No. 2 — Sam Bradford, Oklahoma quarterback (2007-09)
Sam Bradford quarterbacked the Sooners for two full seasons in 2007-08. He elected to return to school for his junior season in 2009 and forego the NFL Draft, but suffered what later turned out to be a season-ending shoulder injury in OU’s very first game and played in only two more games the remainder of the season.
The year before, in his sophomore season in 2008, Bradford completed 68 percent of his 483 pass attempts for what was then a school-record 4,720 yards. He led the nation that season with 50 touchdown passes and had just eight passes intercepted, an incredulous average of one in every 60 passes thrown.
He was equally proficient as a freshman, completing 70 percent of his passes for 3,121 yards and 36 touchdowns, with eight interceptions.
Bradford ranks third on the Oklahoma career passing list with 8,403 yards in just two full seasons. He was the first Sooner to eclipse 8,000 yards passing (subsequently exceeded by both Landry Jones and Baker Mayfield).
After his sensational sophomore season, Bradford was awarded the Heisman Trophy, the fifth Oklahoma Sooner to receive the award and the second quarterback.
Even though he played in only three games the entire 2009 season, his stellar resume from the two previous seasons carried Bradford to a No. 1 selection in the 2010 NFL Draft. He was the top pick of the St. Louis Rams.
Bradford was with the Rams for five seasons. He was with the Philadelphia Eagles for one season, the Minnesota Vikings the last two seasons, and enters his ninth season in the league this fall with the Arizona Cardinals.