OU to Harrell: Thank you, come again
Published: 11/27/2008 10:50 PM
Last Modified: 11/27/2008 10:50 PM
Gotta love Mike Leach's outlook on life.
Last week, Bob Stoops was asked if Texas Tech QB Graham Harrell was the best of Leach's long line of "system quarterbacks." Stoops answered by looking back on Leach's thinking on the term "system quarterback."
"I loved his answer," Stoops said. "People want to say it's because of his system. He said, 'Why do I spend my time recruiting? I'll just go to the 7-11 and get the guy behind the counter to do it.' That's not the case.
"These guys are all accurate throwers. They have good releases, quick releases. They process. They see the space they want to throw it in, and they're all good seeing through lanes, getting in windows to throw the football in, good footwork back there. There's a lot of that. They're good quarterbacks, regardless of whose system they're in."
Stoops is right. Harrell's a good quarterback. The best to play for Leach so far. And the others – Kliff Kingsbury, Sonny Cumbie, B.J. Symons and Cody Hodges – were all quality QBs.
But maybe the guy at the 7-11 wouldn't have done any worse last week, what with Gerald McCoy, Jeremy Beal, Frank Alexander and Adrian Taylor standing on his toes and Dominique Franks and Brian Jackson slapping leg irons on top target Michael Crabtree.
If you want a visual image of what Harrell's night was like, check out the photo slideshow of the OU-Tech game and wait for Stephen Holman's shot of linebacker Travis Lewis – some 30 inches off the ground and in Harrell's face – to scroll through.
– John E. Hoover
Written by
Guerin Emig
Sports Writer
