Stoops would love if Archie Bradley became the next Brandon Weeden
Published: 12/26/2011 10:07 PM
Last Modified: 12/26/2011 10:07 PM
TEMPE, Ariz. — Remember Archie Bradley?
The Broken Arrow High School quarterback committed to play football and baseball at OU last spring, but instead got a reported $5 million signing bonus as the No. 7 overall pick of the Arizona Diamondbacks last summer.
After practice Monday at Corona del Sol High School, OU coach Bob Stoops got a couple of questions from a Phoenix reporter about the Diamondbacks’ pitching prospect.
“He was everything you love in an athlete — talent, toughness, a leader, a winner,” Stoops said. “We really liked Archie.”
If Bradley had gone to college, he would have been on baseball scholarship at OU until he played in a football game. Then his scholarship cost would have been reallocated to football.
Stoops said he and his coaching staff always felt that Bradley would take the baseball route out of high school.
“We thought in the end, from talking to other people, that he would have too good of an opportunity not to do it,” Stoops said.
In the future, though, if Bradley’s baseball career isn’t what he wants, he has options. Like, say, what Brandon Weeden did at Oklahoma State: walk on first, win the starting job, then get a scholarship, then become an All-American.
“If things don’t work out, somewhere down the road he could come back at 26 or 27, like some of these other guys, and play football for us,” Stoops said. “Archie was great talent in high school. We really loved him.”
— By John E. Hoover
Written by
John E. Hoover
Sports Columnist
