Sooners' other QBs need to be ready at a moment's notice<br/><span class='hl2'>History says backups may be called to duty</span>

NORMAN — Everyone wants to know how Sam Bradford is going to react now that he's been named Oklahoma's starting quarterback.

Thing is, how Keith Nichol and Joey Halzle take the news could be every bit as important.

The Sooners have decided to start Slingin' Sam, a solid selection by all accounts. Yet, if recent history is any indication, the second-string guys had better keep their heads in the game and their helmets at the ready.

"You never know when you're going to get called on,” Halzle said. "It's happened a lot throughout the years here.”

That it has.

Numerous times during the Stoops Era, the starting quarterback has been replaced. Four of the past six seasons, the Sooners have called upon the backup quarterback. Every situation was unique, and yet the end game for the backup was the same.

He had to take the reins.

He had to lead the team.

It's no easy task, but two of those four recent replacements led the Sooners to conference titles, Nate Hybl in 2002 and Paul Thompson in 2006. The Sooners' second-team quarterback — whoever he may be — needs to be ready.

Now, I'm not suggesting that newly anointed starter Sam Bradford will fail. Fact is he could turn out to be a heck of a quarterback for the Sooners.

But who knows what will happen between now and then?

Not Kevin Wilson.

"This is our plan,” the Sooners' offensive coordinator said after Bradford was named the starter earlier this week.

Page 1 of 2

1 2 Next