SAN ANTONIO — Bob Stoops knew the questions were coming.
The Oklahoma head coach had just begun a three-hour session of interviews at Big 12 Media Days with folks from newspapers, television and radio who came from all parts of the country to learn — among other things — who his starting quarterback was going to be.
So Stoops tried to head them off.
"Everyone wants to talk about our quarterback situation, and everyone wants to know who the guy is,” he said in his opening statement, before a single question had been asked.
"We don't have a timetable. That position, as I keep saying, needs to be earned. We believe that that position needs to have the confidence of the team, needs to have the respect of the team in the huddle, in the locker room, and you only get that through your time on the field. And they haven't had the time yet.”
Maybe he squelched a few people's plans for the QB question, but not everyone's. Throughout the afternoon, as Stoops moved from one conference room to another in the St. Anthony Hotel, reporters awaited him with the same question in a different form.
In the end, he talked plenty about his three quarterback candidates, junior Joey Halzle, redshirt freshman Sam Bradford and true freshman Keith Nichol, discussing everything from their respective heights and weights to their close friendship with each other.
But Stoops understands the interest in his quarterback situation.
"It's a good story,” he said. "It's getting to be an old one for us.
"We've had four different quarterbacks win four Big 12 championships. So this isn't anything new to us.”
That idea seems to be at the focus of Stoops' goal in selecting a starter: Rely on the bevy of talent around the quarterback — whether it's his stable of running backs, a talented, young offensive line or a group of playmakers at receiver — to carry the load. And tell the quarterback not to mess things up.
"The guys around that position should be better than a year ago,” Stoops said. "And if they are, that guy just needs to be smart with the ball.”
Senior tight end Joe Jon Finley has seen the ability in all three to manage the offense and compares the situation to Texas' offense last year.
"(Texas quarterback) Colt McCoy had a great offensive line in front of him last year,” Finley said. "It made it so much easier for him to be successful.
"Whoever is back there, we know they can do the job, we've just got to help them as much as we can.”
Finley has picked up on one strong difference between the trio of quarterbacks.
"Keith has a rocket of an arm,” he said. "He needs to take some off sometimes because he's so strong.”
But arm strength won't automatically push Nichol to the top of the depth chart.
"It's not about how hard you throw it,” Finley said. "It's about whether you get it there on time. Jason White couldn't throw the ball near as hard as Keith can, but Jason put it there, right where it needed to be, right on time.”
Stoops says he hasn't had any players reporting back to him from se
