Sooners' other QBs need to be ready at a moment's notice
History says backups may be called to duty
Sooners' other QBs need to be ready at a moment's notice

By Jenni Carlson

Published: August 26, 2007

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. "I don't necessarily think this is the final decision because I don't think any of us have a crystal ball and know what lies ahead in two weeks, five weeks, eight weeks.

"Last year, there were things as the season went along. You've got to deal with it.”

The biggest thing, of course, was Rhett Bomar's dismissal the week that the Sooners started practice. Thompson was forced into duty.

Then again, it was the other way around the year before. Thompson landed the starting gig, then struggled in the opener and forced Bomar into duty.

Several years before, Hybl and Jason White were the ones doing the quarterback tango. Hybl started the 2001 season, then was injured and ineffective against Texas. White replaced him, only to be injured himself and be replaced by Hybl.

White landed the starting job the following year, but when he suffered a season-ending knee injury for the second time in as many years, Hybl was called into duty.

"What if we don't play well?” Wilson said. "What'll happen if we have injuries?

"I've got to plan for the unexpected.”

So does the backup quarterback. It's no easy task. Bradford will have the lion's share of the snaps in practice and, of course, in games. Nichol and Halzle will be at a physical and mental disadvantage because of it.

Being the starting quarterback has its own unique challenges, but so does being a backup quarterback.

"Even when you're not getting as many reps, make sure you're getting them mentally,” Halzle said. "It isn't the same, but you can't just sink to the back and turn it in and not pay attention. When you do that, you'll get called on, and you won't be ready to go.”

Nichol said, "You don't want to let your teammates down when you're in there because you've been sitting around like, ‘Man, I'm never going to get in.'”

Halzle and Nichol are saying the right things about being a good backup, but now, it's on them to do the right things. Study the video. Know the plays. Keep the focus.

Will it be difficult at times?

No doubt.

And yet, the Sooners are counting on Nichol and Halzle to do their jobs every bit as well as they are counting on Bradford to do his. The backups need not look deep into the history books, either, to find reason to do just that.

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