Berry Tramel, Sports columnist
Unfinished product
Bradford is efficient, needs to become a playmaker
Bradford is efficient, needs to become a playmaker
By Berry Tramel
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25
Published: February 25, 2008
NORMAN — Spring football practice arrives at OU next week, and you would think there would be little quarterback drama.
Sorry, hotshots Kid Nichol and
Landry Jones, but Sudden
Sam Bradford is entrenched, as anyone should be after throwing 36 touchdown passes and just eight interceptions in a
Big 12 championship year.
But this spring offers plenty of quarterback intrigue for the trained football eye. Not on who gets the job, but on how well the job is done.
Bradford in 2007 was a superb freshman quarterback. That does not mean he was a superb quarterback period. Sudden Sam's gaudy numbers hide the truth that he was a functional quarterback, a system quarterback, last season. A good system quarterback. Dang good.
But not a playmaker. Not a quarterback who can rise above the breakdown of a play.
Missouri's
Chase Daniel could and did.
Kansas'
Todd Reesing, too, much of the season. OSU's
Zac Robinson.
Texas'
Colt McCoy. Either with their arm or their legs or both, all were quarterbacks who excelled outside the script, quarterbacks who could, if chaos arrived, improvise to great acclaim.
Bradford, not so much.
OU coaches put Bradford in position to succeed famously, and he complied most Saturdays. But the schemes and the opponents don't always cooperate. Recall
Colorado,
Iowa State, West Virginia.
Bob Stoops' staff doesn't mask it in terminology like "functional” and "playmaker,” but that's what they mean when they talk about Bradford's progression as a quarterback. Last autumn, when groundswell started to clear room for another statue in Heisman Park, coaches praised Bradford mightily but cautiously. Bradford in '07 was not the finished product.
Bradford is amazingly accurate; 69.5 completion percentage as a freshman. You can't get much better than that. No quarterback ever has.
But Bradford can improve. Can get better. Can become a quarterback who can make something out of nothing.
"He's already an accomplished quarterback,” Stoops said. But "the guy is so young. He's going to be incredibly special.”
Bradford will not suddenly sport quick wheels. Not going to become an artful dodger in the swarm of a pass rush. Bradford's playmaking will have to come from his head and his arm and his sure-to-improve instincts.
If you're looking for examples, how about
Josh Heupel? Bradford's position coach quarterbacked OU to the 2000 national title with a flair for making the right play. Stepping up to avoid the rush, rolling out to buy some time, finding an ad-libbing receiver after the play breaks down.
That kind of play largely was missing from Bradford's arsenal, as it is from virtually all first-year quarterbacks. But those traits, which Bradford most certainly could develop, would elevate him in the pantheon of quarterbacks.
Such a jump also would lift the
Sooners overall. Truth is, the
biggest jump for OU from 2008, when Stoops will field a more experienced team than his 2007 Big 12 champs, could come at quarterback.
Here's an example of the advantage elite quarterbacking can provide. We all raved about
West Virginia's blitz in the
Fiesta Bowl, and it indeed was ferocious. But OU's blitz wasn't bad, either. OU blitzers got to the pocket and quick.
But one big difference. When the Sooners converged on West Virginia's
Pat White, the shifty and speedy quarterback danced immediately to daylight and made OU pay by scrambling for huge yardage chunks. When the Mountaineers converged on Bradford, it was a sack or an interception or, at best, a throwaway.
Bradford looked addled early in the Fiesta Bowl. But he also grew more comfortable.
"Sam settled in, started making some plays,” Stoops said.
Bradford never will run away from a blitz the way White left the Sooners in his dust. But Bradford can make future foes pay just as much, with quick reads and timely throws into the empty spots on the defense.
Bradford already is an efficient quarterback. When he becomes a playmaking quarterback, which he should in time, the Sooners will have a true difference-maker leading their huddle.
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No more phoning it in on DFENCE!! No more phoning it in period!!! OU has enough great players it should be "you phone you go home" just like ET.
Did I make it clear?!?!?!?!?!?!
Boomer Sooner
Compare his stats to Jason White 2004 season. Same offense with A.D. in the backfield. Nobody called Jason a system QB. Get real, his worse performance of the year was Fiesta first half, but protection was brutal. Defense is the key to OU making a title run. QB position and the offense as a whole is title ready.
Too bad we lack defenders who are willing to just fly around and "blow up" an opponents offensive players. Where is that desire for dominance on the defensive side? The talent is there, but the "want to" is no where to be seen. Maybe Venerables need to yell at 'em louder, yeah, that'll do it. Oops sorry, according to the sports radio guru's it is off limits to criticize the defense. Okay then, Sam quit giving up 500+ yards and 35+ points..there that is better!