Fri, May 16 2008
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Published September 16, 2007 12:51 am - Bradford's the real deal Commentary Clay Horning The Norman Transcript T rying to think here.
Has anybody ever began a career — prep, college or pro, doesn’t matter — playing like a first-ballot hall of famer only to turn out a complete mirage? Injuries and off-the-field-court-rink-course problems don’t count, so that eliminates Mark Fydrich, Kerry Wood, Bo Jackson, Michael Ray Richardson, Steve Howe, David Thompson, Louis Armstrong, Ralph Sampson, Tony Conigliaro, even Marcus Dupree and Charles Thompson. Still thinking … Joe Charboneau couldn’t hit a curve ball. Rick Ankiel couldn’t find the plate. Ian Baker-Finch couldn’t keep it in bounds. David Duvall lost the drive. But Sam Bradford doesn’t have to hit a curve ball or throw one. He’s a golfer, like Baker-Finch and Duvall, but he quit counting his strokes and putting everything out when he left Putnam City North to play football at Oklahoma. So, if you’re waiting for him to stumble, pack a lunch. He threw his first interception Saturday, but only after completing his first 11 passes, two of them for touchdowns, two others facing third-and-8 (48 yards where only Juaquin Iglesias could catch it) and third-and-17 (zipped in tight to well-covered Joe Jon Finley for 19 yards). Those first 11 tosses made it 21 straight completions going back to Miami, one short of the program record 22 — his record — set between North Texas and Miami. He has the rest of his collegiate career to get to 25 and break the NCAA mark. It’s an amazing story to be sure and still Saturday afternoon at Owen Field may have yielded yet another new and different chapter. Because after a career-beginning for the ages, here’s what Sam Bradford did against Utah State: He got better. The throws were more difficult, but he was no less precise. He was at his best facing third-and-long. He didn’t close as well as he started, true, but he threw three more touchdown passes, each of them on them on the money, he finished with 255 yards, 242 in the first half. But after all of that, just the fact he enjoyed another outing much like the first two is the biggest headline of all. 
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