Oklahoma football: Ranking the Sooners’ six Heisman winners
By Chip Rouse
No. 4 – Sam Bradford, 2008 Heisman Trophy winner, OU quarterback (2007-09)
Sam Bradford didn’t have to travel far in his transition from high school football to college ball. He starred in four sports at Putnam North High School in Oklahoma City. He was not heavily recruited for football, but Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops and assistant Cale Gundy saw in Bradford the potential that others didn’t, and the rest is history.
Bradford was redshirted his true freshman season (2006) and won a three-way competition for the starting quarterback job the following season. He led the Sooners to back-to-back Big 12 championships in 2007-08.
In his redshirt sophomore season, in 2008, Bradford completed 68 percent of his passes for 4,720 yards, a remarkable 50 touchdowns and just 8 passes picked off. That still stands as the best passing season, in terms of yardage, in Sooner football history. He is third on the career passing list at Oklahoma behind No. 1 Landry Jones and Baker Mayfield. His career completion percentage is second to only Mayfield in program history.
The Sooner quarterback beat out Colt McCoy of Texas and Tim Tebow of Florida in a close vote for the 2008 Heisman.
Bradford injured his shoulder in the season opener of the 2009 season against BYU. He played in just two other games the rest of the season, but still was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2010 NFL Draft, selected by the St. Louis Rams.