Slingin’ Sam: Will he play or not?

Perception is an interesting animal.
 
Earlier this week, Sam Bradford made his first public comments since injuring his shoulder in Oklahoma’s opening game. He talked about his rehab, his recovery and his possible return. Everyone heard the same answers from the Sooner quarterback, but not everyone came to the same conclusion about what he said.
 
One website headline: Bradford close to return.
 
Another one: Bradford eyeing return, but surgery still possible.
 
And another one: Bradford hopes to play vs. Baylor.
 
And one last one: Surgery remains possibility for Oklahoma QB Bradford’s shoulder.
 
Technically, every one of those headlines is correct. Bradford is close to returning, or at least he’s closer now than he was a few weeks ago. He is eyeing a return, but surgery is still possible. He does hope to play Saturday. It is interesting, though, how the same nine-minute question-and-answer session can be perceived so differently.
 
Some saw the good in what Bradford had to say. Some saw the bad. But the truth is, what he had to say was both good and bad and everything in between.
 
The guy is clearly frustrated and not healing the way he’d hoped, but he is also better now than he has been since he injured his AC joint against BYU. Then, there are also the things that you find reading between the lines, that his shoulder is better and his pain is minimal but that his arm isn’t as strong as it used to be. He is struggling to put the same zip on the ball and to do it for as long as he used to. But wait, that’s a perception, too, isn’t it? The truth is, everyone who heard what Bradford had to say earlier this week made a judgment about it.
When questions abound but answers are as scarce as they have been in Bradford’s case, everyone is left with only one thing — their perception.
 


A.D. and Co. know how to have fun

I’m going to let you in on a little secret — being a sportswriter can take the fan right out of you.
 
At least, it has for me.
 
Cover teams long enough, deal with athletes and coaches long enough, and slowly but surely, the fandom drains right out of you. I don’t cheer for any teams. I don’t pull for any programs. I just don’t have it in me anymore.
 
But the Minnesota Vikings are doing their darnedest to change that.
 
You probably think this is all about Brett Favre, and while it’s true that the old guy is really something special, I’ve never been a big fan of his. He isn’t the reason why I’m on the verge of cheering for the purple and gold.
 
No, the reason I’m really coming around to the Vikings is because they play fun. Some teams play fast. Some play hard. The Vikings play fun.
 
They just seem to be out there having a great time. Now, I suspect that’s because they take what they do very seriously. They put in the time at practice. They put in the effort in film. They do all the grunt work behind the scenes so that when they hit the field, they can let it fly.
 
It’s like Olympic gymnasts. What they do looks effortless, like any of us could do it if we just try. But the truth is, most of us can’t even do a cartwheel.
 
Listen, I’m not saying the Vikings are the best team in the NFL. Heck, they might not be among the three or four best teams. But after watching the Vikings beat the Packers on Monday night, I realized how exciting they were. Watching Jared Allen and Percy Harvin, Adrian Peterson and Kevin Williams, Bernard Berrian and the rest of those guys is fun.
 
This is a fun and exciting bunch, fun enough to make a fan out of anyone, even yours truly.
 


Hurricane warning in South Florida

Consider this a warning, Sooner Nation.
 
A hurricane warning.
 
Oklahoma is heading to Miami on Saturday, but after the Hurricanes went to Virginia Tech last weekend and got throttled, 31-7, I get the feeling like a lot of folks in crimson and cream heaved a huge sigh of relief.
 
Yes, Virginia Tech took a team that had been rolling right along and cut it down to size. Sure, the Hokies exposed the Hurricanes’ weaknesses and made it seem like the Sooners’ defensive front will be able to get to Miami quarterback Jacory Harris. But make no mistake — Miami is still a formidable foe, this game still a losable contest for OU.
 
If anyone in the Sooner Nation is dropping their guard to those facts, then they do so at their own peril.
 
Remember, Miami didn’t lose to St. Mary’s Sisters of the Blind. Virginia Tech is a stout opponent, and at home in Blacksburg, the Hokies are even tougher. Throw in a steady downpour during the game Saturday, and Virginia Tech’s plodder tendencies benefited and Miami’s speed was negated. It was the perfect storm to produce a Virginia Tech romp.
 
Might the Sooners go to Miami and win in a rout, too? Sure, it could happen. But Miami is no slouch.
 
No doubt the Hurricanes’ loss took some shine off this game against the Sooners, a contest that would’ve been a top-10 showdown, but that doesn’t mean Miami is a gimme game. Think that it is, Sooner Nation, and you’ll find yourself in a world of hurt Saturday.
 
You know what they say about Hurricanes — be prepared. 


Heisman Trophy talk

How can the Heisman Trophy race be so clear, yet so muddled at the same time?

Yours truly is a voter in the HeismanPundit.com/Orlando Sentinel straw poll. Every week, myself and about a dozen other voters submit our top five picks for the Heisman Trophy, and over the past few weeks, a pattern has emerged. The players among the top three are clear cut, but everything else is anyone’s guess.

Florida quarterback Tim Tebow, Texas quarterback Colt McCoy and Cal running back Jahvid Best are the top guys at this point in the season.

After that, who knows?

Even the order of the top three guys has shuffled around a bit. I’ve kept Tebow, McCoy and Best in the same order on my ballot since we voted after the opening week of the season. (Sam Bradford dropped off after his shoulder injury.) But the poll changed this week when Best traded places with McCoy, moving into second place behind Tebow.

As for other contenders, I think I’ve changed my No. 4 and No. 5 vote-getters every week. I haven’t had the same two in consecutive weeks yet. I’ve had everyone from Mississippi quarterback Jevon Snead to Oklahoma State receiver Dez Bryant to Houston quarterback Case Keenum to Miami quarterback Jacory Harris.

It’s been a rotating door.

But then, that’s probably how it should be this time of year. Thing is, with the top three finalists returning this year, everyone thought this would be a pretty stable Heisman race. It would be Bradford, McCoy and Tebow, and that would be the end of the story.

Bradford’s injury has changed that. Ditto for Best’s performances, which have been stellar thus far.

So, here’s my ballot, and be sure to check out the entire poll at www.HeismanPundit.com.

1. Tebow

2. McCoy

3. Best

4. Snead

5. Harris


Tulsa will test OU coverage teams

Remember when covering kickoffs and punts was the biggest concern facing the Oklahoma football team?
 
Those days seem long since passed, but they were only last season. The Sooners had a terrible time figuring out how to cover kicks and punts. There were long returns. There were touchdown returns. It was a mess.
 
This season, it’s been difficult to know just how good OU’s coverage is. Idaho State last week offered no gauge, and BYU two weeks ago isn’t exactly a team known for its speed.
 
So, are the Sooners any better this year covering kicks and punts?
 
We’ll find out this weekend.
 
Tulsa return man Damaris Johnson is one of the best in college football. Never mind that he plays for Tulsa, a mid-major school. Never mind that he’s all of 5-foot-8, though some might dispute that. The dude is a burner. He makes people miss. He causes special teams’ nightmares.
 
Last season as a freshman, he set a Tulsa record with 1,382 kickoff return yards. He averaged 25.6 yards per return.
 
Get this — against UTEP last season, Johnson had 211 kickoff return yards. You read that right, friends, 211. Now, granted, OU is a lot better than UTEP, but the Sooners’ kick coverage was so bad last season that you have to wonder what kind of day Johnson will have against them.
 
A couple big returns could give the Golden Hurricane the boost that it needs against the favored Sooners. Will it be enough to upset the Sooners? I’m not ready to go that far, but at the very least, we’ll have a much better idea if OU’s coverage has improved this season.


Bradford lucky to return vs. Miami?

Oklahoma will be lucky to have Sam Bradford back for the Miami game.
 
That may not be so lucky, though, for the Sooner quarterback.
 
That’s because it looks like the Hurricanes are for real. Monday night, they went to Florida State and scored a big-time win against their in-state rival. Miami scored 21 points in the fourth quarter, then made a late-game, fourth-down stand to seal the victory.
 
This isn’t your granddad’s Miami. Heck, it’s not even your dad’s Miami. But this is an improved program.
 
OU will have its hands full on Oct. 3.
 
And no position will be in the cross-hairs more than the Sooner offensive line. Miami sacked Florida State quarterback Christian Ponder twice, including one late in the third quarter. It caused a fumble that led to the first of Miami’s three touchdowns in the fourth quarter.
 
Ponder was also hurried once and intercepted once. The Hurricanes made it a tough night for him.
 
Think they won’t do the same to Bradford?
 
Now, I suppose it’s possible that the Sooner offensive line might make some fairly significant strides in the next couple weeks. It could figure out what ailed it Saturday against BYU. It could be as good as Kevin Wilson professed it would be during the preseason.
 
By the way, after the way the line played Saturday, maybe Wilson should’ve spent less time talking about how good the line would be and instead spent more time actually making it better.
 
Because you can bet that the challenge will be significant against Miami. Don’t you think the Hurricanes are licking their chops after the way the Sooners were dominated up front by BYU? I can guarantee you, if they get a good shot at Bradford, they’ll take it.
 
And if they happen to leave him rolling around on the ground in pain, I doubt there will be any apologies.
 
The Miami game could mark the return of Sam Bradford, but unless the OU front line figures out a way to protect him better, it could be a short-lived comeback. A big game looms even larger after the opening weekend.


Bradford needs line, time

Sam Bradford looks a lot like you remember him.

Smooth. Accurate. Composed.

Unless he’s running for his life.

The Oklahoma quarterback was hurried more in the first couple series of the Red-White game Saturday than he was all of last year. Oh, that might be a bit overblown, a smidgen of hyperbole, but not by very much. Bradford clearly didn’t have the time that he had a year ago when he led the Sooners to the national championship game and won the Heisman Trophy.

Offensive line was one of the biggest questions after the Sooners lost four big-time players from last year’s starting unit. Out are Jon Cooper, Phil Loadholt, Duke Robinson and Brandon Walker. In are Ben Habern, Cory Brandon, Brian Simmons and Stephen Good. Trent Williams is the only holdover.

Everyone knew it would take time for this new group to come together.

Clearly, that time has yet to arrive.

Did the Sooner offensive line do some nice things in the Red-White Game? Sure, but Bradford was “sacked” twice in the first possession. (Being “sacked” in the spring game means that a defender got to him and would’ve lit him up in a full-contact situation, but being the spring, full contact is a no-no where quarterbacks are concerned.) Slingin’ Sam was sacked an average of once a game last season.

He wasn’t just sacked. He was rushed, too.  Bradford missed a couple throws because he just didn’t have time. Several other times, he went with a hot read or a quick out or a dump off to get simply get rid of the ball.

It was a positive play, a smart play, but it wasn’t the play it might have been.

Bradford looks like he’s every bit as good as he was a year ago, but it might not look like it come the fall unless the offensive line improves.


Bomar still an NFL prospect

Rhett Bomar has been out of sight and out of mind for the past few years.

Many in the Sooner Nation would say that’s good news.

Booted from the Oklahoma football team for taking money for work he didn’t do at Big Red Sports and Imports, the quarterback became Public Enemy No. 1 for many a Sooner fan. He transferred to Sam Houston State. The division was lower. The stage was smaller. But Bomar just wanted to get his football career back on track.

Looks like he’s done it.

Looks like he might not be out of sight, out of mind much longer, either.

Bomar is expected to be drafted in the middle rounds of the NFL Draft later this spring. So says a story on FoxSports.com. He is strutting his stuff this week at the NFL Combine. That means he’s being poked and prodded. It also means he’s being asked about what happened at OU.

And according to the FoxSports.com story, that won’t be much of an issue come draft day. NFL scouts, apparently, are more concerned about his arm strength than they are about his NCAA rules violation.

It’s hard to blame them.

For starters, the infractions might have been major in the eyes of the NCAA and college football types everywhere, but they are small potatoes compared to some of the issues that NFL teams must grapple with on draft day. There are prospects with arrests and convictions. There are resumes that include assaults and DUIs right beside 40 times and bench press reps.

Bomar’s offenses are minor compared to that.

Then, there is his ability.

I had a chance to meet Bomar when he was still a high school senior in Grand Prairie, Texas. I went down there to work on a story about him and had a chance to see one of his workouts with his personal trainer. He was doing drills specific to the quarterback positions, things with drops and such that I can’t imagine many high school quarterbacks are doing.

And it showed.

Everyone saw the results while he was at OU. He could throw. He could run. He could do just about everything. He has an NFL skill set.

Now, I’m not saying he’s a first-day guy in the draft. I’m not saying he’s going to start right away or become some great NFL quarterback because, frankly, such things are rare even with the most talented players. But Bomar has always shown abilities that could one day take him to the NFL.

Looks like that day will come soon.


More from The Q&A: Charlie Johnson

Like millions of Americans, Charlie Johnson will watch the Super Bowl this weekend.

But unlike most of us, he’ll watch it after having played in the game.

The former Oklahoma State Cowboy was only a rookie two years ago when the Indianapolis Colts made the big game. He was a reserve offensive lineman, but when one of the starters was injured, he was called into duty. He played the last three quarters and helped the Colts to victory.

Jenni Carlson: Is watching the Super Bowl different after you’ve played in it?

Charlie Johnson: It gives you a different perspective. You see the things the guys go through during the week, and then you watch the game … and I can watch and say, “I know what he’s feeling. I can understand maybe what’s going through his head.” Seeing all the lights, seeing all the cameras, seeing all that stuff, I can kind of get a perspective on what they’re going through.

Before, I would watch it and root for a team, but now I watch it and it’s kind of bittersweet. I’ve been there. I want to go again. Like this year, with Pittsburgh, we beat

Pittsburgh this year. So if

Pittsburgh wins, I’m gonna be mad because we beat them but yet they’re gonna be the world champions. 

JC: Did you have a “Welcome to the Super Bowl” moment?

CJ: Probably when we went to our media day. Just the amount of people that were at the media day was unbelievable. I think I heard somewhere that this year they gave out 633 credentials, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it was close to that and it may have been more. There are sports people there who work ESPN and all that stuff, but then you see people from “Entertainment Tonight,” “Inside Edition.” You even see guest hosts for “The Jay Leno Show.” You see all these outside people. When you see that, you’re like, “This is big.”

JC: So, those type of folks aren’t usually there after practice on, say, a Tuesday in Indy?

CJ: (Chuckles.) No, you don’t see “E! Entertainment.”

JC: If you ever get back to the Super Bowl, is there anything you would do different?

CJ: Hmm, I don’t know. I’m a creature of habit and kind of superstitious. If something works, I’m going to try to stick to it. If I do something during the week and we win a game, I’m gonna do it the next week. Or if I do something and we lose, I’m not going to do it anymore. It’s easy to say I wouldn’t change anything, but I don’t know.

JC: What are you up to this off-season?

CJ: I’m in Indy. Just taking care of some stuff around the house because me and my wife are expecting the first part of April.

JC: Congrats.

CJ: Yeah, we are getting everything ready.

JC: So, does that mean you’re spending the off-season building a crib and things like that?

CJ: Some what. (Laughs.)

JC: Talk about this past season. Do you feel like you’ve found a permanent home on the offensive line?

CJ: I guess individually (the season) went well. I didn’t have any injuries. I started all 16 games, and then the playoff game. Individually, it went well, but as a whole, it’s disappointing. You feel like you have a team that has a chance … a team that could go all the way and win the championship. And when you lose, it hurts. I took it real hard there for probably about a week to two weeks. This was my first year that I played. I played a lot last year, but there was injury and I didn’t play in the playoffs, but this year, pretty much from camp, I was a starter. I went through a whole year. I put a lot more time in because I knew I was going to be playing a lot, so for the season to end like that … it was tough.

JC: What about next season? Change is on the horizon for the franchise, so have you started to think about what’s next?

CJ: Last year, the preseason was kind of weird. I was going to play one spot, and then, I moved over and I stayed there, but it was kind of back and forth. We’re getting some guys back and healthy that were former starters, so I really don’t know what’s going to happen with me. I would hope that last year proved a point that I can play a whole year and play well. Hopefully, I have a spot, but we’ll see.

Team-wise, I’m going to feel like any other guy and think that we have a good team, we have a good core in place. We’ve won a lot of games for a lot of years now, and I really don’t see that changing. A lot of people are going to say, “New head coach. New routine.” But I really don’t see a lot changing. Even with a new coach, things will probably stay how it’s been. I see us winning a lot of games and hopefully being in contention in January.


What if Texas had finished higher?

There has been an excessive amount of wailing and gnashing of teeth since the BCS standings were announced Sunday afternoon.

As everyone knows, Oklahoma finished ahead of Texas, and that broke the three-way tie in the Big 12 South.

Since then, college football has been in a tizzy. Fans are up in arms. Regional and national pundits have almost unanimously decried what happened. Some argued that the Big 12 tiebreaker system is flawed. Others asserted that the Longhorns got jobbed.

But what if it went the other way?

What if Texas had stayed ahead of OU? What if the Longhorns were the ones getting ready for this weekend’s Big 12 title game in Kansas City?

My guess — college football would still be in a twist over what happened.

Think about it. Mack Brown and Texas spent more than a week politicking. They told anyone who would listen that they beat OU, that that should be the only criteria that matter and that they should be going to Kansas City.

Listen, I’m not saying what the Longhorns did is right or wrong.

What I am saying is that if Texas would’ve managed to sway enough pollsters to switch their vote thereby swinging the BCS number in their favor, would that have made all of college football feel better? The politicking of one powerful program would’ve swayed the outcome of the season.

Would that have been an outcome everyone could’ve lived with?

Something tells me that would’ve caused its own wailing and gnashing of teeth.