thing I'm even moderately uncomfortable with but only because we haven't seen any play by them yet.

41-38

by inVINCEable on Aug 24, 2007 10:03 AM CDT up reply actions