So long, Sam: Bradford’s place in OU history
Before the season, it seemed almost certain that Sam Bradford would become the greatest quarterback in OU football history. Of course, before the season, Bradford’s shoulder wasn’t in a sling.
Bradford effectively announced his retirement from the Sooners, saying he would have shoulder surgery Wednesday and then hopefully enter the NFL draft. Bradford’s shoulder was separated twice this season in trips to Greater Dallas, the latter against Texas on Oct. 17.
So Bradford’s career ends after two seasons and change. Alas, he won’t move up on the list of greatest Sooner QBs.
Before the season, I ranked Bradford No. 4, despite a Heisman Trophy season in 2008 and a stellar rookie year in 2007. I had Jack Mildren No. 1, Josh Heupel No. 2, Jason White No. 3.
If you want to rank that trio in a different order, I have no great quibble. Here are the factors I use to historically judge a quarterback’s career.
Stats: Always important, but you have to analyze them within context. Quarterbacking in the 2000s is different from quarterbacking in the 1970s, which was different from quarterbacking in the 1950s.
Honors: Important, but don’t follow them off the cliff. Voters all over America gave Bradford in 2008 and White in 2003 enough ballots to win the Heisman but Heupel in 2000 and White in 2004 not enough. I’m not inclined to let a TV reporter from Providence or a writer from Sacramento decide who is the greatest quarterback in Oklahoma history.
Longevity: How many great seasons did a quarterback have? Two great seasons are better than one. Three great seasons are better than two.
Value: This is an intangible. What kind of impact did a quarterback make on the program?
The latter is where Mildren and Heupel soar. Both changed the culture of Sooner football. Mildren really was outstanding for just a year-and-a-half, while Heupel was a junior college transfer who played only two seasons. But their impact was profound.
Bradford couldn’t match Heupel or Mildren on importance, but he clearly was going to reign above them on everything else. His stats, even adjusted for the crazy offense of the 21st century, are off the charts. His honors were either going to be the equal of White’s or better, and clearly superior to Heupel or Mildren. And Bradford’s three-year career would have elevated him to the top.
No quarterback in OU history, with the possible of exception of Jack Mitchell in the 1940s, has played three superb seasons. Bradford absolutely was going to achieve such status, and that would have lifted him above the other epic Oklahoma quarterbacks.
Instead, his career ends in disappointment. Bradford had two great years, but his two years clearly were not as great as White’s. White won a Heisman and finished third in another Heisman vote. If Bradford falls shy of White, then he falls shy of Mildren and Heupel, too.
Bradford leaves OU one of its five Heisman winners and its most popular player ever. But Bradford is not the greatest Sooner quarterback ever.
Berry Tramel can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including AM-640 and FM-98.1. You can e-mail him here and follow him on Twitter @BerryTramel.
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
Comments
The best quarterbacks not to win a national championship might be Sam Bradford and Jack Mildren, but the most consistently excellent quarterback, and the best leader for the longest time, could well have been Thomas Lott. Tough runner, superb ball-handler (best at the option mechanics, ever), Lott, at the end of Billy Sims’s Heisman year, drew the highest praise from Barry Switzer. “Billy Sims is the best player in America,” said Barry, “and Thomas Lott is the best player on our team.”
Barry,
Bradford led the greatest offense in the history of college football. That should count for something. Bradford is one of the greatest college quarterbacks in the history of the game. I think you’re getting off in the weeds a bit. Arguably, you could put Heupel ahead of all of them because he won a national title. White is the least of the list. Bradford, in my mind, has just as much intelligence as Heupel with better physical skills.
I believe Mildren should be at the top. He defined the program for years afterward and still set the standard after playing 40 years ago. Will any of the recent quarterbacks be revered like that and their games replayed 40 years from now?
[...] the same time. Sam Bradford was having surgery. It’s scheduled for Wednesday. We’ve blogged about it. We’ve shot videos about it. We sent SMS text alerts. We sent e-mails. We wrote [...]
The type of offense determines the statistics that are measurable for a quarterback. Wins and championships are also measurable.
Offensively, the 1955 and 1956 OU teams were so good that the starters only played about 1/2 of most games. Jimmy Harris directed OU to two NCAA championships.
Steve Davis has arguably the best three years as an OU quarterback with a 7-7 tie against USC in LA, undefeated in 1974, and one loss in 1975. Two national titles.
Mildren was the best wishbone quarterback I ever saw, because he was ambidextrous and could pass and run. Should have won the Heisman.
Personally, Sam Bradford will be remembered as the best quarterback at OU, because I expect he’ll be the first to have an outstanding NFL career at the quarterback position.
OU has had so many great players at different positions, it is hard to choose who is 1 through 5 at just about any position.
I think Sam Bradford will be the best NFL quarterback ever out of OU. I think he will surpass Troy Aikman’s success in the NFL. I think when you look at OU in the post Bud Wilkinson era that you got to say Josh Heupel and Steve Davis come to mind as real special players who led OU to championships. Despite the personal achievements of some other great QBs, these players led their teams to championships.
Sam Bradford had the best passing accuracy of any of the quarterbaacks mentioned. He will also be one of the great ones in the professional ranks. Attitude, loyalty to Oklahoma University, not to mention his academic success all speak to the best quarterback Oklahoma never really had.
I would go in this order:
1 Jack Mildren
2 Sam Bradford
3 Josh Heupel
4 Jason White
In both of Sam’s years–our defense was average and there was pressure on the offense to keep scoring. In 2000, OU had the best defense of the Stoops era and carried OU at Stillwater and in the Orange Bowl against FSU. Josh had 20 TD passes and 15 interceptions that season. Granted, the the offensive talent surrounding Sam was gaudy last year, but the standard he set with 50 TD passes and 8 interceptions is ridiculous. A season for the ages, much like Mildren’s season in ‘71 steering the Wishbone.Plus, Sam has set a standard of excellence in the classroom as a genuine student-athlete which is rare in this day and age.
MJ, Deer Creek
Berry, leave the critique for a later discussion. His career just ended due to injury; couldn’t you have just paid tribute to the young man and his great career and just left it at that? He was on pace to destroy the all-time passing TD record.
We have been truly blessed with such great players at the University of Oklahoma. Very few teams can match OU in terms of truly great college players, decade after decade.
Boomer Sooner
Berry, these type of rankings are better when they have been tempered with time. At this point I would rank Sam #1 because he not only performed on the field but he also had better tools for the position than any of the others. Although he had a great career and overcame much, Jason White melted down on the grandest stage against USC. The LSU game was there for the taking if he could have hit a wide open Kewan Jones. Josh and Jack played great in their national championship games but, they did not have the physical tools that Sam has.