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Oklahoma football: The Mount Rushmore of all-time Sooner quarterbacks

By Chip Rouse

circa 1960: Mount Rushmore in Dakota where four presidents' faces have been sculptured out of the rocks, known as the Shrine Of Democracy. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images)
circa 1960: Mount Rushmore in Dakota where four presidents' faces have been sculptured out of the rocks, known as the Shrine Of Democracy. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images) /
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MIAMI – JANUARY 08: Sam Bradford #14 of the Oklahoma Sooners warm-ups against the Florida Gators during the FedEx BCS National Championship game at Dolphin Stadium on January 8, 2009 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Doug Benc/Getty Images)
MIAMI – JANUARY 08: Sam Bradford #14 of the Oklahoma Sooners warm-ups against the Florida Gators during the FedEx BCS National Championship game at Dolphin Stadium on January 8, 2009 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Doug Benc/Getty Images) /

Sam Bradford (2006-2009)

Sam Bradford wasn’t even born when Billy Sims became the third Oklahoma Sooner to win the Heisman Trophy. In 2008, the Oklahoma-born-and-bred Bradford became the fifth Oklahoma player to win college football’s most prestigious individual award.

Bradford was not that highly rated coming out of Putnam North High School in Oklahoma City, yet he did draw interest from the likes of Stanford, Michigan, Texas Tech and OU. He was a three-sport star in high school (football, basketball and golf), but Oklahoma offered him a scholarship to play football. His father, Kent Bradford, was an offensive lineman for Barry Switzer and the Sooners in 1977 and ’78.

The younger Bradford redshirted his true freshman season, in 2006, and as fall training camp opened in 2007, he found himself in a three-way competition for the starting quarterback job. To the surprise of some — but not head coach Bob Stoops — Bradford won the competition and was pronounced the Sooners’ starting quarterback for the 2007 season. He didn’t wait long to show what he could do, completing 21 of 23 passes for 363 yards and three touchdowns in his very first collegiate game, a 79-10 Oklahoma win over North Texas.

The very next game, Bradford broke Heisman-winner Jason White’s school record for consecutive pass completions, connecting on 22 straight in a win against the University of Miami. He threw five touchdown passes in that game, which tied a school record. The following week he was named national offensive player of the week by the Walter Camp Foundation.

Bradford finished the 2007 season completing almost 70 percent of his passes for 3,121 yards, and his 36 touchdown passes set a new NCAA freshman record.

His sophomore season in 2008 was even more spectacular. He completed 68 percent of his pass attempts for a school single-season record 4,720 yards and 50 touchdowns. The Sooners scored an NCAA-best 702 points that season and became the first team in NCAA Division I history to score 60 or more points in five consecutive games.

Bradford beat out Colt McCoy of Texas and Tim Tebow of Florida for the Heisman Trophy in 2008, becoming just the second sophomore to receive the award. He also won the Davey O’Brien Award as the nation’s best quarterback and was named College Player of the Year by the Associated Press.

Bradford played in only three games in 2009 after suffering a shoulder injury in the season-opening game against BYU. Despite playing in only three games and not finishing the season because of the injury, the Heisman Trophy winner was still drafted No. 1 overall, by the St. Louis Rams, in the 2010 NFL Draft. He played eight NFL seasons with four different teams, but was plagued by injuries throughout those eight seasons.

He finished his Oklahoma career with 8,403 passing yards and 88 touchdowns, third best all-time among Sooner quarterbacks.

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