“Sam’s always been very calm,” wide receiver Manny Johnson said. “There isn’t much that affects him.”

Will there be more pressure on him this season? You bet. Playing quarterback at a program like OU isn’t easy. Especially after the season he’s coming off of. Bradford, though, expects more from himself anyway.

“I have had a year of experience, so this season I should be able to make more plays. I might try to force things, but I still need to realize that it is still playing football and still the same game,” he said. “You have to take care of the football, you can’t make mistakes and you still have to put points on the board. I think just staying focused 100 percent of the time is something that I need to do.”

And while Bradford may feel the pressure to lead and improve at his position, he shouldn’t feel the pressure of duplicating last season’s statistics; statistics that made him the nation’s leader in passing efficiency. The most important number to Bradford is victories.

“It all depends on the situation that you’re in,” he said. “There are a lot of things that I can do to be a better quarterback, and there are a lot of things that I can do to help our team win. I didn’t look so much at the numbers, but the bigger things that I can do to help this team win.”

It’s really pretty simple.

If OU wins a third straight Big 12 title and plays for a national championship, nobody will be blaming Bradford.

John Shinn

366-3536

jshinn@normantranscript.com