NORMAN — For the better part of two months, as Adrian Peterson restated again and again his intent to return from a broken collarbone, skeptics kept wondering.
Why?
Why return at all, and risk the pending major payday from a possible jump to the NFL?
For Peterson, the why is the easy part.
"I've been playing the game since I was 7,” the Oklahoma star said Wednesday in his first press conference since returning to practice. "A lot of guys have been speculating, saying this and saying that, ‘He's not coming back. Why should he play?'
"I love the game. That's why I play. I love the game. I love the guys I play with. The guys are excited for me to be back out there. So I'm excited to get back in the groove.”
And, teammates say, Peterson is very much back, even taking some punishment. And, of course, dishing some, too.
"He's out there going full speed, giving people stiff arms and trying to make them look bad,” Sooner center Jon Cooper said.
So put an end to the speculation.
Peterson will play against Boise State on Jan. 1 in the Fiesta Bowl.
"Oh, yeah,” said Peterson, who maintained he still hasn't made a final decision on whether to leave for the NFL or return to OU for his senior season. "No doubt. No question. I will play.”
Now here's something to wonder: Why did we ever doubt him?
Not long after Peterson landed awkwardly in the Owen Field north end zone in an Oct. 14 win over Iowa State, injuring the collarbone, he spread the word that he'd be back.
He kept saying so, too. And he showed up in meetings and for workout sessions and appeared on the sidelines for games — home and away — urging on his Sooners.
Always a popular locker room presence, Peterson only elevated his status as a teammate with his commitment to stay connected.
OU offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson recalled watching a television replay of the game at Texas A&M and seeing something "amazing.”
"Allen Patrick was racing downfield on his long run that got called back,” Wilson said, "and there was Adrian running with him on the sideline, high-stepping all the way.”
Fully cleared to play, Peterson can do some high-stepping on Boise State.
And just that opportunity alone is enough for Peterson.
"I wouldn't have missed my last game,” Sooners coach Bob Stoops said recently. "And if you'd have given me three or four more years to play, I'd have gone back and played three or four more years.
"I would have had five more surgeries to play.”
No, Stoops wasn't a pro prospect, just a solid player at Iowa.
But Stoops raised a valid point Wednesday: if healthy, why wouldn't any player want to finish out on the field?
"People want to jump in and say, ‘Oh, he shouldn't play,'” Stoops said. "Well, why would any senior that's going in the NFL draft play, unless it's the national championship game? Brady Quinn is expected to be the very first guy taken in the draft. He's not playing for the national championship. Why would he play?
"My point being, there's a lot of good reasons why these guys want to finish their careers or years and play.”
For Peterson, his primary purpose is clear.
"It's the game I love,” he said.
There's also the OU career rushing record, which Peterson admitted having an interest in.
e needs 151 yards to pass Billy Sims as the school's top ground gainer.
Patrick, who has so capably filled OU's primary rushing role in Peterson's absence, said he'll gladly step aside to make way for his running buddy's return.
"I'm the most happy person probably, outside himself, to see him come out and have his chance,” said Patrick, also Peterson's roommate. "I'm looking forward to him breaking the records and putting on a show for everybody.”
For Peterson, the why is the easy part. And the only part.
"There was no doubt,” Peterson said. "It was all time. The process, getting checked up, checking on the collarbone. I got cleared, so I'm ready to play.”
