Sound impossible? Improbable, at least?

Bradford did lead all of college football in passer efficiency rating, right? And didn't he complete some 70 percent of his passes, a school record? He also completed, on two occasions, 20 and 21 consecutive passes. How can he possibly improve those numbers?

"There's a lot of different things that a quarterback does other than numbers," Bradford said last week as the Sooners began spring practice. "I mean, I could go out and not put up near the numbers and be a better quarterback. I think that's kind of how you have to look at it. You have to go out and try to get better every day."

Said offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson, "He can be better. And he should be better. The sophomore jinxes and all the analogies . . . he should be better because he's a young player and that's exciting. But I think he's played so well early that you have to be careful -- like coach (Bob Stoops) said last year, he has a game where he's 22-of-30 and all of a sudden you think, 'Golly, he missed a couple of throws today.' Where in years before, we'd have been begging for that kind of game."

One thing all but ensures Bradford will be better: this time last year, he had no idea if he was really, truly,

Think how much better he'll be with 15 spring practices getting all the reps with the rest of the No. 1 offense, and a whole summer and two-a-days. And with all he went through last year.

"There's a lot of things he can better at. Continuing to get quicker with the ball out of his hand, make better decisions with the football, throwing it on time, being more accurate," quarterbacks coach Josh Heupel said. "He knows there's a lot of things he can do to be better. He's excited about working on those things."

And consider his actual time on task. The guy went from wide-eyed kid to savvy field general in one fall.

"Obviously I'm more comfortable now," he said, "so now I'm more able to say things to guys maybe get them to run a route the way I want it run, the way I see things."

Bradford, after redshirting following an all-star career at Putnam City North, threw for 3,121 yards last season after beating out Joey Halzle and Keith Nichol. He completed 69.5 percent of his throws, tossed 36 touchdowns, was intercepted just eight times in 341 pass attempts and posted an efficiency rating of 176.53, besting Jason White's previous school record of 159.42.

But Wilson said the reason Bradford did so well in '07 was because the competition with Halzle and Nichol pushed him to succeed.

"Because of the competition, he worked so hard and played well," Wilson said. "He needs to continue to play like he's in a competition."

Said Bradford, "I think you still have to approach it the same way. There's still three other quarterbacks here and nothing's guaranteed. I'm going to have to go out there and prove that I belong on that field and I can play."

Bradford hasn't stood pat since the Fiesta Bowl. In the rugged six-week winter conditioning sessions, he added 12 pounds of muscle and added foot speed. He's also been studying more, and Heupel and Wilson feel they can trust him with a lot more. Bradford said the playbook on Wednesday, the first day of spring practice, didn't even compare to what he started with last spring.

". . . We had a lot in today compared to what I remember having in last year," he said. "So I think that is big. We'll be able to put in new things on top of what we already have in. I think that will help."

John E. Hoover 581-8384
john.hoover@tulsaworld.com

OU SCHEDULE

Spring

Monday

Wednesday

Spring break

Monday, March 24

Wednesday, March 26

Friday, March 28

Saturday, March 29 (scrimmage)

Tuesday, April 1

Wednesday, April 2

Friday, April 4

Saturday, April 5 (scrimmage)

Tuesday, April 8

Thursday, April 10

Saturday, April 12

Regular season

Aug. 30: Tenn.-Chattanooga

Sept. 6: Cincinnati

Sept. 13: at Washington

Sept. 27: TCU

Oct. 4: at Baylor

Oct. 11: vs. Texas

Oct. 18: Kansas

Oct. 25: at Kansas State

Nov. 1: Nebraska

Nov. 8: at Texas A&M

Nov. 22: Texas Tech

Nov. 29: at Oklahoma State