Broyles has best debut ever by an OU receiver

By Jake Trotter

Published: September 7, 2008

NORMAN — As he strolled off the field, Ryan Broyles felt the adulation of Section 33 at Owen Field.

"Way to go, Ryan!” one fan shouted. The other 30 or so clapped and hollered as Broyles vanished into the tunnel.

Finally, the next Mark Clayton was unveiled.

Oklahoma's budding star dazzled 84,476 onlookers Saturday and unleashed the finest debut by a Sooner receiver in school history.

Broyles caught seven passes for 141 yards and a touchdown as the fourth-ranked Sooners pulled away from Cincinnati 52-26.

"You saw No. 85, he's pretty special,” defensive coordinator Brent Venables said. "Some of those were Mark Clayton-esqe plays.”

After sitting out the first 15 games of his career, Broyles finally got to show why coaches and players have been raving about him since he emulated West Virginia quarterback Pat White on the scout team leading up to the Fiesta Bowl.

"He has been waiting to show what he is capable of doing,” said quarterback Sam Bradford, who threw for a career-high 395 yards with Broyles in the lineup. "We see him do it every day in practice, so there was nothing that surprised us about his abilities. For him to come out and play the way he did in his first game says a lot about him.

"It was a heck of a debut.”

It didn't take long for Broyles to make an impression.

On OU's opening drive, he caught his first college pass on a quick out, then blazed past a defender down the sideline for a 31-yard gain. On the next snap, Broyles glided past the Bearcat secondary on a corner route to reel in a 27-yard touchdown grab, giving the Sooners a 7-0 lead two minutes into the game.

"It was great to finally get out there,” Broyles said. "I felt just like I did in high school. I had the whole feel for the game like I did then.”

Broyles grew up in Norman and starred down the road at Norman High School. In the week leading up to signing day, Broyles changed his commitment from Oklahoma State to OU before switching back to OSU. Then on the eve of signing day, Broyles changed his mind again, settling on becoming a Sooner.

The week leading up to last season's opener against North Texas, he was supposed to be the only true freshman to see significant playing time.

But a day before the game, Broyles was arrested by Norman police for stealing gas. Broyles pleaded no contest, prompting coach Bob Stoops to suspend Broyles for the season.

Broyles missed most of the spring including the Red-White game after breaking his collarbone, then was suspended for last weekend's opener against Tennessee-Chattanooga for an undisclosed reason.

"He has a chance, if he keeps doing the things he's been doing here lately, to be a special player,” Stoops said. "I can't say that I'm surprised (about his performance Saturday) because we've seen a lot of this from him in practice and scrimmages.”

Broyles also delivered the most pivotal play of the game, coming early in the second half. The Bearcats had just returned a kickoff for a touchdown to trim OU's lead, 28-20, and UC's defense had OU facing third-and-nine.

With no better options, Bradford chucked a jump ball down the sideline in Broyles' direction. The 5-foot-11 Broyles leaped over a defensive back 2 inches taller and snagged the pass for a first down and a 43-yard gain.

"It was a big, big play,” Stoops said. "He's competitive and he has a great knack for that, just going after the football. He made a huge play right there. Sam had confidence in him and threw it up there. It was dicey, but he went up and challenged for the ball and made a great play.”

Said UC coach Brian Kelly, "He's an extremely gifted player. He's not the biggest guy in the world, I think we all know that. But his will and determination — he went up and took the football away from one of our better players. Brandon Underwood is a darn good football player. He's a guy who's going to make plays all over the field. He has that in him. He's one of those kids that you can see on the field that has ‘it.' Whatever that ‘it' is, he has it.”

Broyles added a pair of third-down receptions to keep the drive alive, and the Sooners eventually scored a touchdown to recapture the momentum for good.

Broyles' emergence adds yet another wrinkle into the Sooner scoring machine that already includes playmakers like Jermaine Gresham, DeMarco Murray and Juaquin Iglesias.

Said Bradford, "Obviously, our receiver position has a lot of depth and I think everyone saw today that Broyles can make great plays, too.”

If Saturday is any indication, the offense will be even more explosive with Broyles lined up in the slot this season.

"Finally getting a chance to play is a great feeling,” he said. "I'm glad to be back on the field.”

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