Clay Horning
The Norman Transcript
April 13, 2008 01:03 am
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His name is Shae Farmer, and how he even became a Sooner fan is a pretty good story in its own right.
A lifelong bleeder of crimson and cream, he’d never even set foot in the state, much less shown up Oklahoma offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson.
Maybe that’s not fair to Wilson, and after all the hospitality shown the man and his family for its whirlwind weekend all the way from Carrollton, Ga., not even Farmer would want it portrayed that way.
On the other hand, all he did was turn the one play he won the right to call from the press box, where he sat right alongside Wilson, into a 51-yard touchdown pass from Sam Bradford to Jermaine Gresham.
Not before nor after did OU execute as productive an offensive play Saturday afternoon.
“I held the reverse,” Wilson said. “I held the flea-flicker for him.”
But with 1:04 left in the first quarter, after Sooner quarterbacks had already been picked off three times, with the offense taking over at its own 49-yard line, Farmer had one instruction.
“He said,” said Wilson, “‘I want something to Jermaine.’”
How tough is this playcalling thing, really?
“I wanted to go after a touchdown,” Farmer said, still enjoying his moment down on the field after the Red/White Game, “and he’s an awesome player and a big-time threat.”
Gresham appeared equally pleased upon learning who had called his number, spending his postgame time arranging autographs for Farmer.
Talk about a great day.
When Bob Stoops arrived on campus the first time, he talked of painting his sneakers silver just like Joe Washington. Still, you never got the idea little Bobby Stoops ever turned his Youngstown, Ohio, home into a Rust Belt shrine to Sooner football.
Farmer, though, is down for the cause.
It all started with his great grandfather, John, originally from Muldrow, who married a Georgia bride. Apparently, John was willing to change his geography, but not his college football team.
John’s son, Johnny, kept the Sooner flame lit for his son, Doyle, who named his son Shae.
“I started following (OU) as a kid and stayed interested all the way through,” he said. “My grandfather’s house was filled with OU stuff and I have been a fan ever since I was old enough to watch college football.”
Farmer has his wife, Kimberly, to thank for his one shining Sooner moment. She’s the one who signed up to receive athletic e-mail notices on OU’s athletics Web site. Through one of those notices, called “Boomerblasts,” she learned of an online auction, the winner to attend the spring game on the sidelines and, for one offensive series, don the headset and call the plays from above.
Farmer had to fork over $2,900 for the opportunity, but needed only one play to find the end zone.
Upon hearing the play, Wilson told Farmer it might not work, the last three times the offense had set in the alignment, the defense had set up to blitz. But when Bradford came to the line, he had a feeling he was about to link up with Gresham.
“The coverage they were in told us,” he said.
Likewise, not long after the snap, Farmer had a pretty good idea his play was going to work.
“We saw it opening up and said, ‘Please, catch it.’” he said, “because we had a touchdown.”
The moment wasn’t lost on Wilson, either.
“I said, ‘Hey, you’re going to take my job here,’” he said.
Such a smashing success, Farmer stuck around in the press box for the second quarter. He not only saw how Wilson and the offensive coaches interact through game-type conditions, but had Wilson explaining it directly to him as they went along.
“I fuss at them sometimes on the couch, you know,” Farmer said. “But it’s a whole different experience up there.”
But how hard can it be?
Guy shows up all the way from Georgia, calls his play and the Sooners go the distance.
Clay Horning
366-3526
cfhorning@normantranscript.com
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