Nichol for your thoughts
Published: 11/20/2007 10:42 PM
Last Modified: 11/20/2007 10:42 PM
It almost feels like August again, when the Sam Bradford/Keith Nichol/Joey Halzle debate burned as hot as the Oklahoma sun. Sooner coaches eventually chose Bradford to be their starting quarterback. (Ten weeks later, seems a pretty wise decision.)
Now, with Bradford trying to clear his head, a select number of OU fans can't clear their minds of the decision to go with Halzle instead of Nichol last Saturday at Texas Tech. They're also trying to come to grips with the fact that Halzle, and not Nichol, might start this weekend's Bedlam should Bradford not have clearance.
For the second time in his young college career, Nichol has been sold extremely short. Or so his backers say.
What matters, ultimately, is what those coaches say. Here was offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson Tuesday afternoon:
"As we've gotten down through the end of the year, probably as a young guy, Joey can probably handle more of a full package right now. At the same time, Keith is probably, no disrespect to Sam, the most talented quarterback."
Wow. Take a second to digest that last comment.
All right. Back to Wilson's statement...
"But the mental thought process, the communication, having all that on your shoulders as a young guy, it's pretty overwhelming... So it's not like he's done poorly or he's been disappointing, or there's any issues other than just probably Joey's been here a little bit longer and can probably handle third-down situations and more multiple things, handle more blitz adjustments and what's going on, where Keith as a young guy doesn't have as much time on task with that yet."
Submitted for your approval. Or disapproval, depending on which OU backup plan you support.
-- Guerin Emig
Written by
Guerin Emig
Sports Writer
