Oklahoma football: Another second-generation player on the way
Sterling Shepard plans to sign a letter of intent on Wednesday to play football for the Sooners. Our gal Jenni Carlson wrote a great column for the Tuesday Oklahoman about Shepard’s legacy. You can read here about Sterling’s heritage. His dad, the late Derrick Shepard, and his uncles, Darrell and Woodie, all played for the Sooners.
The Shepards got me to thinking about father/son combos in OU history. The Sooners have had a ton of brothers, including some great and famous names. Burris. Owens. Andros. Selmon. Bryan. Lashar. Peters. Ray. Phillips. Tabor. There are a bunch more.
But father/son combinations are not as common. Going through the OU letterman list and memory, I found nine Sooner players ever whose father also played for OU. It’s possible I missed some. If I did, let me know. I’ll update the list. But here are the nine I found:
* Kent/Sam Bradford: Kent was a backup offensive lineman who lettered in 1977-78; Sam played a little quarterback a few year ago. Perhaps you’ve heard of him.
* Steve/Mike Owens: Steve won a Heisman Trophy in 1969; Mike never lettered but was a split end on the 1993 and 1994 OU teams.
* John/Brad Reddell: John was a solid end for Bud Wilkinson’s great teams of 1950-52; Brad was Gary Gibbs’ punter in 1989-92.
* Danny/Mark Bradley: Danny was an all-Big Eight quarterback in 1984; Mark was a big-play receiver for Bob Stoops (2003-04) who made the NFL.
* Ron/Patrick Fletcher: Ron was a quarterback in 1964 who threw a 95-yard TD pass in the Gator Bowl, still the longest completion in Sooner history; Patrick was a walkon quarterback who helped produce a stirring comeback against TCU in 1998.
* Jim/Seth Littrell: Jim was the starting fullback on Barry Switzer’s 1974 national title team; Seth was the starting fullback on Stoops’ 2000 national title team.
* Fred/Laenar Nixon: Fred was an exciting receiver/kick returner for Switzer in 1976-79; Laenar was a backup defensive end for Stoops, letting in 2004.
* Charles/Kendal Thompson: Charles was the thrilling optioneer who quarterbacked OU to victory in Game of the Century II in 1987 before finding off-field troubles; Kendal just redshirted as a freshman quarterback in 2011.
* Mike/James Winchester: Mike was OU’s punter in 1984-86; James just finished a three-year run as OU’s deep snapper on punts.
So that’s not a long list. But what’s interesting is, the trend is growing. Six of the nine sons come from the Stoops era, and three of those six have played in the last three seasons.
I would rank the Bradleys No. 1. An all-Big Eight quarterback — Danny was the league’s offensive player of the year — and a playmaking flanker on a team that made the national championship game.
-------------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. Visit Berry's website here.
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Berry, I can think of three iconic former OU players who’s son played for Tulsa University. How about the sons of Carl McAdams, Rick Bryan and J.C. Watts. There maybe others but those three come to mind. In addition, I think Terry Webb’s son is currently on OSU’s roster.